How to convert HEIC photos to PDF

An iPhone saves photos as HEIC to save space — about half the size of JPG — and almost nothing outside the Apple world can open them. Converting before you send is not a workaround, it is how you make an iPhone photo portable.

Last reviewed October 2026. If a page like this is ever rewritten, the date moves with it.

Why the file looks fine on the phone and nowhere else

HEIC (also called HEIF) is a modern image format that Apple chose for its efficiency. The same picture that would be 5 MB as JPG is about 2.5 MB as HEIC, so iCloud holds roughly twice as many photos and sending one as an attachment is quicker.

Chrome, Firefox, Windows Photos and many printers never added a HEIC decoder, so the file is there, it opens on the phone, and it is rejected everywhere else. That is not a fault in the file — it is a format the other end does not speak. Converting to JPG or PDF is how you make it universally readable.

What the converted file contains

A PDF built from HEIC holds one page per photo, sized to the photo's own pixel dimensions measured in points — the same way Images to PDF does — so a 3000 x 4000-pixel picture becomes a page that size. The HEIC is decoded and embedded as a high-quality JPG (92%) through a canvas, which for a photograph is visually lossless.

Orientation is preserved the same way: the rotation note inside the file is read and written as the page's /Rotate, so a photo that looks upright on the phone comes out upright in the PDF, with the arrows on each thumbnail to fix the rest. If you only need images, the JPG download gives you one JPG per photo as a ZIP.

When JPGs are the better answer

When the destination wants images rather than a document — a portal that asks for JPGs, an email that expects attachments, a printer that only takes JPG — use the JPG output. A PDF built from photos is as large as the photos were, and HEIC's saving is lost once re-encoded to JPG, so resizing photos that will be printed at A4 to about 1240 x 1754 (150 dpi) or 2480 x 3508 (300 dpi) is the real lever on size.

Questions

Can I convert HEIC to PDF without uploading it?

Yes. The file is read, decoded and embedded in your browser tab and never sent anywhere. You can verify in the network tab while it converts.

Can I get JPGs instead of a PDF?

Yes. The same page offers both — one PDF with one page per photo, or one JPG per photo as a ZIP. The source HEIC is decoded exactly once either way.

Will my HEIC photo come out sideways?

It should come out upright. The rotation note in the file is read and the page is turned to match; most cases come out straight, and the arrows on each thumbnail fix the rest.

Does converting reduce quality?

The HEIC is decoded and re-encoded once as a high-quality JPG (92%). For photographs that is visually lossless; PNG photos are still embedded as PNG with no conversion at all.

Do I need to install anything?

No. A HEIC decoder is shipped with the page and runs in the tab, so it does not depend on the browser decoding HEIC itself.

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