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iPhone Photo Format Explained

Last reviewed 2026-04-27. Use HEIC to JPG when you need to share an iPhone photo outside Apple devices.

30-second answer. An iPhone can save photos in four formats: HEIC (default since iPhone 7), JPG (forced via Settings), PNG (screenshots and some edits), and ProRAW (Pro models only, for editing). HEIC is half the size of JPG at the same quality but does not open natively on Windows or Android. Convert to JPG before sharing outside the Apple ecosystem.

The four formats and when iOS uses them

  • HEIC. The default since iOS 11 on iPhone 7 and newer. Roughly 50% smaller than JPG at the same visual quality. Native on iPhone, iPad, Mac. Not native on Windows (download required) or Android (no download path on most devices). Apple's chosen container for camera output.
  • JPG. The universal fallback. iOS uses JPG when the photo is going to a non-Apple destination via the share sheet, or when you set Settings > Camera > Formats to "Most Compatible". Larger files, but every device on the planet opens them.
  • PNG. Screenshots and some edits. Lossless and large. PNG is what the side-button screenshot produces and what Markup saves when you export an annotated image.
  • ProRAW. Apple's RAW format, available on Pro models. Captures full sensor data plus computational adjustments as a layered DNG file. 25-50 MB per photo. For editing in Lightroom or similar; not for sharing.

Where each format wins

HEIC wins on storage. A 12-megapixel HEIC photo is typically 1.5-2.5 MB; the same scene in JPG is 3-5 MB. On a 256 GB phone with 30,000 photos, HEIC saves you 50-75 GB. That is a real reason iOS picks it as default.

JPG wins on portability. Sending a HEIC to a Windows laptop, an Android phone, a CMS upload, or an old printer driver and you will hit "unsupported format" or a render that looks broken. JPG just works. The conversion step is the cost of compatibility.

PNG wins on screenshots. Solid colors, sharp edges, text - PNG keeps them perfectly. Saving a screenshot as JPG produces visible compression artifacts around text and UI edges. Keep screenshots PNG; convert photos.

ProRAW wins on editing. The layered DNG retains color and exposure latitude that JPG and HEIC discard. If you are not editing in Lightroom or Affinity, do not shoot ProRAW - the files are huge and the benefits invisible.

How to switch defaults

Settings > Camera > Formats has two options. "High Efficiency" saves HEIC; "Most Compatible" saves JPG. Switching to Most Compatible doubles your photo storage but eliminates the conversion step for every share. The right choice depends on whether you ship more photos to other Apple devices (keep HEIC) or out of the Apple ecosystem (switch to JPG).

For batch conversion of an existing HEIC library, use HEIC to JPG in your browser - the photos do not upload anywhere. See how to convert an iPhone photo to JPG for the step-by-step, or HEIC vs JPG vs WebP for the broader format comparison.

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