How to convert HEIC to JPG on a Mac

For one photo or a handful, you don't need to install anything: macOS converts HEIC to JPG from Finder, Preview and Photos. For a whole folder, sips in Terminal does it for free. convt adds subfolders, quality and resizing options, and a right-click menu for when you do this every week.

Updated October 29, 2026

The short version

Select the photos in Finder, Control-click them and choose Quick Actions › Convert Image. Set Format to JPEG and click Convert to JPEG. The JPGs appear next to the originals.

Pick a method

Finder Quick ActionsA few photos at onceFree, built in · Apple's guideApple's guide
PreviewOne photo, with a quality sliderFree, built in · Apple's guideApple's guide
PhotosPictures already in your libraryFree, built in · Apple's guideApple's guide
sips in TerminalOne folder of filesFree, built in · Apple's manualApple's manual
convtFolders with subfolders, resizing, repeat jobs7-day trial, then paid · Run on iPhone photosRun on iPhone photos

Convert a few photos with Finder Quick Actions

From Apple's guide, Perform quick actions in the Finder. We haven't run it ourselves.

Quick Actions is the fastest free way, and it works on a whole selection at once.

In Finder, select the HEIC photos. Command-click to pick several.
Control-click the selection and choose Quick Actions, then Convert Image. On recent versions of macOS it sits under More.
Set Format to JPEG and choose an image size. Actual Size keeps every pixel.
Click Convert to JPEG. The JPGs are saved next to the originals, which stay as they were.

The dialog also has a Preserve Metadata checkbox. Leave it on if you want the date taken and location to carry over to the JPGs.

Convert one photo in Preview

From Apple's guide, Convert image file types using Preview. We haven't run it ourselves.

Preview is the way to go when you want to choose the JPEG quality yourself.

Open the photo in Preview.
Choose File › Export.
Choose JPEG from the Format menu and set the Quality slider. Higher quality means a bigger file.
Pick a name and a folder, then click Save.

For several photos, open them in one Preview window, select them all in the sidebar, then use File › Export the same way.

Export from the Photos app

From Apple's guide, Export photos, videos, slideshows, and memories. We haven't run it ourselves.

If the pictures came to your Mac through iCloud Photos, they're already in Photos.

Select the photos.
Choose File › Export › Export [number] Photos.
Set Photo Kind to JPEG. You can also pick the JPEG quality, the size and a color profile.
Click Export, choose a folder, and click Export again.

Batch convert in Terminal with sips

From Apple's sips manual (man sips on your Mac). We wrote this guide on Linux, so we haven't run sips.

sips comes with every Mac and converts a folder of photos in one command. Open Terminal, go to the folder, and write the JPGs into a new folder called jpg:

$ cd ~/Pictures/iphone$ mkdir jpg$ sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions 85 *.HEIC --out jpg

formatOptions is the JPEG quality as a percentage. The *.HEIC pattern is case-sensitive, so use *.heic if your file names are lowercase. sips doesn't look inside subfolders. To convert those, run it in each folder or use the next method.

Convert whole folders with convt

Run with the convt 0.5.0 CLI on five HEIC photos from an iPhone XR and an iPhone 13 Pro.

convt is a Mac app that converts files on your computer, with a command-line tool in the same install. Local conversions never upload your photos. It's worth it when you convert photos often, have folders inside folders, or want every photo resized to fit.

Install it with Homebrew, which puts the convt command in Terminal, or from GitHub releases. Neither asks you to sign in.

$ brew tap opencoredev/convt https://github.com/opencoredev/convt$ brew install --cask convt

If you installed from the disk image, type /Applications/convt.app/Contents/MacOS/convt instead of convt.

$ convt photos/ --to jpg -r

Output

photos/IMG_3579.HEIC -> photos/IMG_3579.jpg
photos/IMG_3578.HEIC -> photos/IMG_3578.jpg
photos/trip/IMG_3605.HEIC -> photos/trip/IMG_3605.jpg
photos/IMG_8563.HEIC -> photos/IMG_8563.jpg
photos/trip/IMG_3616.HEIC -> photos/trip/IMG_3616.jpg
5 converted, 0 failed

-r includes subfolders, and each JPG is written next to its HEIC. Run the command again and convt writes IMG_3578 (1).jpg rather than replacing the first copy. A few options cover most batches:

-o ~/Desktop/jpg: Puts the JPGs in another folder and recreates the subfolders there.
-q 80: Sets JPEG quality from 1 to 100. Without it, convt uses 90.
--max-size 2048: Limits the longest side to 2,048 pixels.

What came out of our test

Resolution: 4032 × 3024 in, 4032 × 3024 out. Nothing cropped or scaled.
Portrait photo: Came out 3024 × 4032 and upright.
File size: A 1.1 MB HEIC became a 1.5 MB JPG at the default quality of 90, and 1.0 MB with -q 80.
Subfolders: With -r, photos in trip/ were converted into trip/.
Date taken, camera, location: Not copied. The JPGs have no EXIF data.

The last row matters. convt 0.5.0 doesn't copy EXIF data when it turns HEIC into JPG, so the date taken, the camera and the GPS location are missing from the copies. That's handy when you share photos with strangers, but photo apps will sort the JPGs by file date instead. If you need that data, use Finder with Preserve Metadata on, or export from Photos.

We ran the convt tests on Linux, where convt reads HEIC through libheif. On a Mac it uses Apple's own decoder; the JPEG step is the same code. We didn't compare colors between the two.

Or right-click in Finder

From convt's own documentation. We haven't clicked through it in Finder for this guide.

Open convt once so it can tell Finder which formats to offer, then turn on its Finder extension in System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions › Finder. After that, Control-click your HEIC photos, choose Convert with convt, then JPEG. The JPGs show up next to the originals without opening a window.

Questions

Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?: A little. JPEG is a lossy format, so the photo is compressed again. The resolution stays the same, and the file usually gets bigger: in our test a 1.1 MB HEIC became a 1.5 MB JPG at quality 90.
Can my iPhone take photos as JPG instead?: Yes. Open Settings › Camera › Formats and choose Most Compatible. New photos are saved as JPEG from then on, and take more space. Source: Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices.
Is there a free way to convert many at once?: Yes. Finder Quick Actions and Preview both take a selection, and sips converts a whole folder from Terminal.
Does convt upload my photos?: Not for local conversions. The app and the command-line tool convert on your Mac. The app uploads a file only if you pick Cloud for a job, which is part of convt Pro. See every format it handles on the formats page.