Is HEIC better quality than JPG?

HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is the format Apple introduced in iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra as the default photo capture format for iPhone and iPad. It is based on the HEIF standard and uses H.265/HEVC compression - Roughly twice as efficient as JPEG, producing images approximately half the file size at the same visual quality.

Converting JPG to HEIC is most useful when archiving photos on Apple devices where storage is limited, or when integrating into a workflow that processes HEIC files natively on macOS (Final Cut Pro, Lightroom, Preview, and Photos all support HEIC natively). HEIC also supports capabilities standard JPEG cannot carry: 10-bit colour, alpha transparency, auxiliary depth maps, and multiple images per container.

HEIC compatibility outside the Apple ecosystem remains limited. Windows 10 and 11 require the HEVC Video Extensions codec from the Microsoft Store (historically $0.99). Many older image editors, web platforms, and content management systems do not support HEIC. If you are sharing photos with mixed audiences, JPG or WebP remains the safer choice - and for everything JPG-side (resizing, compressing, or converting other formats into JPG), our sister site JPG.now has the full toolkit.

Reasons to convert JPG to HEIC usually come down to compatibility, file-size, or specific feature requirements. Common situations:

• An app or platform only accepts HEIC uploads.
• You need a feature unique to HEIC (e.g. transparency, vector scaling, animation, multi-page pages, etc.) that JPG doesn't provide.
• You're optimising file size — modern formats often produce smaller files than the older format you started with.
• You need a single archival format across a project so files behave consistently in the same viewer.

1. Open the JPG → HEIC tool on heic.now.
2. Drag your JPG file onto the drop zone, or click Select files. You can drop a whole folder of files at once.
3. The output is fixed to HEIC. If the format supports extra options (page size, transparency background, quality, EXIF stripping), tweak them in the right-hand panel.
4. Click Convert. The job runs on our server and finishes in a few seconds for typical photos.
5. Download the result. Files stay in storage for 24 hours and are then permanently deleted.

The entire flow is free for the first 10 jobs per day with no signup required. A free account doubles that quota; a premium plan removes the limit entirely.

• Convert to HEIC for storage savings on iPhone or iPad - HEIC photos are roughly half the size of equivalent JPEGs.
• Before converting, confirm the recipient's device or software supports HEIC - Many Windows apps and older platforms do not.
• macOS and iOS open HEIC natively. Windows users need the HEVC Video Extensions codec from the Microsoft Store (historically $0.99).
• Use quality 80–90% for HEIC - HEVC compression is efficient enough that you rarely need higher settings.