# About this site

> A single-purpose site about one annoying file format, built so that no photo ever has to leave your device.

Source: https://jpg-heic.com/about | Section:  | Updated: 2026-08-31

## Why this exists

HEIC is a genuinely good format that arrived with a licensing model guaranteeing it would never be
 universally supported. The result is a small, permanent friction affecting millions of people: photos
 that look fine on a phone and behave like broken files everywhere else.

Most tools addressing this ask you to upload your photographs to a server you know nothing about,
 then cap the free tier at five files to push you toward a subscription. Photographs are personal.
 They contain faces, homes, documents and, quite often, GPS coordinates precise enough to locate your
 front door. Uploading them to convert a file extension is a poor trade.

## How the converters work

Every tool on this site runs in your browser. When you drop a file:

 - A WebAssembly build of **libheif** — the open-source reference implementation of the HEIF
 standard — decodes the image inside the tab.

 - The pixels are drawn to an HTML canvas, where rotation is applied and resizing happens if you
 asked for it.

 - The browser's own encoder writes the output as JPG, PNG or WebP, and hands you a download link
 pointing at a blob in memory.

No file is transmitted, and you do not have to take that on trust. The simplest demonstration
 needs no technical knowledge at all: load this page, put your device into aeroplane mode or pull the
 network cable, and then convert a photo. It works, because everything needed is already sitting in
 the tab. A site that was quietly uploading your images could not do that.

## What that costs you

Local processing is not free of drawbacks and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise:

 - **Speed depends on your device.** A server with a dedicated encoder is faster than a phone.

 - **Very large batches hit memory limits.** A browser tab has less headroom than a server process.

 - **EXIF metadata is not carried across.** The output is written from decoded pixels, so camera
 settings and GPS tags do not survive. For most people this is a feature; if you need them,
 [this page explains the alternatives](https://jpg-heic.com/heic-metadata-viewer).

 - **HEIC cannot be written.** No browser has an HEVC encoder, so conversion to HEIC is
 not possible here. [The honest explanation is here.](https://jpg-heic.com/jpg-to-heic)

## About the writing

Every page here is written specifically for this site. The tables of file sizes come from converting
 the same source images repeatedly at different settings, not from other people's articles. Where
 something is uncertain or varies by device, the pages say so rather than inventing a confident number.

If you find something wrong, out of date, or unclear, say so — email
 contact@jpg-heic.com or use the
 [contact page](https://jpg-heic.com/contact). Formats and operating systems change, and a page that was
 accurate two years ago may not be now.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is this site free?**

Yes, entirely, with no account, no file limits and no watermarks. Hosting static pages costs very little, and no image ever crosses the network, so there is no processing bill to recover.

**Do you store or see my photos?**

No. There is no upload, so there is nothing to store. The conversion happens inside your browser tab and the files never leave your device.

**Why can't you convert to HEIC?**

No browser ships an HEVC encoder, because of the patent licensing involved. Doing it in a browser is not technically possible, and any site claiming otherwise is uploading your file to a server.