Why iPhones Use HEIC—and How to Change the Camera Format

Why Apple uses High Efficiency

Apple introduced HEIF and HEVC capture with iOS 11. Their main advantage is efficient storage: Apple states that HEIF and HEVC provide better compression than JPEG and H.264 while preserving similar visual quality. That means more photos and videos can fit in the same amount of device or cloud storage. Apple’s compatibility guide (opens in a new tab)

HEIF is more than a filename extension. It is a container that can represent images and related information. An iPhone still photo commonly appears as .heic because the image inside the HEIF container is encoded using HEVC.

How to capture JPEG instead of HEIC

On a supported iPhone or iPad, open Settings, choose Camera, then Formats. Select Most Compatible to have future photos and videos use more broadly compatible capture formats such as JPEG and H.264. Select High Efficiency to use HEIF and HEVC where supported.

This setting changes future captures; it does not convert photos already in your library. Camera modes and device capabilities can also affect which formats are available, so wording may differ slightly by software version.

Capture format and transfer format are separate

The Camera > Formats choice controls how new media is captured. The Photos transfer setting controls what may happen when media is transferred to a Mac or PC. With Automatic transfer, the device can deliver a more compatible version when needed. With Keep Originals, it sends the original format.

This distinction explains why an image can be HEIC on the phone but arrive as JPEG on a computer. It also explains why two transfer methods can produce files with different extensions even though they began with the same library item.

Which setting should you choose?

• Use High Efficiency if you mainly work on recent Apple devices and value storage efficiency.
• Use Most Compatible if a required Windows app, client portal, or older editor repeatedly rejects HEIC.
• Keep High Efficiency and convert only the files you share when incompatibility is occasional.
• Do not delete originals immediately after a bulk transfer; first confirm dates, dimensions, orientation, and edits.