HEIC vs JPG: What's the Difference, and Which Should You Use?
Short answer
HEIC produces files about half the size of JPG at similar visual quality, and supports 16-bit colour where JPG has 8. JPG is opened by effectively every program that handles images; HEIC still is not, though the gap has narrowed. Keep HEIC for storage on Apple devices; convert to JPG whenever a file needs to leave that ecosystem.
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Why your iPhone takes HEIC photos
Since iOS 11 in 2017, iPhones have saved photos as HEIC by default. Apple made the switch for a straightforward reason: HEIC stores roughly the same visual quality as JPEG in about half the space, and phone storage is finite.
HEIC is not an Apple invention, despite the association. It is a specific profile of HEIF, an MPEG standard, holding images compressed with the HEVC video codec. Apple was simply the first to ship it at scale.
The format can also store things JPEG cannot: transparency, 16-bit colour depth, depth maps for portrait mode, and the short image sequences behind Live Photos.
The compatibility problem
HEVC, the codec inside HEIC, carries a complicated patent licensing situation. That is the practical reason adoption stalled outside Apple: implementing support means dealing with patent pools, and many vendors decided it was not worth it.
The result is familiar to anyone who has emailed an iPhone photo to a Windows user. Windows needs a codec extension from the Microsoft Store. Many web applications reject the upload outright. Older Android devices cannot open the file at all.
Browsers are the part of this that has actually changed, and it is worth being precise rather than repeating the old answer. Safari has displayed HEIC images since version 17, which shipped in September 2023 alongside iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma. Chrome, Firefox and Edge still do not decode HEIC in an ordinary image tag, so a HEIC file on a web page is invisible to most of the people who visit it. That is the practical rule: HEIC is fine inside Apple’s world and on a Safari page, and unreliable everywhere a JPG would have simply worked.
| HEIC | JPG | |
|---|---|---|
| File size | About half of JPG | Baseline |
| Colour depth | 16-bit | 8-bit |
| Transparency | Yes | No |
| Apple devices | Native | Native |
| Windows | Needs a codec extension | Native |
| Android | Newer versions only | Native |
| Web browsers | Safari 17+ only | Every browser |
| Print services | Usually rejected | Universal |
Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?
Technically yes, because both are lossy formats and the image is decoded and re-encoded. Practically, at quality 90 or above the difference is not visible in normal viewing.
The more meaningful loss is the extras. Depth maps, Live Photo frames and 16-bit colour do not survive the trip to JPEG. For an ordinary photo you are sharing, none of that matters. For a portrait-mode shot you intend to edit later, keep the original.
How to stop getting HEIC files at all
If the conversions are a recurring annoyance, change the camera setting rather than converting repeatedly. On iPhone: Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible. Your phone will shoot JPEG from then on.
The trade is storage — roughly double per photo. There is also a middle path: leave the camera on High Efficiency and set Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic, which converts on export.
- Keep HEIC when photos stay on Apple devices and storage matters
- Convert to JPG for sharing, uploading, printing or emailing
- Convert to PNG only if you plan to edit — for a photo it buys nothing and costs size
- Change the camera format if you are converting constantly