# How to convert HEIC to JPG on a Mac > macOS has the best built-in tooling of any platform for this — the Finder can convert a thousand files in seconds and most people never find the menu item. Source: https://jpg-heic.com/how-to/convert-heic-to-jpg-on-mac | Section: How-to guide | Updated: 2026-08-31 ## The one to remember Finder Quick Actions. Select, right-click, Convert Image, JPEG. It has been there since macOS Monterey and it is faster and more capable than almost every third-party converter people install instead. It keeps the originals, writes the JPGs alongside them, and offers a metadata toggle so you can strip GPS data while converting. - **Use Finder Quick Actions for any number of files**Select the HEIC files in Finder, right-click, and choose **Quick Actions → Convert Image**. Set Format to **JPEG**, choose an image size, and decide whether to keep metadata. Click **Convert to JPEG**. This handles thousands of files at once and is by far the fastest route. - **Use Preview when you want to adjust as you go**Open the file in **Preview**, then **File → Export**. Set Format to JPEG and use the quality slider — Preview shows the resulting file size live as you drag it, which no other method on any platform does. - **Batch in Preview for a mixed selection**Open several images in one Preview window, select them all in the sidebar with ⌘+A, then **File → Export Selected Images**. You get one shared quality setting and one destination folder. - **Build a Quick Action if you do this weekly**Open **Automator**, create a new **Quick Action**, set it to receive image files in Finder, and add **Copy Finder Items** followed by **Change Type of Images** set to JPEG. Save it as 'HEIC to JPG'. It now sits permanently in the Finder right-click menu. ## The Terminal method, for scripting macOS includes `sips`, a command-line image tool, with no installation required: `sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions 92 *.heic --out ./converted` Create the `converted` folder first. Add `-Z 2000` to cap the longest edge at 2000 pixels while converting. This is the right approach for a folder-watching script or a cron job. ## Getting files out of the Photos library Photos stores images in a package you should not reach into directly. To export properly: - **File → Export → Export Photos** — choose JPEG, set quality and size, and decide whether to include location. This is the correct route. - **File → Export → Export Unmodified Original** — gives you the untouched HEIC, which is what you want for archiving rather than sharing. - Dragging a photo from Photos to the Desktop gives you a JPG copy in most macOS versions, which is quick but gives you no control over quality. **Going the other way.** Mac is the one platform where JPG to HEIC genuinely works without installing anything: Preview's Export dialog offers HEIF as a format, and Finder's Convert Image Quick Action includes it too. Apple licenses the HEVC encoder, which is why this works here and nowhere else. [More on that here.](https://jpg-heic.com/jpg-to-heic) ## Frequently asked questions **What is the fastest way to convert many HEIC files on a Mac?** Select them all in Finder, right-click, and choose Quick Actions then Convert Image. It processes thousands of files in seconds and requires nothing to be installed. **Does Preview let me control JPEG quality?** Yes. File then Export shows a quality slider with a live estimate of the resulting file size, which makes it easy to hit a specific target such as an upload limit. **How do I strip location data while converting?** The Finder Convert Image panel has a metadata option, and Photos' export dialog has a Location checkbox. Turning either off removes GPS coordinates from the exported files. **Can a Mac convert JPG to HEIC?** Yes — Preview's Export dialog offers HEIF, and Finder's Convert Image Quick Action does too. macOS is one of the few environments with a licensed HEVC encoder available to ordinary users.