HEIC to JPG Converter - HEIF & AVIF to JPEG

Convert HEIC to JPG online, plus HEIF and AVIF images to JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF or TIFF. Upload one photo or a whole folder, or paste URLs, and get the converted images back. No codec pack or Photoshop plugin needed.

Every iPhone since 2017 shoots HEIC by default. It is roughly half the size of JPEG at the same quality, which is why Apple picked it, and it is still not something you can reliably paste into a form, attach to a ticket or open on a Windows machine without buying a codec. This HEIC converter is the boring conversion step in between.

• 📱 Converts the whole HEIF family - .heic (iPhone), .heif, .hif (Canon and Sony) and .avif
• 🖼️ Five output formats - JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF and TIFF, at a quality you choose
• 📍 Strips GPS and EXIF on request - one switch before you share a photo publicly
• 📐 Resizes while it converts - cap the long edge without a second tool
• 🎞️ Handles multi-image HEIC files - bursts and Live Photo stills
• 📦 Batch converts up to 100 files in one run - upload the folder, download one ZIP
• 💸 Costs well under a tenth of a cent per photo
• 🔌 Runs from the API, a schedule or an integration - it is an Apify Actor, so Zapier, Make, n8n and MCP clients can call it

How to convert HEIC to JPG

1. Click Try for free and sign in to Apify.
2. Upload your .heic photos in the HEIC files field, or paste direct URLs to them.
3. Leave Convert to on jpeg, or pick another format.
4. Click Start.
5. Download the JPGs from the Storage tab, each under its own filename, or from the download URLs in the run's dataset.

How to batch convert HEIC to JPG

Select every file at once in the HEIC files field, or paste a list of URLs into it. Up to 100 files per run, all converted with the same settings.

Each image is stored under its own filename, and the run also writes converted-images.zip holding all of them - a folder of holiday photos is one download rather than two hundred clicks. Two files that arrive with the same name do not overwrite each other; the second becomes IMG_1234-2.jpg.

A batch and allImages combine. Turning on allImages fans each multi-image file out into several photos, so a batch of bursts produces two levels of results. Inside the ZIP, any source file that yielded more than one image gets a folder of its own - burst.heic becomes burst/burst-0.jpg, burst/burst-1.jpg and so on - while ordinary single-image files stay at the top level. Key-value store keys cannot contain a slash, so each image is still keyed flat as burst-0.jpg, de-duplicated the same way as any other collision.

One bad file does not sink the batch. A .mov that got mixed in with the stills, or a URL that 404s, is reported in its own dataset row with the reason while every other file converts normally. The run only fails if nothing converted at all.

Batching is also the cheaper way to run this: container startup dominates the cost of a single photo, and a batch pays it once. See the cost table.

How to convert HEIC to PNG

Same steps, but set Convert to to png. Pick PNG when the image has transparency or when you need lossless output; the file will be considerably larger than the JPG.

How to convert AVIF to JPG

Upload an .avif file instead. The Actor reads the container to work out which codec is inside, so AVIF input needs no separate setting. AVIF to PNG, AVIF to WebP and AVIF to TIFF work the same way.

Transparency is handled properly. JPEG has no alpha channel, so a transparent AVIF or HEIC is flattened onto white rather than the black that a naive conversion produces. Convert to PNG, WebP, AVIF or TIFF instead and the transparency is carried through untouched.

How to convert HEIF to JPG

.heif and .hif files - the ones that come off Canon and Sony bodies rather than an iPhone - go through the identical path. HEIC is one kind of HEIF, so there is nothing extra to configure.

HEIC vs HEIF vs AVIF: what is the difference?

These are not competing formats, they are a container and its fillings.

HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format, ISO/IEC 23008-12) is the container. It defines how an image file is laid out - the boxes, the metadata, how multiple images and their thumbnails, depth maps and alpha channels sit together. It says nothing about how the pixels themselves are compressed.

HEIC is HEIF with the pixels compressed using HEVC (H.265). This is what an iPhone writes, and it is the reason .heic files are so much smaller than JPEG. Apple chose the .heic extension for it; the generic .heif extension turns up on files from other cameras and on HEIF files using a different codec.

AVIF is the same container idea with the pixels compressed using AV1 instead. It is royalty-free, which HEVC is not, and it is the reason browsers adopted AVIF while largely refusing HEIC.

So HEIC is one specific kind of HEIF, the way a .docx is one specific kind of zip file. This Actor handles the whole family - it reads the container's ftyp box to work out which codec is inside, and hands the file to libheif, which decodes HEVC, AV1 and AVC alike. In practice that means .heic, .heif, .hif and .avif all work, and you do not have to know or care which one you have.

Input

Upload the files in the HEIC files field, or pass direct URLs to them.

Field	Description
files	The images to convert. A multi-file upload, or a list of URLs. Up to 100 per run.
outputFormat	jpeg (default), png, webp, avif or tiff.
quality	1 to 100, default 90. Used by JPEG, WebP and AVIF; ignored by the lossless formats.
maxDimension	Shrink so neither side exceeds this many pixels. Never enlarges.
keepMetadata	true by default. Set to false to strip EXIF, XMP and IPTC.
allImages	Convert every image in a multi-image container, not just the primary one.
outputFilename	Defaults to the input filename. Ignored when converting more than one file, since they would all end up with the same name.
file	A single image as a URL. The older single-file field, kept working for existing API callers; it can be combined with files.
fileBase64, filename	The file as base64, for API callers who prefer JSON to a URL.
filesBase64	The batch equivalent: an array of { "filename": "photo.heic", "data": "<base64>" } objects.
verboseLog	Include the full ImageMagick output in the Actor log.

Does the JPG keep EXIF, GPS and camera data?

keepMetadata is on by default, because silently discarding the date a photo was taken is the more surprising behaviour. Note what that means for phone photos: the EXIF block carries the camera model, the timestamp and, if location services were on, the GPS coordinates where the photo was taken. Turn keepMetadata off before sharing images publicly.

Stripping metadata deliberately keeps the ICC colour profile. Removing that too would visibly shift the colours of wide-gamut photos, which is not what anyone means by "strip the metadata".

Output

Every converted image is written to the run's key-value store under its own filename, so it is downloadable from the Storage tab.

OUTPUT is the record the run-sync API endpoint returns in its HTTP response body, and what it holds depends on how much the run converted:

Run produced	OUTPUT
One image	The image itself
Several images	converted-images.zip, holding all of them
More than 192 MB of images	A JSON list of every key and URL - too much data to bundle into one archive

The dataset holds one record per source file: source format, dimensions, file sizes and download URLs, plus an ok flag and an error message for any file that did not convert. A source that produced several images names the primary one in outputFilename and lists them all in allFiles.

How much does it cost to convert HEIC to JPG?

	Run time	Cost
One photo	6 to 12 seconds	$0.0003 to $0.0006
A folder of 100	one run	roughly a cent

Measured on the 3.0 MB, 12 MP photo used to test this Actor, at the default 1024 MB.

A photo costs well under a tenth of a cent, and Apify's free plan includes $5 of usage a month - thousands of photos.

Nearly all of that is container startup rather than conversion, which is under a second. That is the argument for putting a whole folder in one run: 100 photos as 100 runs pays the startup 100 times, as one run it is paid once.

Leave the memory at the default 1024 MB unless you convert very large images to PNG or TIFF, where the uncompressed pixel buffer is what constrains you.

How to convert HEIC to JPG with the API

run-sync returns the image in the response body:

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/marcel-rbro~heic-to-jpg/run-sync?token=<TOKEN>" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"file": "https://example.com/photo.heic", "outputFormat": "jpeg", "quality": 90}' \
  --output photo.jpg

If you hold the bytes rather than a URL, pass them as base64 in fileBase64. The Apify API requires Actor input to be application/json, so posting the image as a raw request body is rejected with HTTP 400 before the run starts:

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/marcel-rbro~heic-to-jpg/run-sync?token=<TOKEN>" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "{\"fileBase64\": \"$(base64 < photo.heic)\", \"filename\": \"photo.heic\"}" \
  --output photo.jpg

Base64 adds about a third to the payload, so prefer a URL for large files.

How to batch convert HEIC to JPG with the API

Pass a list in files and the response body is a ZIP of the converted images:

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/marcel-rbro~heic-to-jpg/run-sync?token=<TOKEN>" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"files": ["https://example.com/a.heic", "https://example.com/b.heic"], "outputFormat": "jpeg"}' \
  --output photos.zip

filesBase64 takes the same list as base64 payloads, as an array of {"filename": "photo.heic", "data": "<base64>"} objects.

run-sync waits up to 300 seconds, which no single photo will come close to using but a hundred of them can. For large batches, start the run with /runs and poll it, or use the client libraries for JavaScript and Python. The same run can be triggered on a schedule or from Zapier, Make, n8n, Slack or an MCP client.

Limitations

• One run has a budget. 100 files, 512 MB of input in total, 100 MB for any single file, 100 MP for any single image and 4 GP of decoded pixels across the whole run - which is a folder of 100 photos at 40 MP each, comfortably past what the Actor is for. A run that would exceed one of these says which limit it hit and what number it hit it at, rather than timing out halfway. Only the file that hits a limit fails; the rest of the batch still converts. Split the batch, or use maxDimension to shrink while converting.
• The ZIP stops at 192 MB of images. The archive is assembled in memory, so past that the run skips it and OUTPUT becomes a JSON list of the individual records instead. Every image is still stored under its own key.
• One setting for the whole batch. Format, quality, resizing and metadata apply to every file in the run. Different settings mean different runs.
• No Live Photo motion. A Live Photo is a HEIC plus a separate MOV. This Actor converts the still half; upload the .mov somewhere else if you want the video. Passing the MOV here fails with an explanation rather than a delegate error, since HEIC and MOV share the same container format.
• Depth maps and auxiliary images are dropped. Portrait-mode depth data does not survive to JPEG, which has nowhere to put it.
• No PDF output. HEIC to PDF is not supported yet.
• Format support and transparency are both asserted at build time. Every input format the Actor reads and every one of the five it writes is checked, and the build also proves that a transparent image flattens onto white rather than black and that alpha survives a round trip through PNG, WebP, AVIF and TIFF. A Debian package that quietly loses a codec fails the build rather than every run.

Other file converters

Actor	Converts	Use it for
HEIC to JPG converter (this one)	HEIC, HEIF, AVIF → JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, TIFF	iPhone photos, bursts and Live Photo stills
PNG to JPG converter	PNG, JPG, JFIF, WebP, AVIF, BMP, TIFF, GIF → JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, TIFF, BMP	Web and desktop image formats
PDF to JPG converter	PDF → JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF	Turning pages into images
JPG to PDF converter	JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF, HEIC → PDF	Turning images into a document
Word to PDF converter	Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument, RTF → PDF	Office documents
MOBI to EPUB converter	MOBI, PRC, AZW, AZW3 → EPUB	Kindle ebooks
EPUB to PDF converter	EPUB, AZW3, MOBI, FB2, CBZ → PDF	Ebooks for printing

FAQ

Is this HEIC to JPG converter free?

Apify's free plan includes $5 of platform usage per month and needs no card. At roughly $0.0005 a photo, that covers several thousand conversions before you pay anything.

Why can't Windows open HEIC files?

HEIC stores its pixels with HEVC, which is patent-encumbered. Microsoft ships the HEIF extension free but charges for the HEVC codec that actually decodes the image, so a stock Windows install shows you a placeholder. Converting to JPG sidesteps the whole question.

Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?

Yes, slightly - JPEG is lossy, and re-encoding an already-compressed image always costs something. At the default quality of 90 the difference is invisible at normal viewing sizes. Choose PNG or TIFF output if you need the decode to be lossless, and expect files several times larger.

Is the JPG bigger than the HEIC?

It depends on the quality you pick, and by less than people expect. On the 3.0 MB test photo:

Quality	JPG size	vs HEIC
80	2.3 MB	23% smaller
85	2.8 MB	7% smaller
90 (default)	3.9 MB	31% bigger
95	5.1 MB	71% bigger
100	10.4 MB	3.5x bigger

HEVC does compress better than JPEG at matched quality, so you are broadly paying file size for compatibility - but the default of 90 costs about a third more, not several times more. Drop to 85 if size matters more to you than the last sliver of detail. Quality 100 is worth avoiding: it more than triples the file for no visible gain.

Can I convert HEIC to PDF?

Not yet. Convert to JPEG or PNG here and put the result into a PDF tool.

Can I batch convert a folder of HEIC files?

Yes. Select the whole folder in the HEIC files field, up to 100 files per run, and download converted-images.zip when it finishes. Every file gets the same conversion settings, and a file that fails is reported in the dataset without stopping the rest.

That is separate from allImages, which is for a single HEIC that contains several images inside it, such as a burst.

Can an AI agent call this converter?

Yes. Every Apify Actor is exposed through the Apify MCP server, so Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients can run this conversion as a tool.

The conversion failed. What now?

Turn on verboseLog and re-run: the Actor log will carry ImageMagick's own error. The common causes are a URL that returns HTML rather than an image, a .mov from a Live Photo passed in place of the still, and a truncated upload.

Development

npm install
npm test      # HEIF header inspector, filename keying, input normalization, ZIP writer and batch budgets; no ImageMagick needed
apify run     # needs ImageMagick with HEIC support and heif-info on your PATH

Conversion runs ImageMagick in a Debian trixie container (ImageMagick 7.1.1, libheif 1.19.8), with heif-info reading the image properties and heif-convert extracting the frames of a multi-image file. ImageMagick 7 renamed convert to magick and Debian ships both names; the Actor detects which is present at startup, so it also runs against an older local install.

Trixie rather than bookworm for a specific reason: bookworm's libheif 1.15.1 silently drops the alpha channel across the whole HEIF family, returning a black image where a transparent HEIC or AVIF should flatten onto white - with exit code 0 and every format check passing. The Dockerfile asserts the pixels, not the format table, so that class of regression fails the build.

This Actor's code is MIT licensed. ImageMagick and libheif run as separate processes or shared libraries under their own licences - see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.