Convert Apple HEIC photos to standard JPEG locally in your browser
When you take a photo on an iPhone, Apple doesn't save it as a traditional JPEG. To save space, they use HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container).
Similar to the modern AVIF format, an HEIC image is actually just a single still frame encoded using a highly-efficient video codec called HEVC (H.265).
Why don't all browsers just support HEIC natively? Patents.
The HEVC compression algorithm is heavily patented by multiple corporations. If Google added native HEIC support to Chrome, or Mozilla to Firefox, they would have to pay millions in licensing fees. Apple pays these fees, which is why HEIC works flawlessly on Macs and iPhones, but fails on Windows or the open web.
To bypass this limitation without uploading your private photos to a server, this tool uses a compiled WebAssembly (WASM) decoder.
We run a complex C++ decompression algorithm directly inside your browser's secure sandbox. It mathematically decodes the proprietary HEVC video frame back into raw RGB pixels, which we then easily re-encode into an open, royalty-free format like JPEG or PNG using standard browser APIs.
Why does an HEIC file fail to open natively in Chrome or Firefox?
