Convert HEIC to WebP

Why your iPhone photos are HEIC files

Since iOS 11, iPhones and iPads have saved photos as HEIC by default instead of JPEG. The format stores an image at roughly half the file size for comparable quality, which is why Apple switched: it doubles how many photos fit on a device.

The catch is support. HEIC relies on HEVC compression, which is patent-encumbered, so a great deal of software never implemented it. Your photo is not corrupted — the program you are opening it in simply cannot read the format.

Why convert HEIC to WebP?

WebP is the sensible destination when the photo is headed for a website. It keeps files close to HEIC-like sizes while being readable by every modern browser, so pages stay fast without excluding anyone.

It also supports transparency and both lossy and lossless modes, which makes it more flexible than JPG for mixed graphic and photographic content.

How to stop your iPhone taking HEIC photos

If you keep running into this, you can change the format the camera saves in. This affects new photos only — existing HEIC files stay as they are, so you will still need to convert those.

1. Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap Camera, then Formats.
3. Choose Most Compatible. The camera will save JPEG from now on.

There is a related setting under Settings › Photos › Transfer to Mac or PC. Set it to Automatic and iOS converts photos to JPEG as it transfers them.

How does WebP compare to HEIC on quality?

They are close. Both are modern formats that compress far better than JPG, so converting between them costs very little visible quality at sensible settings.

The practical difference is support: browsers read WebP universally, while HEIC remains awkward outside Apple's ecosystem. You are trading a format that compresses slightly better for one that actually opens everywhere on the web.

What happens to Live Photos, depth and HDR data

A single HEIC file can hold far more than one image: the frames of a Live Photo, a depth map from Portrait mode, an HDR gain map, and several alternative renderings. Standard image formats have nowhere to put any of that.

Converting extracts the main photograph — the picture you actually see — and writes it as WebP. The motion, depth and HDR layers are left behind, and the originals on your device are untouched, so nothing is lost from your library.

Converting without uploading your photos

Nearly every HEIC converter on the web uploads your photos to a server, converts them there, and sends them back. Your camera roll is unusually personal — photos carry faces, locations and timestamps — and once a file is on someone else's server you are trusting their retention policy.

Morphixel does the conversion inside your browser instead. The decoder runs on your own device, so the photo never travels anywhere. You can verify this: open your browser's network tab, convert a photo, and watch that no upload occurs. Once the page has loaded you can even disconnect from the internet entirely and it still works.