Frequently Asked Questions
What is a HEIC file?
HEIC is the photo format your iPhone uses by default. Apple switched to it in iOS 11 because it roughly halves the size of a photo compared with JPEG, which adds up fast on a phone with ten thousand pictures on it. The problem is everything else. Windows, plenty of image editors and a lot of websites still can't open a HEIC file without help, which is why people go looking for a converter.
What input formats does heic.site accept?
HEIC, HEIF, AVIF, WebP, PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP and TIFF. Output is JPG, PNG or WebP, with PDF on Pro and AVIF where your browser can produce it. The converter works out the input format from the contents of the file rather than its extension, so a mislabelled file still converts.
Can you really convert TIFF? Most browser tools can't.
Yes, in every browser. No browser decodes TIFF on its own — Chrome and Firefox refuse outright, and Safari only manages it by handing the file to macOS. We ship our own TIFF decoder and run it in a background thread, so it behaves the same everywhere and the file still never leaves your device. One limit: a TIFF can hold several pages, and we convert the first one.
Why can't I select AVIF as the output?
Because your browser can't create AVIF files. Producing one needs an AVIF encoder wired into the browser's canvas, and many browsers don't expose one. We run a real encoding test in your browser before offering the option and grey it out when the answer is no, rather than relying on a browser-name list that goes stale. Reading AVIF is separate and works in modern browsers, so converting from AVIF to JPG, PNG or WebP isn't affected.
Is this actually free? What's the catch?
The converter is free. There's no watermark, no signup wall and no daily cap. The one limit is batch size: without an account you convert 3 files at a time, and you can run as many batches as you like. It's free because the work happens in your browser instead of on our servers, so a conversion costs us close to nothing. Pro, at $5 a month or $50 a year, lifts the batch limit and adds PDF output and file sharing.
Do my files get uploaded somewhere?
Your image bytes and filenames stay in your browser during conversion. The page does send ordinary analytics requests, including anonymous format, size, timing and engine data, but those requests do not contain the image. The one exception is Pro sharing, which uploads only the converted files you explicitly choose to share.
How many files can I convert at once?
Free converts 3 files per batch, and you can run as many batches as you want. Pro removes the batch limit, so you can drop in a whole folder and pull everything down as a single ZIP. Either way the work happens on your own machine, so your browser's memory is the real ceiling. On an older laptop, 50-75 files per batch is gentler than dumping 500 in at once.
Do I need an account?
Not for converting. The free converter works the moment the page loads, with no email address and no signup. An account only matters for Pro, since that's what a subscription attaches to. You can sign up with an email and password, or with Google.
Can I convert HEIC to PDF?
Yes, PDF output is a Pro feature. The page dimensions are matched to the image instead of forced onto letter-size paper, so you don't end up with a small photo stranded in the corner of a mostly blank page. That's usually what people need it for: receipts, forms and applications that accept nothing but a PDF. The conversion still runs in your browser.
Can I share converted files with someone?
Pro users can turn a set of converted files into a temporary download link that lasts 24, 36 or 72 hours. A share holds up to 10 files, or 50 MB in total. We'll email the link to the recipient if you want, which means confirming your own address first, so the message isn't sent on behalf of an unverified sender. Access stops at expiry; an hourly job deletes the stored files and retains any failed deletion for retry.
Which browsers work?
All the modern ones: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge and Opera. Safari on a Mac or an iPhone is noticeably faster for HEIC specifically, because Apple built HEVC decoding into the operating system. Everything else falls back to a WebAssembly decoder, which is dependable but slower. For the other formats — PNG, JPG, WebP and the rest — speed is much the same whichever browser you use.
Will converting hurt the image quality?
It depends on the format you pick. PNG is lossless, so the result is identical pixel for pixel. JPG, WebP and AVIF are lossy, but at our defaults (92 for JPG, 85 for WebP, 80 for AVIF) you'd have to zoom to 200% and go hunting for the difference. Drag the quality slider if you want to shift that balance. One thing to watch for: converting to JPG turns transparent pixels black, because JPG has nowhere to put transparency.
Does this work on phones?
Yes. The layout is responsive and the converter works on iOS and Android. Tap the drop zone to open your photo picker. An iPhone running Safari is especially quick with HEIC files, thanks to the codec support built into the phone.
What happens to photo metadata (EXIF, GPS, etc.)?
We strip it during conversion: camera model, GPS coordinates, timestamps, the lot. That's a privacy decision. Metadata preservation is not currently available, so keep the original file if you need its EXIF data.
Why won't my HEIC file open on Windows?
Windows 10 and 11 can't decode HEIC out of the box, because the HEVC codec underneath it is patent-encumbered and Microsoft sells the decoder as an add-on in the Microsoft Store. You can buy the extension, or you can convert the file to JPG or PNG once and stop thinking about it. Converting is the safer option if you're sending the photo on to someone else, since you can't know what their machine supports.
What's the difference between HEIC and HEIF?
HEIF is the container. HEIC is what you get when that container holds an image encoded with HEVC, which is what Apple uses. Day to day the two names get used interchangeably, and .heic and .heif files both open here. If a file is labelled one way and encoded the other, the converter reads the actual header bytes and handles it anyway.
Why is Safari so much faster for HEIC?
Apple ships a hardware-accelerated HEVC decoder in macOS and iOS, and Safari calls straight into it. HEIC images get decoded on dedicated silicon instead of in software, which is faster than the WebAssembly fallback the other browsers rely on. Once the image is decoded, encoding it to JPG or PNG or anything else takes the same time in every browser.