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HEIC is the better format on paper — roughly half the file size of JPG at equivalent quality, with support for higher colour depth and Live Photos. JPG wins on compatibility, and that usually matters more. Keep HEIC if you stay inside Apple’s ecosystem; use JPG for anything you send to other people.
HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is what iPhones have saved photos as since iOS 11. JPG has been the universal standard since the 1990s.
HEIC arrived long after JPG had become the default assumption of the entire internet, and support outside Apple is still inconsistent. Older Android phones show a grey placeholder. Windows needs a codec from the Microsoft Store that is not installed by default. Plenty of upload forms, print services and older desktop applications reject the file outright.
None of this is about quality. A HEIC photo is technically better than the JPG equivalent. It just cannot be relied upon to open on someone else’s device, and a photo nobody can view has no quality at all.
Match the format to where the photo is going, not to which is technically superior.
If most of the people you share with are on Android or Windows, it is simpler to stop producing HEIC files at all. Open Settings, tap Camera, tap Formats, and choose "Most Compatible" instead of "High Efficiency". New photos save as JPG from then on.
Two caveats: photos take roughly twice the storage, and this only affects new photos. Everything already in your library stays HEIC.
For an existing library, converting is the answer. A browser-based converter decodes each HEIC file and writes a JPG on your own device, so personal photos are never uploaded. You can convert a whole batch at once and download them individually or as a ZIP, and optionally compress them for WhatsApp in the same pass.
Keep the HEIC originals if storage allows. Converting to JPG is lossy in the sense that JPG is a less capable format — you are not recovering the extra colour depth later.
At the same file size, yes — HEIC compresses more efficiently and supports greater colour depth. At maximum quality settings the visible difference is small, and JPG’s universal compatibility usually matters more.
A high-quality conversion is visually indistinguishable. The resulting file is larger, because JPG is less efficient, and you lose HEIC-specific features like extra colour depth and multiple frames.
Yes if you frequently share photos with Android or Windows users and would rather not think about conversion. No if you stay within Apple devices and value the storage savings.
Only with the HEIF Image Extensions codec from the Microsoft Store, which is not installed by default on many machines. Converting to JPG avoids the question entirely.
WhatsApp converts photos to JPG when you use its photo picker. AirDrop and share sheets transfer the original HEIC file, which the receiving device may not be able to decode.