Bulk converting iPhone HEIC for professional use

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Level 1

4 points

Bulk converting iPhone HEIC for professional use

Hi all,

I know this has been discussed before, but I’m quite new to using an iPhone as my camera, which makes me wonder...

So, I’ve been working quite a lot with photos from iPhone lately (and the infamous HEIC format), and I keep running into the same challenge when using them outside the Apple ecosystem — especially for websites or platforms that only accept, or work best, with JPG, PNG, or WEBP.

For occasional use, the usual options on macOS work fine (Preview export, Photos app, or changing the camera setting to “Most Compatible” going forward), but we still have many older images that are relevant.

However, in a more professional context — where you're handling larger batches of images (bulk uploads, conversions, downloads, etc.) — it starts to become quite time-consuming to manually convert and adjust files each time.

I’m curious how others here are dealing with this in a more professional or high-volume setting — are you sticking with Preview/Photos, or using other workflows to handle HEIC at a larger scale when bulk uploading/downloading, and require a different output format?

Thanks in advance 😊

iPhone 12

Posted on Apr 22, 2026 2:07 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

v1v3km

Level 2

266 points

Apr 22, 2026 2:13 AM in response to mikkel200

Hey, totally get what you mean. HEIC has been a pain when you need to work with a lot of files outside the Apple world.

Here are a few things that have worked well for me and others:

- ImageMagick is a free command-line tool that can batch convert HEIC to JPG, PNG, or WEBP super fast. On Mac you can install it with Homebrew (brew install imagemagick) and then run something like magick convert *.heic output.jpg. It handles large batches without breaking a sweat.

- XnConvert is another free option with a GUI. You just drag in your folder of HEIC files, choose your output format and quality settings, and hit convert. It supports tons of output formats and lets you apply basic edits during the conversion.

- If you are on Mac and prefer built-in tools, you can use Automator to create a quick action. Set it up to receive files, add a "Change Type of Images" step to convert to JPEG or PNG, and then you can right-click a folder and batch convert everything in one go.

- For a more professional setup, apps like Adobe Lightroom can import HEIC directly and export to any format you need. Same with Affinity Photo, which is a cheaper alternative.

- If you are uploading to the web, WebP is usually the best balance between file size and quality. Most modern browsers handle it just fine.

I used to waste so much time converting files one by one until I set up that Automator workflow. Now I just right-click and go. Give one of these a shot and let me know if it helps!

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Answer 2

mikkel200 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 22, 2026 3:39 AM in response to v1v3km

Thank you so much for your reply!

It's highly appreciated and a big help.

From your recommendations, I've just tried XnConvert (https://apps.apple.com/dk/app/xnconvert/id436203431?mt=12), and it's an immediate game-changer for me! That might be a solution forward.

With that said, and maybe just a top tip for similar cases: I also just found out that our DAM (https://kontainer.com/digital-asset-management) has an integrated download template feature, so I can bulk convert from e.g. HEIC to WEBP, PNG, or whatever format I use, and download them as a Zip.

This is just to point out - at least for my own sake - that I/you/we might already have a tool at hand that can handle bulk conversions. It could be unintentional in terms of our main purpose with the system, but it's there.

Thank you once again!

I might reply once more, in case of further questions or advices 🙏🏼

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