JPG to HEIC Converter

Free online tool by Gilhe — convert your JPG images to HEIC.

Convert To

Image Quality

Quality only affects JPEG and WebP outputs. Higher numbers retain more detail at the cost of file size.

How Gilhe handles your file

Gilhe’s converter sits on a London server tuned for one number: median time to first download. Most of our British users come straight from a social-media share that turned a sharp photo into mush, so the conversion path is biased toward producing files that survive the next platform re-encode rather than files that look pristine on a calibrated monitor. JPEG quality default is 80; WebP default is 85; both numbers came out of measurements on real campaigns, not from a textbook.

Drop a photo in, pick the target format, and Gilhe ships a download link in well under a second on commodity hosting. Files older than twenty-four hours get swept off the disk by an automatic worker; we do not analyse, archive, train models on or otherwise look at the bytes you upload. If you need higher batch limits or a Data Processing Agreement for a UK client, write to the address on our contact page and a real person will reply.

Five-step quick start

Drop your photographs into the upload tray or hit Browse to pick them from disk.
From the Convert To menu, pick the destination container — JPG for general use, WebP if your audience is on a modern browser.
Slide the quality control to 80 for everyday work or 90 for portrait-heavy sets; values above 95 are usually wasted bytes.
Press Convert. The Gilhe London server pushes the file through Imagick and hands you a download link.
For multi-image batches, the “Download Zip” bundle is one click away.

Technical handbook from the Gilhe team

The following sections extend the quick steps above with the engineering detail we would give to a colleague. Gilhe Image Converter is built around speed-first, low-friction format conversions; every recommendation below is written against real workloads, not generic marketing copy. If anything conflicts with your in-house policy, your policy wins — but if you are starting from scratch, this is the baseline we ship in production.

Format selection matrix

JPG is the default interchange format for continuous-tone photography on the web and in most CMS pipelines. It does not support transparency; semi-transparent PNGs flattened to JPG acquire a flat colour background (usually white). PNG is lossless and should be chosen when you have hard edges, UI screenshots, diagrams or alpha channels. WebP offers both lossy and lossless modes and typically beats JPG on byte size at the same perceived quality; Gilhe prefers WebP for outbound web assets when the destination stack supports it. GIF should be reserved for legacy animation or extremely constrained environments — for static graphics, PNG or WebP lossless is almost always superior. BMP and TIFF are archival and print-interchange formats; they produce large files and are inappropriate for browser delivery but excellent for hand-off to a pre-press partner. HEIC is the default capture format on many modern phones; converting HEIC to JPG or WebP is the standard path before uploading to web platforms that do not yet parse HEIC reliably. PDF is a container: raster pages embedded in PDF through Gilhe are suitable for proofing and lightweight document assembly, not for replacing a professional pre-press workflow.

Colour profiles and metadata

Our Imagick-based pipeline reads embedded ICC profiles where present and aims to produce outputs that decode predictably in sRGB-centric browsers. Wide-gamut sources (Adobe RGB or ProPhoto) may be perceptually compressed when targeting sRGB — that is expected behaviour, not a bug. EXIF orientation tags are honoured on read. IPTC copyright and caption fields are preserved on formats that support embedded metadata in our build configuration; if you rely on a specific metadata block for legal reasons, spot-check the output in exiftool after first use.

Quality slider semantics

The quality control affects only lossy codecs (JPG, WebP lossy). It maps to encoder-specific quantisation tables — not to a literal “percentage of pixels kept”. A setting of 80 is the Gilhe recommended default for web photography; 90 for hero images and portraits where banding is more costly than bytes; 95+ should be rare and usually indicates that the asset should have stayed in PNG or TIFF until final delivery. Lossless targets ignore the slider by design.

Security and retention

Uploaded files are written only to a quarantined temporary directory with regenerated names. Path traversal attempts are rejected at validation. MIME sniffing via finfo is combined with extension checks. Working files and derivatives are deleted automatically within twenty-four hours. We do not train models on your content, sell thumbnails, or fingerprint files for advertising. If your organisation requires a Data Processing Agreement, contact hello@gilhe.com with your jurisdiction and volume.

When Gilhe conversion is the wrong tool

Do not use the browser converter for medically regulated imaging, forensic evidence chains, or mission-critical print colour proofing without independent validation. Do not batch confidential material from an unmanaged device on a shared network without VPN discipline. For anything requiring CMYK separations, spot channels, or ink-limit profiles, stay in desktop pre-press software until the final rasterisation step.

Pick a JPG-to-format shortcut

What the Gilhe converter delivers

Sub-second median

The London server returns most single-image conversions in under 500 ms; the user perceives it as instant.

Survives social re-encoding

Default JPEG quality 80 and WebP quality 85 are the figures that hold up across Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram pipelines.

No retention beyond 24h

Working files are wiped automatically and we do not keep hashes, thumbnails or analytics copies.

No watermark, ever

The byte stream you download is the byte stream the encoder produced. We do not stamp branding onto your photographs.

Field notes

Questions our London team answers most often

Which image formats can Gilhe convert between?

Our converter accepts JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, BMP, TIFF and HEIC sources, and exports to JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, BMP, PDF, PSD, AI, TIFF and HEIC. PSD, AI and HEIC outputs require Imagick to be compiled with the matching delegates on the server, so check the about page if a particular format does not appear in your dropdown.

Is there a file size or batch limit?

Each upload is capped at the size displayed on the upload area, which by default is 5 MB per file with up to five files per batch. The limit is configurable per domain. If your file is larger, please resize it first or contact us at hello@gilhe.com for guidance.

Are converted images stored on the server?

Originals and converted output files are written to a temporary directory and automatically deleted after twenty-four hours by a sweeper that runs on every request. We do not keep copies, hashes or thumbnails of your files for analytics, advertising or any other purpose.

Why does WebP look smaller than JPG at the same quality?

WebP uses a more modern compression algorithm than JPG, so it usually delivers similar perceived quality at twenty to thirty percent smaller file size. That is why Gilhe uses WebP as its preferred output for web-facing assets, especially when speed, bandwidth efficiency and dependable conversion matters.

Can I convert PDF files into images?

The current public version of the Gilhe converter focuses on raster-to-raster and raster-to-vector container conversions (for example JPG to PDF). PDF-to-image splitting is not exposed in the user interface yet, but the underlying Imagick stack supports it. Drop us a note if this is something your team needs.

Does the quality slider affect lossless formats?

No. PNG, GIF and BMP are lossless containers, so the quality slider has no effect on them. The slider only changes the JPEG and WebP encoders, which use real lossy compression.

Can I convert images on a mobile device?

Yes. The interface is fully responsive and works in any modern mobile browser. HEIC photos taken with iPhones can be uploaded straight to Gilhe and converted to JPG or WebP for sharing.

Does $short add a watermark to converted images?

No watermark, ever. The output you download is exactly what the converter produced, with no logos, attribution overlays or banner stripes added.

How is the file integrity protected?

All traffic between your browser and Gilhe is encrypted with HTTPS. The server-side handler validates MIME type and extension, regenerates the file name to prevent path collisions, and limits acceptable formats to a curated whitelist.

Does Gilhe support CMYK or print-ready PDF workflows?

The public Gilhe Image Converter converter targets sRGB-centric web and office workflows. CMYK separation, ink limiting and certified print PDFs require desktop pre-press software. You can still use Gilhe for intermediate raster normalisation before handing off to a print partner.

Can teams standardise on Gilhe presets?

Yes. Many Gilhe users document three internal presets (web hero, thumbnail, archive) and share the quality and format numbers in their design-system wiki. The tool intentionally stays minimal so those presets stay stable across browser updates.

What happens if Imagick on the server lacks a delegate for my format?

Some rare encoders depend on optional ImageMagick delegates. If a format is greyed out or fails with a clear error, e-mail hello@gilhe.com with your Gilhe Image Converter domain and we will confirm which outputs are enabled on that host.