Open a HEIC in the browser, no upload first
HEIC is the default photo format on recent iPhones. It holds the same picture as a JPG in a smaller file, but plenty of apps and websites still refuse it. Before you go hunting for a converter site, try the obvious thing: drag the file onto the bench. The decoding is done by this browser on this device. The pixels never pass through a ReadyIMG server, and there is no account to log into.
The bench takes quite a few formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, WEBP, SVG, TIFF, PSD, HEIC, and common camera RAW files. You can put up to 40 files into the queue at once. What can be read, and how it comes out, is decided by this device alone.
Reading the file is only the first step. When the picture shows up in the queue, no new file exists yet and nothing has been downloaded. What you do next depends on what the other side accepts: chat apps usually want a JPG, a design that needs transparency stays PNG, and if the file should be smaller before it travels, a later step handles that.
Decoding a HEIC happens inside the browser you have open. The photo is never uploaded to ReadyIMG.
When a file will not read, the page says so
HEIC is not one sealed format. Different phone models and camera settings write the file slightly differently, so one picture can fail while the next one opens. When a single HEIC cannot be read, the page tells you this picture cannot be read. That is not a promise that every HEIC will open; it never was. Try another file, or convert the stubborn one somewhere else first. Do not retry the same file over and over. Check whether the extension was changed by hand: a file renamed to .heic that was never a HEIC will simply not read.
RAW works the same way. Cameras produce too many raw variants for any one tool to cover, so when a raw file cannot be decoded, the page asks you to export it as TIFF or JPG first and drop that in. Once it has been through one export it is a pixel image, and the usual steps apply: trim it, turn it, retype it, whatever the picture needs.
- A HEIC that will not read: export it as JPG on the phone or computer first, then drop it on the bench.
- A RAW file that will not decode: export TIFF or JPG first.
- The queue lives for this page session only: refresh or close the tab and anything not yet downloaded is gone.
Once it reads, convert to what the other side accepts
Plenty of chat apps, mail attachments, and older photo libraries still reject HEIC. To send it to a person, use Make JPG to re-encode the picture as a JPG. Empty areas get filled with the background color you pick, white by default, and the quality slider runs from 40 to 95.
If JPG is not the target, use Retype format to pick among JPG, PNG, WEBP, GIF, BMP, TIFF, SVG, and ICO. Converting re-encodes the picture; the quality does not stay frozen in place. Look at the result before you download it.
After HEIC becomes JPG the file is often larger. The format changed; the file did not break.
Bigger after converting is normal
HEIC compresses more efficiently than JPG, so the same picture often ends up with a larger file after conversion. That means the format changed, not that the picture got worse. What matters is whether faces, text, and colors still look right, not which number is bigger. Making the file smaller again is a separate step: run Shrink file on the JPG afterwards if you need to. And if you want words or a stamp on the picture before it goes out, get the format right first, then Caption or Stamp. One step at a time, so a mistake has somewhere obvious to point.
One boundary worth knowing. How files are handled states it plainly: pictures are not uploaded to ReadyIMG, there is no account here, and there is no server that receives your images. Opening the page sends one visit to 51.LA for counting. That counts a person arriving, not your photo.
The original stays where it was
What you download is a new file this device just produced. The original HEIC has not been touched and sits where you left it, unless you delete it yourself. Keeping it means not deleting it; saving space means confirming the new file is already on this computer or phone and opens properly before you remove anything. The queue lives only for this session in this browser. Refresh or close the page and results you have not downloaded are gone, so do not leave the download to the very last step.
Two looks before you send
- You downloaded a new file; the original is still in its folder.
- After converting to JPG, check faces, text, and colors before closing the tab.
- You can load several files at once and convert them in a row, then download as a pack.
If no picture is loaded yet, go back to the bench, drop the HEIC in, and once it reads, open Make JPG or Retype format. Handle one picture at a time and dismiss the ones you do not need. Later entries in the journal cover shrinking animated GIFs, converting a whole batch, and what a page capture leaves out.