Guide
HEIC photos and HEVC video from Android, on a Mac
If your phone's photos end in .heic, your Mac already opens them. Here is how to turn them into JPEGs when something else cannot, and when to change the phone's setting instead.
Yes, a Mac opens HEIC photos from an Android phone with nothing extra installed. Preview, Photos, Quick Look and Finder have read HEIF images since macOS High Sierra in 2017, and QuickTime Player plays the HEVC video that goes with them. Double-click the file and it opens.
You only need to convert when the photo is going somewhere else: a website that refuses the upload, an app that does not know the format, a person on an older computer. Preview, Photos, Finder and one Terminal command can each turn HEIC into JPEG, and if it keeps happening, one switch on the phone stops it at the source.
What HEIC and HEVC are
HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is a way of storing photos, and .heic is the file extension it uses when the picture inside is compressed with HEVC, the same method used for video. HEVC, also called H.265, compresses better than JPEG for photos and better than H.264 for video, so the files are smaller for the same picture. Xiaomi, for one, says HEIF photos can be up to half the size of JPEGs.
The cost is compatibility. Samsung's own description of the setting says it plainly: some sharing sites and apps may not support the format. Apple adopted it in 2017 and every Mac and iPhone since reads it, so HEIC is at its most comfortable between a phone and a Mac.
Which phones save HEIC, and where the setting is
- Samsung Galaxy: in the Camera app, tap the settings icon, then Advanced picture options, and the switch is High efficiency pictures. Video has its own switch, High efficiency videos, under Advanced video options. Samsung records 8K video in HEVC only.
- Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO: the Camera app's settings have a HEIF format switch. Xiaomi notes that some camera features, such as dynamic shots, do not work with it on.
- Google Pixel: photos are JPEGs, with an Ultra HDR layer on recent models. Video can be H.264 or HEVC, and AV1 on the Pixel 10, from the Pixel Camera app's video settings.
- Other makers: look in the camera app's settings for HEIF, High efficiency or a picture format option. Names differ by brand and software version.
Changing the setting affects new photos only. Everything you already took stays HEIC.
Converting HEIC to JPEG on a Mac
Every method here writes a new JPEG and leaves the HEIC as it was. JPEG is a lossy format, so each conversion throws away a little detail; keep the originals, and convert from them rather than from an earlier JPEG.
Preview, for a few photos
- Open the photo in Preview and choose File > Export.
- In the Format menu choose JPEG, and set the Quality slider.
- Choose where to save it and click Save.
For several, open them together so they share one Preview window, select them all in the sidebar, and export the same way.
Photos, if they are in your library
Select the photos, choose File > Export > Export [number] Photos, set Photo Kind to JPEG, and pick a JPEG Quality. Click Export and choose a folder. File > Export > Export Unmodified Original does the opposite: it hands back the HEIC exactly as it was imported.
Finder, without opening anything
Select the files in Finder, Control-click, and choose Quick Actions > Convert Image. Pick JPEG as the format and Actual Size to keep every pixel; the smaller sizes shrink the picture. Tick the box to keep the metadata if you want the date and place to come along. The JPEGs appear next to the originals. This has been in Finder since macOS Monterey.
Terminal, for a whole folder
sips comes with macOS. This converts every HEIC in a folder and writes the JPEGs into another one:
mkdir -p ~/Pictures/JPEG
sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions 90 ~/Pictures/Phone/*.heic --out ~/Pictures/JPEGformatOptions is the JPEG quality, from 0 to 100, or low, normal, high or best. The pattern is case-sensitive, so if your phone writes .HEIC in capitals, change it to match, or use find to catch both:
find ~/Pictures/Phone -iname '*.heic' -exec sips -s format jpeg {} --out ~/Pictures/JPEG \;| Method | Many files at once | Choose the JPEG quality | Needs the photos in a library |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preview, File > Export | Yes, from one window | Yes, a slider | No |
| Photos, File > Export | Yes | Yes, a menu | Yes, imported first |
| Finder, Convert Image | Yes | No, size only | No |
| Terminal, sips | Yes, whole folders | Yes, 0 to 100 | No |
HEVC video on a Mac
QuickTime Player and Photos play HEVC on every Mac since macOS High Sierra. Apple silicon Macs, and Intel Macs with a sixth generation Core chip or later, decode it in hardware. Older Intel Macs decode it in software, so a 4K clip can stutter there, and VLC copes better. The file itself is fine either way; moving big videos from Android to a Mac covers copying and checking long clips.
When to switch the phone's setting
Keep HEIC if your photos mostly live on the phone, a Mac and an iPhone, and space matters: you get the same picture in smaller files, and every Apple device reads it. Switch to JPEG if you often upload straight from the phone to sites or apps that refuse HEIC, or share with people whose computers struggle with it. Converting on the Mac now and then is less trouble than switching back and forth.
Whichever you choose, the transfer itself does not change the files. A cable copy, with Image Capture, an MTP app, or SideMount with the phone mounted in Finder, brings the HEIC across as it is, and Preview can open one straight off the phone's drive. The guides for Samsung and Pixel phones go through every route, and SideMount's setup guide covers the first connection.
Questions
Can a Mac open HEIC photos from a Samsung phone?
Yes. Every Mac running macOS High Sierra or later opens HEIC photos in Preview, Photos and Quick Look, whichever phone took them. Nothing needs installing. Converting is only needed when the photo goes to a website or app that does not accept HEIC.
Does converting HEIC to JPEG lose quality?
A little, because JPEG is lossy and the picture is compressed again. At a high quality setting the difference is hard to see. Keep the HEIC originals and convert from them each time, rather than converting a JPEG again.
How do I stop my Samsung saving photos as HEIC?
Open the Camera app, tap the settings icon, open Advanced picture options and turn off High efficiency pictures. New photos are then saved as JPEG. Photos you already took stay HEIC, so convert those on the Mac if you need JPEGs.
How do I convert many HEIC files at once on a Mac?
Select them in Finder, Control-click, and choose Quick Actions, Convert Image, with JPEG and Actual Size. For whole folders, Terminal's sips does it in one line: sips -s format jpeg ~/Pictures/Phone/*.heic --out ~/Pictures/JPEG, after creating the JPEG folder.
