# Why iPhone uses HEIC > Why does your iPhone save photos as HEIC, not JPG? The storage savings, the quality gains, Apple's 2017 switch, and when your iPhone converts to JPG for you. URL: https://ihateheic.com/why-does-iphone-use-heic Updated: 2026-10-04 Your iPhone didn't pick HEIC to annoy Windows users, even if it feels that way. It picked it to save space. Here's the reasoning, and the times your phone quietly converts to JPG on your behalf. ## The quick fix Need a few iPhone photos as JPGs right now? Use the converter on this page. On iPhone, pick photos from your library, convert them, then tap **Save** to put the JPGs back in Photos. It all happens in Safari on your device, with no upload. If you'd rather your iPhone never made HEIC files at all, skip to [changing your camera settings](https://ihateheic.com/iphone-camera-settings-heic-to-jpg). ## The short answer: storage Phone cameras keep getting better, and better cameras make bigger files. Apple's problem in 2017 was simple: people were filling their phones with photos and video, and storage was (and is) the most expensive thing to add to a phone. HEIC fixed a big part of that. Because it uses HEVC compression, a HEIC photo is typically about half the size of a JPG of the same visual quality. For someone with 20,000 photos, that could mean many gigabytes back without deleting anything. It also means smaller iCloud backups and faster syncing. ## Apple's 2017 switch Apple announced the move at its developer conference in June 2017 and shipped it in **iOS 11** that autumn, alongside **macOS High Sierra (10.13)**. Two things happened together: - Photos switched from JPG to **HEIC**, using the HEIF container. - Video switched from H.264 to **HEVC** (H.265). Both changes were labelled **High Efficiency** in the Camera settings, and the old formats became **Most Compatible**. Capturing in HEIC needs hardware HEVC encoding, so it's the default on iPhones with an A10 Fusion chip or later, which means iPhone 7 onwards. Because Apple controlled the whole chain on its own devices (camera, Photos app, iCloud, Mac), it could switch formats almost invisibly. The friction only showed up at the edges, where photos met Windows PCs, websites and other people's apps. ## The other reasons: quality and features Storage was the headline, but HEIC also gave Apple room to grow. ### Better quality per byte At the same file size, HEIC holds more detail and shows fewer compression artefacts than JPG. Apple could keep photos looking good while still saving space. ### More than one image per file HEIF is a container, so a single file can hold the photo plus related data. Apple uses this for: - **Portrait mode depth maps**, which let you change background blur after the shot. - **Tiled images**, where the photo is split into a grid for faster processing. - **Thumbnails** for quick gallery previews. - **HDR information** on newer models, so photos can look brighter on HDR screens. Live Photos also lean on Apple's ecosystem: the still is a HEIC and the motion is a linked video file, kept together by the Photos app. ### Room for higher bit depth JPG is stuck at 8 bits per colour channel. HEIF allows more, which matters for HDR and for smoother gradients. JPG has no clean way to grow into that. ## When your iPhone converts to JPG automatically Here's the part most people don't realise: your iPhone already converts HEIC to JPG a lot of the time, behind the scenes. Behaviour varies by iOS version and app, but these are the common cases. ### Sharing to other apps When you share a photo through the Share sheet to an app or service that doesn't declare HEIC support, iOS usually hands it a JPG. Messaging apps and social apps typically receive a compatible version, often resized too. ### Mail and Messages Attaching photos from the Photos library in Mail usually produces JPGs, and Mail may offer to send a smaller size. Messages between iPhones may keep HEIC, since both ends understand it. See our guide to [emailing HEIC photos](https://ihateheic.com/how-to-send-heic-photos-by-email) for the details. ### Uploading in Safari When a website asks you to pick a photo and you choose one from your Photos library, Safari usually converts it to JPG unless the website says it accepts HEIC. That's why uploads from an iPhone often just work. Our guide on [uploading iPhone photos to a website](https://ihateheic.com/how-to-upload-iphone-photos-to-a-website) covers the cases where they don't. ### Transferring to a computer With a cable, the setting at **Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC** decides what you get: - **Automatic** converts photos to a compatible format such as JPG as they're imported. - **Keep Originals** copies the HEIC files exactly as they are. ## When it doesn't convert The automatic conversion has gaps, and those gaps are where HEIC files escape: 1. **AirDrop to a Mac.** You usually get the HEIC original, which is fine on the Mac but not if you then send it to someone on Windows. 2. **The Files app.** Saving photos to Files, or picking from Files on a website, often keeps them as HEIC. 3. **Cloud storage.** Uploading to some cloud drives preserves the original HEIC. 4. **Keep Originals.** If the transfer setting is set to Keep Originals, you get HEIC on your PC. 5. **Exporting unmodified originals** from Photos on a Mac. ## Is HEIC worth it? For most people, yes. The space savings are real, quality is excellent, and the iPhone hides the format most of the time. The occasional HEIC that escapes is easy to fix with a converter. If those escapes happen constantly (you send a lot of photos to Windows users, or upload to fussy websites every day), switching the camera to **Most Compatible** may save you more time than it costs in storage. On some models, a few camera features are only available with High Efficiency, so check before you switch. Our [iPhone camera settings guide](https://ihateheic.com/iphone-camera-settings-heic-to-jpg) walks through it. ## Further reading - [High Efficiency Image File Format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Image_File_Format) on Wikipedia, including when Apple adopted it. - [High Efficiency Video Coding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding) on Wikipedia: the compression that makes HEIC files small. ## FAQ ### When did iPhones start using HEIC? Apple switched to HEIC with iOS 11 in 2017, announced alongside macOS High Sierra. iPhones with an A10 Fusion chip or newer, starting with iPhone 7, save photos as HEIC by default. ### Why does my iPhone save some photos as JPG? Screenshots are PNG, and photos received from other people or saved from the web keep their original format. If the camera itself saves JPG, the Camera format is probably set to Most Compatible. ### Does HEIC really save space? Yes. A HEIC photo is typically about half the size of a JPG of similar quality. Across a large photo library that adds up to many gigabytes. ### Does my iPhone convert HEIC to JPG automatically? Often, yes. iOS usually converts when you share to apps and services that can't handle HEIC, when attaching photos in many cases, and when importing to a computer with the Transfer to Mac or PC setting on Automatic. ### Should I turn HEIC off on my iPhone? Only if conversion is a constant hassle. Turning it off makes every photo bigger and, on some models, limits certain camera features. Converting when needed is usually the better trade.