What HEIC is
High Efficiency Image Container — Apple's default since iOS 11. It uses HEVC (H.265) compression internally, producing roughly half the file size of JPEG at the same quality.
Why convert
- JPG works on every device and platform; HEIC doesn't
- Most websites and email clients reject HEIC uploads
- Older Windows versions need extra codecs to even view HEIC
- Many image editors don't support HEIC at all
The quality decision
HEIC at 50% looks roughly equal to JPG at 75% — so when converting, set JPG quality to 80–90% to preserve the original quality. Lower than that and you're losing detail twice.