Convert HEIC to WebP
Drop a HEIC file below and get a WebP back. The conversion happens on your own machine, so nothing is uploaded and there is no size or quantity limit beyond what your browser can hold in memory.
Drop images here
Ctrl/⌘ VPaste a screenshot or copied image
Accepts HEIC
Lower means a smaller file. 75 is a good default for photos.
100% in your browser Files are never uploaded.
Why convert HEIC to WebP?
Plenty of websites, content management systems and older desktop programs reject HEIC uploads outright. WebP is accepted just about everywhere, and that alone accounts for most of these conversions.
Expect the WebP file to come out larger than the HEIC you started with. That is the price of the broader compatibility and simpler decoding WebP gives you.
Both formats are lossy. Every re-encode discards a little more detail, so it is worth starting from the original rather than from a copy that has already been through this a few times.
Of all the ways off HEIC, this is the one that gives up the least. You are moving between two modern codecs rather than falling back thirty years, so the file stays small; WebP keeps transparency, and every browser in current use displays it. If the destination is a web page, this is usually the right choice — the reason people pick JPEG instead is compatibility outside the browser, not quality.
Before you convert
The file stays close to its original size
HEIC and WebP are in roughly the same efficiency class — HEIC has the edge, but not by the margin that separates either of them from JPEG. Expect the WebP to land somewhere near the HEIC rather than doubling it. That is the main practical reason to prefer this route for anything going onto a website.
Outside the browser it gets awkward
Browsers are settled on WebP. Email clients, print shops, older desktop editors and a number of upload forms are not. If these photos are going to a person rather than onto a page — attached to an email, handed to a print service — you have swapped one compatibility problem for a slightly less common one. JPEG is the format that ends that conversation.
The container extras still stay behind
WebP is a better match for HEIC on compression, but it is still a single-image format. Burst sequences, portrait depth maps and the moving half of a Live Photo have nowhere to go, exactly as with JPEG and PNG. Standard EXIF — time, location, camera settings — comes across normally.
What carries over
- Most of the original compression efficiency
- Transparency
- Capture time, GPS, camera settings
What does not
- Burst sequences and depth maps
- The moving part of a Live Photo
- Support in email and older desktop software
HEIC vs WebP at a glance
| Property | HEIC | WebP |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy | Lossy |
| Transparency | Yes | Yes |
| Typical file size | 50-60% of an equivalent JPEG | 65-75% of an equivalent JPEG |
| Compatibility | Native on Apple devices; often rejected by web uploads | Supported by all current browsers and most apps |
| Usually comes from | iPhone and iPad photo libraries | Websites optimising page weight |
Frequently asked questions
Are my HEIC files uploaded anywhere?
No. The decoder and encoder are WebAssembly modules that run inside this page. The network tab may show a codec downloading the first time you use a format, but no request contains your file. On supported browsers, a codec that has already been used is cached so the same conversion can work offline.
Is there a file size or quantity limit?
There is no limit imposed by us. The practical ceiling is your device’s memory, since the image has to be held uncompressed while converting. On a typical laptop, images up to around 100 megapixels convert without trouble.
Will converting to WebP lose quality?
WebP is a lossy format, so some data is discarded. At the default quality setting the difference is not visible at normal viewing sizes. If you need an exact copy of the pixels, choose PNG instead.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The same WebAssembly modules run on mobile browsers. Conversion is slower than on a desktop because phone CPUs are weaker, and very large images are more likely to hit memory limits.
Why does my iPhone save photos as HEIC?
Apple switched to HEIC in iOS 11 because it fits roughly the same picture into about half the space of a JPEG. The trade-off is patchy support outside Apple’s own ecosystem, which is exactly why so many uploads get rejected. You can tell the camera to shoot JPEG instead under Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible, at the cost of the space saving.
Is WebP safe to use on a website?
Yes. Every current browser supports it, which covers roughly 97% of visitors. The remaining gap is old software rather than old browsers — a few desktop image viewers and older CMS upload forms still refuse it.