HEIC vs JPG: What's the Difference?
Updated May 21, 2026
The short answer
HEIC stores iPhone photos at roughly half the file size of JPG at the same visual quality. But almost nothing outside Apple's ecosystem can open a HEIC file, so JPG is what you want whenever a photo needs to be shared, uploaded, or edited elsewhere.
Use HEIC to save space on your iPhone. Convert to JPG before the photo leaves it.
What HEIC is
HEIC is Apple's name for an image saved in the HEIF container using HEVC (H.265) compression — the same technology behind modern video. Since iOS 11 in 2017, iPhones have saved photos as HEIC by default. It is a genuinely modern, efficient format.
JPG, by contrast, dates from the early 1990s. Its compression is far older and less efficient, but that age is also why every device on earth can read it.
How they compare
| HEIC | JPG | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical file size | About half | Baseline |
| Image quality | High, even when small | High |
| 10-bit color and HDR | Supported | No |
| Browser support | Effectively none | Universal |
| App and device support | Mainly Apple | Universal |
File size
HEIC is the clear winner. For the same photo at the same visible quality, a HEIC file is usually around 50% smaller than a JPG. On a phone holding thousands of photos, that saving is substantial.
Compatibility — the real problem
This is where HEIC falls down. Web browsers do not display HEIC. Many Windows programs cannot open it without an add-on. Older devices, plenty of websites, and lots of apps simply reject it.
JPG has no such issues. It is the safest and most universally accepted image format. The moment a photo needs to leave your iPhone — uploaded to a site, emailed, sent to a Windows PC — JPG is the format that will actually work.
What to do
To keep HEIC's space savings, leave your iPhone set to HEIC and convert copies when you need to share them. If the compatibility headaches are not worth it, your iPhone can capture in JPG directly: open Settings, then Camera, then Formats, and choose Most Compatible.
To convert files you already have, use HEIC to JPG for the universal choice, HEIC to PNG for a lossless copy, or HEIC to WebP for the web. Every conversion runs in your browser — your photos are never uploaded.
For a step-by-step walkthrough, see how to convert HEIC photos to JPG.