Tested ourselves
What is a HEIC file? The iPhone photo format eBay accepts and Google doesn’t list
A HEIC file is a photo saved in the format iPhones have used since iOS 11 in 2017, unless you change a setting. It is a photo like a JPEG, just stored more efficiently, so it takes up less space. eBay accepts HEIC files. Google Search and Google Merchant Center don’t list HEIC among the formats they support, so for your own website or a Google product listing you want a JPEG.
The short version
- HEIC is the format iPhones save photos in (iPhone 7 and later, since iOS 11), unless you change a setting.
- It saves space. In our own test of one photo, a HEIC file was about a third smaller than a JPEG, at slightly better measured quality.
- eBay accepts it. Google Search and Google Merchant Center don’t list it, and neither does Mozilla’s guide to the image formats web browsers support.
- On a Mac it just opens. On Windows you may need two extensions from the Microsoft Store, one free and one paid.
- To stop your iPhone making them: Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible.
What is a HEIC file?
It is a photo. The name stands for High Efficiency Image Container, and Apple’s own glossary describes it like this: "HEIC is a container format for storing still images and image sequences using the HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) compression standard." In plain English, the picture is squeezed with a newer, more efficient method than the one JPEG uses.
Newer iPhones started saving photos this way with iOS 11, which Apple released in September 2017. Apple’s support page lists the iPhones that can do it as "iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus or later", and gives the reason: "HEIF and HEVC offer better compression than JPEG and H.264, so they use less storage space on your devices and iCloud Photos, while preserving the same visual quality." Apple’s pages use both names: its glossary calls HEIC "An updated version of HEIF".
Apple doesn’t put a number on the saving. Popular guides say a HEIC file is half the size of a JPEG of the same quality. We couldn’t find Apple saying that, so we tested it ourselves (below).
Where HEIC works, and where it doesn’t
This is the part that matters if you sell things or run a website. We read each of these pages on 7 October 2026, and again on 9 October, the morning we published.
| Where | Takes HEIC? | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| eBay listings | Yes | eBay’s help lists "one of the accepted file formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, WEBP, HEIC, or AVIF)" |
| Google Search (images on your website) | Not listed | Google: "Google Search supports images referenced in the src attribute of img in the following file formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, and AVIF." |
| Google Merchant Center (Shopping and free listings) | Not listed | Google’s help lists JPEG and WebP (both "recommended"), then PNG, GIF, BMP and TIFF |
| Web browsers | Not listed | Mozilla’s guide to "the image file types generally supported by web browsers" doesn’t list HEIC. |
| Windows | With extensions | Microsoft: you may see "You need an extension to use this file." |
Google rewrote its Merchant Center page between our two readings. HEIC is still not on its list, JPEG and WebP are now marked "recommended", and it says plainly: "The file extension must correspond to its actual format." So renaming a photo from .heic to .jpg doesn’t make it a JPEG. Export or convert it properly, as below.
So a photo straight off your iPhone is fine for an eBay listing. For the images on your own website, and for any product you list on Google, convert it to JPEG first. If you are not sure which of JPEG or PNG to use, we tested that in JPG or PNG, and eBay’s other picture rules are in eBay’s picture rules in plain English.
How to open a HEIC file
On a recent iPhone, iPad or Mac: it simply opens. Apple has supported the format since iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra.
On Windows: Microsoft’s own help page gives three options. The first is to install two extensions from the Microsoft Store: "HEIF Image Extensions (free)" and HEVC Video Extensions, which Microsoft’s US page prices at $0.99 (we couldn’t read the UK price). "You’ll need both, even if you only plan on using photos and not videos." The second is to move the photos over in a way that converts them on the way: "Many devices will automatically convert HEIC photos and HEVC videos to a more common format when transferring or emailing the files." The third is to upload them to OneDrive.
How to convert HEIC to JPG for free
- On a Mac: Apple’s instructions are "If you open an HEIF image in Photos or Preview on your Mac, choose File > Export, then choose a format such as JPEG or PNG before saving."
- From an iPhone: sending the photo can convert it for you. Apple says that with AirDrop, Messages or email, if the other device can’t open the newer format, "the media might automatically be shared in a more compatible format, such as JPEG or H.264."
- On Windows: email the photos to yourself, or import them from the phone with a cable, as Microsoft suggests above.
- Free online converters work, but you are uploading your photos to a website you know nothing about. For anything private, use one of the ways above.
Should you switch your iPhone to JPEG?
Apple’s steps: "Open Settings, then tap Camera." "Tap Formats, then tap Most Compatible." From then on, "All new photos and videos will now use JPEG or H.264 format." "To return to using the space-saving HEIF and HEVC formats, choose High Efficiency."
Apple itself says "Though capturing in HEIF and HEVC format is recommended". Our view: if you photograph stock every day for your own website or Google Shopping, switching to Most Compatible saves you a conversion step on every photo. Otherwise, keep the space-saving default and convert only the photos you need.
What we found when we tested it
We wanted to see the saving for ourselves rather than repeat “half the size”. On 7 October 2026 we took one standard test photograph, image 23 (two macaws) from the Kodak lossless test set that is widely used to compare compression, 768 × 512 pixels. We saved it as a JPEG at quality 85, and as HEIC at a range of settings, using ImageMagick 6.9.13 with libheif 1.19.8. A quality setting doesn’t mean the same thing in two different formats, so we compared the results with two standard measures of how close a compressed picture is to the original, SSIM and PSNR, where higher means closer.
| File | Size | SSIM | PSNR |
|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG, quality 85 | 57,871 bytes | 0.954 | 38.5 dB |
| HEIC, the smallest we found that matched or beat the JPEG on both | 39,061 bytes | 0.959 | 38.8 dB |
| That HEIC converted back to JPEG, quality 85 | 53,620 bytes | 0.945 | 37.3 dB |
The HEIC was 32.5% smaller than the JPEG and slightly closer to the original. That’s a real saving, though on this photo it was a third, not a half. And converting the HEIC to JPEG gave a slightly worse JPEG than saving straight from the original, because the photo was compressed twice.
It was one photo and one piece of software, not an iPhone and not a benchmark. An iPhone photo is far larger than 768 × 512 and is saved by the phone itself, not by the software we used, so your saving will be different.
What argues the other way
- HEIC is the better format for keeping photos. It saves space on your phone, which is exactly why Apple recommends it. The trouble only starts when a photo leaves the phone.
- Support is growing. eBay already takes HEIC, and the lists above may change. We read them on 7 and 9 October 2026, and Google’s Merchant Center page changed in between.
- Converting costs a little quality, as our own test showed. If you need JPEGs anyway, capturing them as JPEG in the first place avoids that.
- We have an interest. Lola Squared prepares product photos for sellers, and a post about photo formats could lead you to us. Every quotation is linked so you can check it.
Sources, and what we checked
- Apple Support, “Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices”, and Apple’s Final Cut Pro User Guide glossary entry, “HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container)”, both read on 7 and 9 October 2026.
- Apple Newsroom, “iOS 11 is available tomorrow”, 18 September 2017.
- eBay UK Help, “Adding pictures to your listings”. Google Search Central, “Image SEO Best Practices”, last updated 2 March 2026. Google Merchant Center Help, “Image link [image_link]”. All read on 7 and 9 October 2026; the Merchant Center page was rewritten in between, and we quote the 9 October version.
- MDN Web Docs (Mozilla), “Image file type and format guide”, and Microsoft Support, “Photos app Video Editor error: Can’t view this file type”, both read on 7 and 9 October 2026.
- Our own test: Kodak test image 23 (768 × 512), encoded on 7 October 2026 with ImageMagick 6.9.13 and libheif 1.19.8, measured with ffmpeg’s SSIM and PSNR filters against the lossless original.
- Every quotation above was tested automatically against the text of its source before publication.