How to convert HEIC to JPG on Mac
Right-click the HEIC photo in Finder and choose FileMate › Convert Image › JPEG. IMG_0001.jpg appears next to IMG_0001.HEIC, which stays as it was. Without FileMate, Preview can export a HEIC as JPEG with File › Export, and Finder’s Quick Actions › Convert Image can too. HEIC stores photos efficiently, but many websites, forms and older apps still expect JPG.
With FileMate, your photos never leave your computer.
Convert HEIC to JPG with FileMate
- Select the HEIC photo in Finder, or several at once.
- Right-click and choose FileMate › Convert Image › JPEG.
- The JPG is saved next to the original, with the same name. The HEIC stays unchanged.
JPEG quality is 80% by default, a good balance for photos. You can change it in FileMate Settings › Images & PDF.
Convert HEIC to JPG with Preview
For one photo, Preview already works well:
- Open the HEIC image in Preview.
- Choose File › Export.
- Choose JPEG from the Format menu and set the quality.
- Click Save.
That’s fine for the occasional photo. FileMate is for the repeated version of the same job: the photo is already in Finder, so there is no app to open, no dialog, and no second name to type.
Convert HEIC to JPG with Finder’s Quick Actions
Since macOS Monterey, Finder has a built-in converter. Right-click the photo and choose Quick Actions › Convert Image. Choose JPEG, an image size, and whether to keep the metadata, then click Convert to JPEG. It asks each time, which is useful when you want a smaller size as well. FileMate’s conversion starts at once with your saved settings, and also converts to TIFF, and from formats such as WebP.
Why convert HEIC to JPG?
HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is the default photo format on iPhone and iPad. It stores a photo in about half the space of an equivalent JPEG. The catch is compatibility: many upload forms, online shops, older Windows PCs and some apps still only accept JPG.
If the place you’re sending the photo accepts HEIC, you don’t need to convert it. If it asks for JPG or says “file type not supported”, converting fixes that.
Is anything lost in the conversion?
JPEG is lossy, like HEIC, so the conversion re-encodes the photo. At FileMate’s default 80% quality the difference isn’t visible in normal viewing, and the JPG is usually larger than the HEIC was. A few things to know:
- Metadata. Date, camera and location are kept by default. FileMate Settings can remove location and device details, or all metadata, from converted copies.
- Live Photos. Only the still photo is converted. The short video stays in the Photos library.
- HDR. Photos taken in HDR can lose some of their extra brightness range in a standard JPEG.
Do I need to upload the photo?
No. Online HEIC converters upload each photo to their server and send back the JPG. FileMate converts it on your Mac. For a folder of photos, that also means nothing waits for an upload, and there is no zip of JPGs to download afterwards.
Get FileMate
The photo is already in Finder. Right-click, Convert Image, JPEG, and the JPG is next to it, made on your Mac, with nothing uploaded.
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