Why does my iPhone use HEIC?

A plain-language explanation of why iPhones save photos as HEIC, what the benefits are, and when it causes problems.

Convert HEIC to JPG

Since iOS 11, iPhones save photos as HEIC by default. Apple chose it because it's efficient: a HEIC photo is often about half the size of a similar JPG with the same visible quality.

The benefits

  • More photos fit on your iPhone and in iCloud
  • Support for features like Live Photos and depth information
  • Excellent image quality

The downside: compatibility

Outside Apple devices, support varies. Upload forms, older Windows software and some print services may not accept HEIC. That's when converting to JPG helps.

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