Learn everything you need to know about HEIC to JPG conversion in this comprehensive 2022 guide.

Time is needed for great accomplishments. To conclude, HEIC's widespread adoption may not happen for some time. In 2017, with the release of iOS 2017, Apple began supporting the HEIC file format, making it one of the newest in use. People often need to convert HEIC to JPG to avoid incompatibility, despite the fact that it is tied to the Apple ecosystem and not very common on other devices.  

Fortunately, Photos and Preview are built into every Mac, so you can easily convert HEIC to JPG. Here, we'll walk you through the process and show you how to quickly and easily convert between various file types with a universal media converter.

In what ways are High Efficiency Image Coding (HEIC) Images Useful?

In an effort to improve upon the widely used JPG format, the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) created the High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF), from which HEIC derives. MPEG states that high efficiency image formats (HEIF) like HEIC use roughly half the space of JPGs of equivalent quality. If you extrapolate this result to the billions of JPG images, the results would be mind-boggling.  

Even though high-efficiency image format (HEIC) files have many benefits, their widespread use has been hindered by the fact that they are not yet supported by the majority of software and operating systems. Transferring an HEIC image to a Mac will show you that using HEIC in place of JPG is problematic to say the least. Many apps won't display or edit the file, and many websites won't accept it.

Methods for instantaneously transforming HEIC images into JPG format

If you have Permute installed on your Mac, converting a large number of HEIC files to JPG is as simple as clicking a button. The Mac version of Permute, an all-purpose media converter, is called The app supports a wide variety of media file types, including images, audio, and video. To change HEIC to JPG in Permute, please follow these steps:

1. Launch Setapp's Permute
2. Simply drop multiple High Efficiency Image Format (HEIC) photos onto the Permute window.
3. To begin the JPG conversion process, press the button labeled "Start."

Finally, that's all there is to it. To view your JPG files, click Show in Finder. Regular users of file conversions can save time and effort by taking advantage of Permute's presets. By creating a new preset in the preferences, you can tell Permute how to handle a given file type the next time you add it.

Convert all iPhone snaps to JPG format.

Making JPG the default format on your iPhone is another way around using HEIC. How? Read on!

1. To adjust your iPhone's settings, go to
2. Select Images and look for the button near the foot of the page.
3. If you want the transfer to happen automatically when you connect to a Mac or PC, click the "Automatic" button. ”

It's now possible for your iPhone to automatically convert photos to a format that can be imported into a Mac when you're ready to transfer them.  

Do not begin the process of conversion until...

Clean up We've already established that JPGs are bigger than HEICs, so you can anticipate a reduction in storage space. For this reason, we advise clearing the decks before beginning the conversion process. Gemini is a clever duplicate finder for Mac that can help you avoid wasting space on unnecessary HEIC images like duplicates and similar photos.   

Gemini can check a single folder or a set of folders for duplicates. Automatic cleanup is possible, with Gemini applying its intelligence to determine which HEICs you no longer require and removing them. You can choose to inspect the duplicates Gemini has found before performing any cleanup.  

Use a native app like Preview or Photos to convert HEIC to JPG files if you don't have Setapp, which includes both Permute and Gemini. It does the job, albeit slowly and inefficiently, especially if you need to convert many files at once.  

It's likely that most of your experience with HEIC files will occur in Photos, the de facto standard for viewing and editing photographs on Mac. Thankfully, Photos offers two options for converting HEIC files to JPG format.   

To begin, HEIC images imported from an iPhone and stored in the Photos library can be converted to JPGs by simply dragging and dropping them to the Desktop or another folder on a Mac.  

Second, Photos lets you have a lot of say over the exporting process, so you can easily convert HEIC files to JPGs while doing so and set your precise preferences for quality, color profile, etc.

1. Find some High Efficiency Image Format (HEIC) photos in your gallery.
2. Navigate to File > Export > Export Photos.
3. Pick out the perfect settings for the fresh JPG pictures.
4. To export, just click on the appropriate button.   

Mac OS X Monterey's HEIC to JPG batch converter

If you're running macOS 12 Monterey, you can batch-convert your photos from HEIC to JPG with the built-in Quick Actions feature:

1. To convert multiple photos at once, open the folder containing your images while holding down the Command key.
2. Select the desired actions by right-clicking the corresponding selection.
3. Select Convert > Image > JPEG afterward.
4. You're free to adjust the image size to your liking.
5. Make use of the JPEG button.   

Preview's Step-by-Step Guide to Converting HEIC to JPG

If you don't use Photos and only need to convert HEIC files to JPG on occasion (to upload online as your avatar, for example), you can use Preview, the built-in image viewer on Macs that also allows for basic editing. Identify them, add a signature or watermark, and more

Using Preview, here is how to change HEIC to JPG on a Mac:

1. To view an HEIC picture, launch Preview.
2. To export a file, select the option from the File menu.
3. Choose JPG as the file format and make any other necessary changes.
4. Select "Save"

The Macintosh Automator method for converting HEIC images to JPG

Automator is without a doubt the most underrated of Apple's built-in applications for macOS. In case you aren't familiar with it, Automator simplifies a wide variety of mundane tasks, including mass file renaming, folder relocation, email filtering, etc. For our purposes, not only can Automator export HEIC images as JPGs, but it can also add the action to Quick Actions in your right-click menu, making it possible to perform the export at any time without launching Automator, on any macOS device.  

Automator allows you to make the HEIC to JPG conversion as simple as clicking a button.

1. In order to create a new document in Automator, launch the app.
2. Choose the Convenient Course of Action
3. To add it, double-click the Copy Finder Items action. Select the destination folder for the converted JPG pictures.
4. Find the option to "Change Type of Images" and double-click it to add that as well. Choose JPG from the menu.
5. To save your Quick Action, go to File > Save as and give it a meaningful name (e. g convert HEIC images to JPEG format)   

If you've already created a workflow to convert HEIC to JPG on your Mac, you can now right-click the file and choose it from Quick Actions whenever you need to perform the conversion. The process works equally well with a sequence of images.   

Quickly altering an image's format is now a built-in feature of Finder on more recent versions of macOS. However, look to Automator if you need to establish a complex workflow.  

Easily modifying picture file names and other information

JPG is favored by many photographers and artists because of the extensive metadata that can be added to it. This metadata can include information like the copyright holder, the name of the artist, the location the photo was taken, and the camera settings. You should know that HEIC supports all the same metadata fields as JPG, you just need a good app to edit them if that's the only reason you're considering converting an HEIC file to JPG.  

When it comes to Macs, MetaImage is your best bet for editing image metadata. When compared to Photos, it does not require manual editing but rather creates automated workflows to batch-process images with metadata additions like EXIF, IPTC, and XMP. Over five thousand tags and ninety different file types are all supported by the app, and there's even a Photos add-on.   

MetaImage allows you to edit the following image properties:

1. Simply drop a bunch of pictures in a folder or upload them.
2. Use the blocks to edit metadata, such as the image's title, creation date, and camera.
3. If you want to use a previously created preset, select it from the list and then click the Use Preset Action button at the bottom of the window.
4. To export tags, select the suitcase icon or you can simply save your work and exit the program.  

Get help from a time-saving tool to complete the project.

As you can see, HEIC files can be opened in a variety of ways on a Mac, and the process of converting them to JPG images is also flexible. In this case, the simplest tool, the "Permute converter," will do the trick. Native applications like Photos and Preview are available, as is the automation tool Automator. Squash is the best choice for JPEG compression, and MetaImage is a complete solution for metadata.   

To top it all off, Setapp, a productivity assistant with over 200 of the best Mac apps, gives you access to Permute, Gemini, Squash, and MetaImage for free for seven days. everything from playing any video file type (Elmedia Player) to combining frequently used Mac features into a single click (One Switch). You can give them a try right now for no charge and see just how much simpler your Mac life can be.