Frequently Asked Questions

HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is the default photo format on Apple devices running iOS 11 and later. It uses the HEVC (H.265) codec for compression, producing files roughly half the size of equivalent JPEGs while maintaining the same visual quality. HEIC files can also store depth maps, Live Photos, and image sequences. However, HEIC is not universally supported across all platforms, which is why converter tools like heic.site exist.

Yes, heic.site is completely free with no limits on the number or size of files you can convert. There are no premium tiers, no watermarks, and no sign-up required. The tool runs entirely in your browser, so our server costs are minimal — which is how we can offer it for free.

No. All conversion happens entirely in your web browser using WebAssembly technology. Your files never leave your device — they are not uploaded, stored, or transmitted to any server. This is a core design principle of heic.site, not just a feature. You can verify this by disconnecting from the internet after the page loads and converting files offline.

heic.site works in all modern browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera. Safari users benefit from native HEIC decoding, which is significantly faster (17-39x) because Apple includes built-in HEVC support. On other browsers, we use a WebAssembly decoder compiled from the open-source libheif library, which handles the full HEIF standard reliably.

There is no hard limit on the number of files. You can drop an entire folder of HEIC photos and they will be processed sequentially to keep memory usage manageable. For large batches, we provide a "Download All as ZIP" button so you can grab all converted images in a single download. Performance depends on your device — modern phones and laptops can typically handle hundreds of files in a session.

It depends on the output format and quality setting. Converting to PNG is lossless — every pixel is preserved exactly. Converting to JPG, WebP, or AVIF involves lossy compression, but at the default quality settings (92 for JPG, 85 for WebP, 80 for AVIF), the visual difference is imperceptible to the human eye. You can adjust the quality slider to find your preferred balance between file size and quality.

Yes. heic.site is fully responsive and works on iOS and Android devices. On iPhones and iPads using Safari, conversions are particularly fast thanks to native HEIC support. On Android devices using Chrome, the WebAssembly decoder handles the conversion. Simply tap the drop zone to open your file picker and select the HEIC files you want to convert.

By default, heic.site strips EXIF metadata (camera model, GPS location, timestamps) from converted files for privacy. You can toggle this in the settings panel if you want to preserve metadata. Note that EXIF preservation depends on the output format — JPG and WebP support full EXIF data, while PNG and AVIF have more limited metadata support.

heic.site supports four output formats: JPG (JPEG) for universal compatibility, PNG for lossless quality and transparency, WebP for excellent compression with broad browser support, and AVIF for next-generation compression with the best quality-to-size ratio. Each format has its strengths — JPG works everywhere, PNG preserves every pixel, WebP balances size and quality, and AVIF offers cutting-edge compression.

Safari on macOS and iOS includes native HEVC (H.265) decoding support because Apple ships the codec with their operating systems. This means Safari can decode HEIC images using optimized, hardware-accelerated native code rather than the WebAssembly fallback. The result is dramatically faster decoding — typically 17 to 39 times faster in our benchmarks. The encoding step (to JPG, PNG, etc.) is similarly fast across all browsers since it uses the standard Canvas API.