Starting with iOS 11 and continuing on iOS 16 and 17 Apple switched the default camera formats for photos and videos to new “high efficiency” standards. That meant by default iPhone Camera Shoot Photos HEIC file format instead of JPEG, and the default for videos is now HEVC instead of H264. This is a great innovation by Apple, allow for file sizes to be smaller while maintaining the same quality, which means you’ll be able to store more pictures and videos on your iPhone. But the problem is that HEIC and HEVC files aren’t yet universally supported. Still, Windows PCs, outdated Android phones, or even older Macs, Didn’t support the HEIC and HEVC file formats. And this is the reason, many users want to switch the iPhone camera back to the older jpg, more compatible formats. If you are one of them, here are steps to Make the iPhone Camera Shoot Photos in JPG Instead of HEIC in iOS 17.
The HEIC/HEIF Format
HEIC/HEIF is a special format for images that takes photos and compresses their size up to 50 percent. The amazing thing about this unique file format is that even though it can reduce a file’s size up to 50 percent, it doesn’t compromise its quality at all.
On the downside of things, the HEIC/HEIF format is not as popular as JPEG and therefore, it’s not universally supported by other devices and operating systems. This means that while HEIC/HEIF might be better than JPEG, Apple fans are going to have some issues transferring their photos to other devices.
Set iPhone Camera to save photos as JPEG
- Open the “Settings” panel and then tap on “Camera”;
- Look down and tap on the “Formats” option;
- The only thing left to do is to check the “Most Compatible” option instead of “High Efficiency”.
Convert HEIC to JPEG on iPhone
If you already have a photo in HEIC format and looking to convert it to JPEG, there are a number of ways to convert the file directly on the iPhone.
- Turn on Automatic Transfer: It will change HEIC to JPG automatically when you transfer photos from iPhone to PC or Mac computer. So you do not have to use a HEIC to JPG converter.
Go to Settings > Camera > Formats > Choose Automatic under TRANSFER TO MAC OR PC.
- Photo Editing App: iOS photo editors like Adobe Lightroom CC support opening files in the HEIC format. You can then export from these applications in JPEG or another supported file format.
- Email the Pictures: The built-in Apple Mail app in iOS will automatically convert any attached HEIC images to JPEG when sending, even if “Actual Size” quality is selected.
- Dropbox Camera Upload: If you use the Dropbox app’s ability to automatically upload your iPhone pictures, you can configure it to convert everything to JPEG before uploading. Within the Dropbox app, just go to Account > Camera Uploads > Save HEIC Photos As > JPG.
- OneDrive Camera Upload: Similar to Dropbox, the OneDrive app can convert your HEIC files to JPEG before uploading. No need to configure anything here, you can easily view them on Windows computers or on OneDrive mobile apps.