How to Convert HEIC to JPG in Bulk on Windows

You copy a holiday's worth of photos off an iPhone onto a Windows PC and none of them open. Every file ends in .heic, Photos shows an error or offers you a paid codec, and the upload form you actually needed them for rejects the lot.

The problem is a format mismatch, not corruption. The photos are fine. Here is how to convert all of them at once, and how to stop it happening again.

Why Windows will not open them

Since iOS 11, iPhones save photos as HEIC — Apple's container for the HEIF format. Apple had a good reason: HEIC stores a photo at roughly half the size of an equivalent JPEG at similar visual quality, which is why a phone holds so many pictures.

The catch is licensing. HEIF uses HEVC compression, which is patent-encumbered, so Windows does not ship the decoder by default. Microsoft's own HEIF Image Extension has at times been a paid item in the Store. The result is that a format your phone produces by default is one your desktop cannot read.

Web forms are worse than desktops here. Job portals, government sites, insurance claim uploads and older content systems overwhelmingly accept JPG and PNG and nothing else, so converting is not optional.

Method 1: convert the batch in your browser

The direct approach, and the one that does not require installing anything or paying for a codec.

Open the HEIC converter, select or drag in as many photos as you need, and convert them in one run. Each file appears in a queue with its own status and its size before and after, and when the run finishes you can download them individually or take the whole batch as a single ZIP.

1. Select the files. In File Explorer, select the photos, or press Ctrl+A for the whole folder, and drag them onto the page. Up to 60 files per run, 50MB each.
2. Choose the output format. JPG for anything you are sending or uploading. See below for when the others make sense.
3. Set the quality. 80–90% is the useful range for JPG and WebP.
4. Convert, then take the ZIP.

The photos are decoded in the browser tab and never uploaded, which is worth caring about with a camera roll: photos carry EXIF metadata including the GPS coordinates of where each one was taken, and handing several hundred of those to an upload-based converter is handing over a map of your movements. If you plan to publish the photos, run them through remove image metadata afterwards for the same reason.

Two honest limitations. Conversion runs on your machine, so a hundred large photos take real time on an old laptop — the tool processes them one after another rather than in parallel, deliberately, because several simultaneous full-resolution decodes is how a browser tab runs out of memory. And a very large batch is better done in two runs than one.

Method 2: the Microsoft HEIF extension

If you want Windows itself to understand HEIC permanently, install the HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store, and the HEVC Video Extensions it depends on. Availability and price of the HEVC component have varied by region and Windows version; it has often cost a small amount.

With both installed, File Explorer shows thumbnails and Photos opens the files. You can then convert by opening each one and using Save As — which works, and is one file at a time.

So this method solves viewing rather than bulk conversion. It is worth doing if you regularly receive HEIC files and want to see them without converting; it is not the answer to a folder of 300 photos.

Method 3: Paint, one file at a time

Once the extension above is installed, Paint opens a HEIC and can save it as JPG. Mentioned because it is often suggested, and because it should be immediately obvious that it does not scale. For anything past a handful of photos it is not a method, it is a chore.

PowerShell scripting with ImageMagick is the genuine power-user route for very large libraries, but it means installing a toolchain and writing a loop, which is more setup than most people want for a one-off holiday folder.

Method 4: stop the iPhone making HEIC

The fix that prevents the next occurrence, and the one most people do not know about.

To make the phone shoot JPEG from now on: Settings → Camera → Formats → choose Most Compatible. New photos are JPEG. Existing ones stay HEIC. The trade is roughly double the storage per photo.

To convert only on transfer, keeping HEIC on the phone: Settings → Photos → scroll to Transfer to Mac or PC → choose Automatic. The phone converts to JPEG as it copies, so the phone keeps the space saving and the PC gets files it can open. This is usually the better setting of the two.

Worth knowing that AirDrop to a Mac and iCloud sharing behave differently again, and that "Keep Originals" under the same setting is what produces the folder of unreadable files people arrive here with.

JPG, PNG or WebP

JPG for photographs, and for anything going to a form, an email or a person. Universally readable, small, and the quality slider lets you decide the trade.

PNG is lossless and preserves every pixel, which suits screenshots, images with sharp edges, and anything you will edit further. Files are considerably larger — often larger than the HEIC original, which surprises people.

WebP compresses better than JPG at similar quality and is fine for the web, but a few older applications still cannot open it. Not the choice for a file you are sending to someone else.

For a folder of holiday photos going into an upload form, JPG at 85% and no further thought is the right answer.

What you lose in the conversion

Worth being straight about.

HEIC to JPG is a lossy-to-lossy conversion, so the image is decoded and re-encoded and a little quality goes. At 85–90% it is not visible in normal viewing. At 50% it is.

File size usually goes up, often close to double, because JPEG is a less efficient format. This catches people who expected "converting" to mean "compressing". If the results are now too large for an upload limit, compress the images afterwards rather than converting at a very low quality — you get better control that way.

HEIC-specific features are dropped. Depth maps used for Portrait mode, Live Photo motion, and any HDR gain map do not exist in a plain JPEG. The still image survives; the extras do not. Keep the originals if any of that matters.

And keep the originals anyway. Conversion produces a new file rather than replacing the old one, and the HEIC is both smaller and higher quality — it is a better archive copy than the JPG you are about to email.

Frequently asked questions

How do I convert multiple HEIC files to JPG at once on Windows?

Select the photos in File Explorer and drag them onto the HEIC converter. They convert one after another with a per-file status, and you can download the whole batch as a single ZIP. Nothing is installed and nothing is uploaded.

Why will my Windows PC not open HEIC files?

HEIC uses HEVC compression, which is patent-encumbered, so Windows does not include the decoder by default. Microsoft’s HEIF Image Extensions add support through the Store, and the HEVC component it needs has often been a paid item.

Is there a free way to convert HEIC to JPG in bulk?

Yes. The HEIC converter is free with no account and no watermark, and converts a batch in one run. It works in the browser on your own machine, so there is no file quota and no daily limit either.

Are my photos uploaded when I convert them?

Not with this tool — the photos are decoded in your browser tab. That matters for a camera roll in particular, because photos carry EXIF metadata including the GPS coordinates of where each one was taken, and an upload-based converter receives all of it.

Will the JPG files be bigger than the HEIC originals?

Usually yes, often close to double, because JPEG is a less efficient format than HEIC. If that pushes you over an upload limit, convert at good quality and then compress the images, which gives more control than converting at a very low quality setting.

How do I stop my iPhone saving photos as HEIC?

Two options. Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible makes the camera shoot JPEG from now on, at roughly double the storage per photo. Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic keeps HEIC on the phone but converts to JPEG when copying to a computer, which is usually the better choice.

Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?

A little. Both formats are lossy, so the image is decoded and re-encoded — at 85–90% quality the difference is not visible in normal viewing. HEIC-specific extras are lost entirely: Portrait mode depth maps, Live Photo motion and HDR gain maps do not exist in a plain JPEG.

How many files can I convert in one batch?

Up to 60 files per run at 50MB each. They are processed one after another rather than all at once, because several simultaneous full-resolution decodes is how a browser tab runs out of memory. For a very large library, two runs are more reliable than one.

In short

For a folder you need converting today, the browser batch is the shortest path. Then spend thirty seconds in the iPhone’s transfer setting so the next folder arrives as JPEG and none of this comes up again.

Written by Mehran

Founder of QuickMerge. Practical guides built around the real behavior and limits of the tools. Connect on LinkedIn.