Why uploads reject HEIC
Many upload forms accept only JPG, PNG or PDF. A HEIC photo fails either with an error message or by silently showing a broken thumbnail. The fix is a conversion, but doing it well involves four checks: format, file size, dimensions and privacy.
We cannot know the rules of your specific form, so read them. The advice here applies to the typical limits: an accepted type list, a maximum size in MB, and sometimes minimum and maximum pixel dimensions.
1. Format
MDN’s image format guide describes JPEG as a good choice for lossy compression of photographs, and PNG as the choice for sharp graphics or transparency. For a photo, JPG is the default answer. For a scan of a document with text, PNG or PDF keeps edges crisper.
Use the HEIC to JPG converter, or HEIC to PDF if the form wants a PDF. The PDF tool has A4, Letter, Legal or fit-to-image page sizes and margins in millimetres. It embeds images as JPEG in a PDF written by FromHEIC. It does not do OCR and adds no text layer, so a text-search requirement is not met.
Do not just rename .heic to .jpg. The file is still a HEIC underneath; the form may check content and reject it, or it may accept it and later fail to display it.
2. File size
Look for the form’s limit, then convert and look at the result.
- Convert at the default quality (90 in our JPG tool).
- If it is over the limit, lower quality a little and convert again, or use HEIC to target size. You give a target in KB or MB; it runs a search of up to 10 attempts, shows the quality and size it reached, and tells you if the target is impossible even at minimum quality. It outputs JPG, WebP or AVIF.
- If quality drops too far, reduce dimensions instead. See reducing photo size.
We do not give typical sizes because they vary too widely with the picture.
3. Dimensions
Forms sometimes demand exact or minimum pixel sizes. The resize tool for HEIC takes width and height with a proportional lock, in pixels or percent, and does not enlarge by default. The upload-ready image tool is built for this job, and the passport photo resizer is there for ID photos. Always check the official requirements for the document, because those rules are set by the issuing authority and we do not state them.
4. Privacy
An uploaded photo can carry its location. The EXIF specification includes a GPS section, and ExifTool documents its GPS tags, including latitude and longitude. Whether your form or the site behind it strips them is unknown to you, so assume it does not.
In FromHEIC’s converter GPS is off by default and has its own checkbox, so a plain conversion leaves it out. “Keep date, camera and settings” is a separate option. If you want to strip identifiers from a HEIC itself, use Remove HEIC metadata. See metadata and GPS for what exists and what each mode does.
Also look at the picture. A document photographed on a table can show an address, a signature, a barcode or a number you do not want to share. Crop before you upload.
5. Transparency and white backgrounds
If the source has transparency, JPG will flatten it to white in FromHEIC’s tool. That is usually what a form wants. Choose PNG only if you need transparency kept, and the form allows it.
6. Final check before you click upload
- Open the result in the viewer or any image app. Does it look right side up?
- Is the file type, the size and the dimensions within the form’s limits?
- Does it show only what you want to share?
Where the processing happens
The converter runs in your browser, inside a Web Worker, and the photo is not uploaded to FromHEIC. The page’s Content-Security-Policy limits network connections to its own origin and Google Analytics, which loads only if you accept it. Only when you press the form’s own upload button does the file leave your device, and then it goes to that site.
If the form still refuses
Check the file with the file checker. For background on why HEIC is hard for forms, Apple documents that devices can share a more compatible format automatically in some cases, and that you can set the camera to Most Compatible. See also HEIC on iPhone and Android and libheif, the decoder library the tool builds on.