Convert .heic to .jpg on mac and keep exif information such as gps and date

The sips conversion from HEIC to JPG preserves original EXIF data and inserts JPG-specific IPTC and JFIF data structures. In my test, without using the sips formatOptions, the HEIC image is 2921436 bytes and the resulting JPG at 2908313 bytes. The formatOptions 100 (e.g. percentage) explodes the resulting JPG image to 6052240 bytes. Using formatOptions lzw duplicates the second sentence JPG results.

I extracted the EXIF data from the HEIC and JPG images into separate text files. Using opendiff (Xcode) showed no changes to the original HEIC exif data except for the inserted IPTC and JFIF structures in the JPG.

This can be done in one fell swoop with a very simple Shortcut like the one below.

I'd make a copy of the files just to be safe; then in Finder select them all, control-click, convert to jpeg; Done!

Apple also provides a Convert Image Quick Action with the operating system that produces a JPG from a HEIC image. There is no 1:1 correlation between HEIC and JPG metadata owing to differences in what metadata fields are used in each image type. The important stuff is however, retained after the conversion.

HEIC is a container format that stores EXIF data, but when converting to JPG, some conversion tools may strip this metadata. Look for apps that specifically promise to preserve EXIF data, such as IrfanView. Make sure you're converting to the correct file format (JPG) and that the settings are properly configured to preserve EXIF data. Some apps might default to stripping EXIF data or converting to a different format.

When converting HEIC to JPG, there's a risk of metadata corruption or loss. This can happen if the conversion process is not properly synchronized or if the file is large. Use a reliable app and ensure that it's designed to handle HEIC files and preserve EXIF data.

Converting HEIC to JPG can result in a larger file size due to the compression algorithm used. Be aware that this might affect the file size and quality, especially if you're converting high-quality HEIC files.