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Turning iPhone photos (HEIC) into a PDF

You photographed a receipt, an ID card or a whiteboard. Now a form wants a PDF, and the files on your computer end in .heic.

Tutorial · 2 min read · Updated 22 October 2026

IMG_2041.HEICin yourbrowserphotos.pdf

Since iOS 11 in 2017, iPhones save photos in HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) by default. The files are roughly half the size of a JPG at the same quality, which is great for your storage and less great when a website only accepts PDF or JPG.

Converting a few photos

  1. Open HEIC to PDF and add your photos. You can select several at once.
  2. Put them in order with the arrows.
  3. Choose a page size. Same as image keeps each photo at its natural size; choose A4 or US Letter if someone will print it.
  4. Press Create PDF.

The first conversion takes a moment longer, because the browser downloads a small HEIC decoder. Everything else, including the photos themselves, stays on your device. That matters here: photos of passports, payslips and contracts are precisely the files you shouldn't upload to a random converter.

Photos of documents: a quick tip

If the photos are of paper documents, Scan to PDF may serve you better. Its black-and-white option turns grey, shadowy paper into clean white pages with dark text, which is easier to read and much lighter to email.

Stopping your iPhone from using HEIC

If you regularly need JPG files, go to Settings → Camera → Formats and choose Most Compatible. New photos are then saved as JPG. Existing photos stay HEIC.

Alternatively, leave HEIC on and let the phone convert when sharing: in Settings → Photos, under Transfer to Mac or PC, choose Automatic. Photos sent by cable then arrive as JPG.

Mixed formats

Got a mix of HEIC, JPG and PNG files? PNG to PDF accepts all of them in one go.

Questions

Do I lose quality converting HEIC to PDF?

Barely. The photo is decoded and stored in the PDF at full resolution as a high-quality JPG.

Does it work with Live Photos?

Yes. The still image is used; the short video part is ignored.

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