HEIC vs JPG: Which Should You Use?

HEIC files are roughly half the size of JPGs at similar quality. JPGs open on essentially every device ever made. That single trade-off explains almost everything else about the two formats.

This guide compares them properly, then tells you which one you actually want.

The short version

	HEIC	JPG
Released	2015	1992
Compression	HEVC (H.265)	JPEG
Typical size, 12MP photo	~2 MB	~4 MB
Colour depth	Up to 16-bit	8-bit
Transparency	Yes	No
Multiple images per file	Yes	No
Opens on Windows	Needs an extension	Always
Opens in browsers	No	Always
Accepted by upload forms	Often rejected	Always

File size

This is HEIC’s headline advantage and it is not marginal.

How much smaller, really

For a typical 12-megapixel iPhone photo, expect around 2 MB as HEIC against 3.5–5 MB as a JPEG of comparable appearance.

Across a library of 20,000 photos that is tens of gigabytes. On a phone, that is the difference between deleting things and not thinking about it.

If storage is the reason you are here, converting is not the answer — a JPEG of the same photo is bigger, not smaller. Compressing the photo to a quality level or a target size is what actually reclaims space.

Why the gap is so large

JPEG was finalised in 1992 and its compression reflects the era. It works on 8×8 blocks of pixels with a fixed transform.

HEVC arrived in 2013 and does far more: variable block sizes, better prediction between regions, smarter entropy coding. Thirty years of research separates them, and it shows.

The catch

That efficiency is exactly why HEIC is not universal. HEVC is covered by a patent pool, and licensing it is expensive enough that many software vendors declined.

Image quality

Here the answer is less dramatic than the marketing suggests.

At the same file size

HEIC wins clearly. Give both formats 1 MB for the same photo and the HEIC will show fewer artifacts, particularly in skies, skin tones and smooth gradients.

At maximum quality

They converge. Push a JPEG to quality 95 and the difference becomes very hard to see, because the limiting factor is the camera sensor rather than the codec.

Colour depth

HEIC can store 10-bit or 16-bit colour. JPEG is 8-bit only.

Does that matter to you?

For viewing, almost never — most screens and most eyes will not show the difference. For heavy editing it does: pulling shadows up in a 10-bit file produces smoother results than doing the same to 8-bit.

What you actually see

Converting one good HEIC to one good JPEG produces an image you will not be able to tell apart in normal use. The quality argument matters far less than the compatibility one.

Compatibility: the deciding factor

This is where JPEG wins, and it is not close.

Apple devices

HEIC works everywhere: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV. It is Apple’s format and their support is complete.

Windows

Windows needs the HEIF Image Extensions installed before Photos or File Explorer will show a HEIC. It is a free download, but it is a step, and most people do not know it exists.

Android

Android has supported HEIF at the OS level since Android 10. Whether your gallery app takes advantage of that varies by manufacturer.

Browsers

Chrome and Firefox cannot display HEIC at all. Safari can, because macOS and iOS supply the codec.

This is why you cannot simply put a HEIC on a website.

Upload forms

Many forms accept only .jpg and .png. A HEIC will not even be selectable in the file picker, which is one of the more baffling ways to encounter the format.

What HEIC can do that JPG cannot

Beyond size, HEIC is a genuinely more capable container.

Transparency

HEIC supports an alpha channel. JPEG has none, so transparent regions get filled with a solid colour.

More than one image in a file

A single HEIC can hold a burst sequence or several related images. JPEG is strictly one image per file.

Depth maps

Portrait mode photos carry a depth map used to compute background blur. That data rides inside the HEIC.

Live Photo pairing

HEIC stores an identifier linking the still to its companion video clip. The clip itself is a separate .MOV file — a common misunderstanding.

Which should you use?

Keep HEIC when

Your photos stay within Apple devices
Storage on your phone matters
You edit heavily and want the extra colour depth
You shoot a lot and never share the originals

Choose JPG when

You send photos to Windows or Android users
You upload to websites, forms or older software
You are printing through a service
You want to stop thinking about compatibility entirely

The practical answer for most people

Keep shooting HEIC and convert when you need to. You get the storage saving every day and pay the conversion cost only when a photo actually leaves your ecosystem.

If you would rather not deal with it at all, turning HEIC off on your iPhone takes thirty seconds and costs you storage instead.

Where PNG and WebP fit in

The comparison is rarely just two-way, so it is worth placing the other two formats you will meet.

PNG

Lossless, which means no compression artifacts ever, and it supports transparency. The cost is size: a PNG of a photograph is usually larger than either a HEIC or a JPEG.

PNG is the right choice for screenshots, graphics with flat colour, and anything you will edit repeatedly. It is the wrong choice for a holiday photo you want to email.

WebP

Roughly 25–35% smaller than JPEG at similar quality, supports transparency, and works in every modern browser. It sits between HEIC and JPEG on both size and compatibility.

If the destination is a website, WebP is usually the best of the four. It is not a good choice for sending to people, because plenty of desktop software still does not open it.

Choosing between all four

Destination	Format
Sending to a person	JPG
A website	WebP
Editing or archiving	PNG
Staying on Apple devices	HEIC

Every one of these conversions runs on your own device: PNG, JPG and WebP.

Is HEIC going to replace JPEG?

Probably not, and the reason is instructive.

JPEG’s advantage compounds. Every year it remains universal, the cost of abandoning it rises, because there is more software and more archived material that expects it.

HEIC’s patent licensing kept it out of browsers, which is fatal for a general-purpose image format. Meanwhile AVIF and JPEG XL offer comparable efficiency without the same licensing baggage, and AVIF already works in every major browser.

The realistic future is JPEG remaining the interchange format for a long time, with more efficient formats used inside particular ecosystems. HEIC is one of those, not a successor.

📖 Further reading: what a HEIC file actually is covers the container, the codec, and the naming confusion between HEIC, HEIF and HEVC.

Frequently asked questions

Is HEIC better than JPG?

HEIC is technically better — about half the file size at similar quality, with support for transparency, depth data and 10-bit colour. JPG is more useful, because it opens on every device made in the last thirty years. Which is 'better' depends on whether your photos stay inside Apple's ecosystem.

How much smaller is HEIC than JPG?

Roughly half, for a similar-looking image. A 12MP photo that lands around 2 MB as HEIC will typically be 3.5 to 5 MB as a JPEG. The saving comes from HEVC compression, which is far newer than JPEG's 1992 design.

Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?

It re-encodes the image once, which is technically lossy. At quality 90 or above you will not see the difference on screen. The resulting JPG is usually larger than the HEIC it came from.

Which has better image quality, HEIC or JPG?

At the same file size, HEIC looks better because it compresses more efficiently. At maximum quality both look essentially identical, since the limit becomes the camera rather than the format.

Can JPG store transparency like HEIC?

No. JPEG has no alpha channel, so transparent areas are filled with a solid colour, usually white. HEIC can store transparency, as can PNG and WebP.

Why does my iPhone use HEIC instead of JPG?

Apple made HEIC the default in iOS 11 to halve the storage each photo uses. You can switch back in Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible, which makes every new photo a JPEG.

Will HEIC eventually replace JPG?

Unlikely in that form. HEIC's HEVC compression carries patent licensing that has kept it out of browsers, and newer royalty-free formats like AVIF are better positioned. JPEG's compatibility advantage compounds every year.

Should I convert my whole photo library to JPG?

Usually not. Converting doubles the storage and gains you nothing until you actually need to share a photo. Convert on demand instead, which takes seconds.