2026-06-03
Image to PDF: The Complete Guide to Converting Photos Online
Learn how image to PDF conversion works, which formats are supported, when to use it, and how to convert JPG, PNG, or HEIC photos to PDF online for free.
2026-06-07
Free Online Tool
Use our free metadata viewer to inspect EXIF, GPS location, camera model, capture date, shutter speed, ISO, and editing software without registration.
To convert HEIC/HEIF to JPG while keeping all EXIF metadata:
.heic or .heif file to getmetadatas.com/heic-to-jpg.HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is Apple's default photo format since iOS 11 (2017). It uses the HEVC (H.265) codec to compress images at roughly half the file size of JPEG at equivalent visual quality. A typical iPhone photo is 2–4 MB in HEIC versus 5–8 MB in JPEG.
HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is the open standard defined by MPEG; HEIC is Apple's specific implementation. Both use the .heic or .heif extension.
| Platform / Use Case | HEIC Support | JPG Support |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 10/11 (without codec) | ✗ Limited | ✓ Full |
| Android devices | ✗ Limited | ✓ Full |
| Web browsers (non-Safari) | ✗ Limited | ✓ Full |
| Email attachments | Often blocked | ✓ Universal |
| Photo editing software (older) | ✗ Varies | ✓ Universal |
| Social media uploads | ✗ Auto-converted | ✓ Direct |
Source: Apple HEIF/HEIC support documentation; caniuse.com browser compatibility data.
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) metadata is embedded in every photo and contains:
When most online converters process HEIC files, they perform a simple pixel dump to JPEG format and discard all metadata. The resulting JPG has no GPS tag, no camera model, no capture time — it looks right but is stripped of all its context.
The professional solution — used by photographers, archivists, and forensics professionals — is a two-step process:
Use a library that understands the HEVC/HEIC format to decode the image and re-encode it as JPEG. In Python, this is Pillow combined with the pillow-heif plugin:
from pillow_heif import register_heif_opener
from PIL import Image
register_heif_opener()
img = Image.open("photo.heic").convert("RGB")
img.save("photo.jpg", format="JPEG", quality=95)
This produces a correct JPEG file but with no metadata.
ExifTool by Phil Harvey is the industry-standard metadata tool, used in Adobe Lightroom, digiKam, and countless professional workflows. A single command copies every tag from the source HEIC to the destination JPG:
exiftool -tagsFromFile photo.heic -all:all -unsafe -overwrite_original photo.jpg
-tagsFromFile photo.heic — read tags from the original HEIC-all:all — copy all tag groups (EXIF, IPTC, XMP, GPS, MakerNotes)-unsafe — allow copying of tags that ExifTool would otherwise protect-overwrite_original — write directly to the destination without creating a backupAfter this command, the JPG contains an exact copy of every metadata tag from the original HEIC.
Using the ExifTool clone approach, the following are preserved without exception:
| Tag Group | Examples |
|---|---|
| EXIF IFD0 | Make, Model, Software, Orientation, DateTime |
| EXIF SubIFD | DateTimeOriginal, ExposureTime, FNumber, ISO, FocalLength |
| GPS IFD | GPSLatitude, GPSLongitude, GPSAltitude |
| MakerNotes | Apple-specific tags (lens type, HDR, Live Photo flag) |
| XMP | Rating, Label, custom keywords |
| IPTC | Caption, Creator, Keywords |
The only data that cannot be preserved is HDR/Live Photo auxiliary images embedded in the HEIC container, because JPEG does not support multiple image frames. The primary image and all its metadata are fully preserved.
| JPEG Quality Setting | Typical Use | File Size (relative to source HEIC) |
|---|---|---|
| 95 % (this tool) | Archival, professional | ~120–150 % |
| 85 % | General use | ~70–90 % |
| 75 % | Web publishing | ~40–60 % |
We use 95% quality to produce a visually lossless result suitable for printing, editing, and archiving. The trade-off is a slightly larger file size than the original HEIC — this is expected, since HEVC compression is more efficient than JPEG.
All files uploaded to getmetadatas.com are:
No account or signup is required.
Why does my iPhone save HEIC instead of JPEG?
Apple switched to HEIC by default in iOS 11 to save storage space. A 256 GB iPhone can store approximately twice as many HEIC photos as JPEG.
How to make iPhone export JPEG automatically:
Settings → Camera → Formats → select Most Compatible. This makes the Camera app save JPEG directly instead of HEIC.
How to convert in bulk on macOS:
# Convert all HEIC files in the current directory to JPG
for f in *.heic; do
exiftool -tagsFromFile "$f" -all:all -unsafe \
-o "${f%.heic}.jpg" "$f"
done
Note: ExifTool alone cannot re-encode pixels; use the Pillow pipeline for pixel conversion and ExifTool for metadata transfer.
Q: Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?
A: Converting from HEIC to JPG does involve a re-encoding step, because JPEG cannot store HEVC-compressed data. At 95% quality, the difference is imperceptible to the human eye. For lossless archiving, keep the original HEIC alongside the converted JPG.
Q: Can I convert HEIF files with .heif extension?
A: Yes. HEIF and HEIC use the same container format and codec. Both .heic and .heif files are processed identically.
Q: What is the maximum file size?
A: Up to 50 MB per file.
Q: Can I batch-convert multiple files?
A: The online tool currently supports one file at a time. For bulk conversion, use the ExifTool command shown in the "bulk on macOS" section above.
Converting HEIC to JPG correctly requires two steps: pixel re-encoding and metadata cloning. Most online tools skip the second step, silently discarding GPS coordinates and all camera information. The free HEIC to JPG converter at getmetadatas.com performs both steps — Pillow converts the image pixels and ExifTool clones every metadata tag — producing a JPG file that is both universally compatible and fully documented.
Upload an image to our online metadata viewer and instantly check photo metadata, GPS coordinates, timestamps, and camera settings.
2026-06-03
Learn how image to PDF conversion works, which formats are supported, when to use it, and how to convert JPG, PNG, or HEIC photos to PDF online for free.
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Learn how to get metadata from PDF files, which fields matter, how to check hidden document properties, and how to use our free PDF metadata viewer online.
2026-05-10
Learn the difference between EXIF, IPTC, and XMP metadata, what each standard stores, and how to inspect image metadata online with a metadata viewer.