Free tool · PDF · Runs in your browser
Convert HEIC to PDF
Short answer
Choose HEIC photos from an iPhone and the tool decodes them in your browser and puts each on a PDF page, with no upload.
Nothing is uploaded. JPEG and PNG files go into the PDF as they are; other formats are converted in your browser first.
Key takeaways
- HEIC is decoded in your browser by libheif and saved as JPEG inside the PDF: 4.35 MB → 3.59 MB for the photograph, 1.71 MB → 1.29 MB for the document scan.
- The lossless option is very large: 29.1 MB and 8.45 MB, about 8 times the JPEG version.
- Time: 2.0 s and 614 ms as JPEG; 6.2 s and 3.4 s lossless.
- The page keeps the photo's proportions: the 3840 × 3877 photo became a 25.6 × 25.8 inch page at 150 pixels per inch.
- Several HEIC photos can go in one PDF, in the order you choose.
Measured: HEIC in, PDF out
A PDF cannot hold HEIC, so the photo is saved as a JPEG at quality 0.92 inside the PDF: a 4.35 MB HEIC became a 3.59 MB PDF (-18%) in 2.0 s. The lossless option stores a PNG instead and made that PDF 29.1 MB.
Measured with the tool's own code (the same function the page runs) in headless Chromium on public domain NASA and National Archives pictures, a camera photo from Wikimedia Commons, and files we made from them. Each PDF was then opened by pdf.js, which reported its page count and page sizes, and by pdf-lib, which read back the picture streams: a JPEG in the PDF was compared byte for byte with the file you chose, and PNG pixels were compared with ffmpeg's decode.
| Photo | HEIC | PDF (JPEG inside) | Time | PDF lossless (PNG inside) | Time lossless |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photograph HEIC | 4.35 MB | 3.59 MB | 2.0 s | 29.1 MB | 6.2 s |
| Document scan HEIC | 1.71 MB | 1.29 MB | 614 ms | 8.45 MB | 3.4 s |
HEIC is more efficient than JPEG, so the PDF is usually smaller than the HEIC only when the JPEG at 0.92 happens to be smaller: here the photograph shrank and the scan too, because the HEIC files were saved at a high quality setting.
HEIC and PDF
A PDF supports JPEG through its DCTDecode filter and lossless compression through FlateDecode; HEIC is not one of its formats. The tool therefore decodes the HEIC with libheif compiled to WebAssembly, the same decoder as our HEIC to JPG converter, and writes a JPEG or a PNG.
Page size: same as the picture, A4 or Letter
The tool offers three page sizes. "Same size as the picture" sets each page to the picture at 150 pixels per inch, so a 3840 pixel wide photo becomes a page 25.6 inches wide (1843.2 points; Wikipedia gives the PostScript point as 1/72 of an inch). A4 is 595.28 × 841.89 points, which Wikipedia lists as 210 mm × 297 mm, and US Letter is 612 × 792 points, or 8.5 × 11 inches. On A4 and Letter the picture is scaled to fit inside a 0.5 inch margin, centered, and the page turns to landscape for a picture wider than tall.
JPEG or PNG inside the PDF?
| Photo | HEIC | PDF with JPEG | PDF with PNG | PNG is how many times the JPEG | Time JPEG / PNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photograph HEIC | 4.35 MB | 3.59 MB | 29.1 MB | 8.1x | 2.0 s / 6.2 s |
| Document scan HEIC | 1.71 MB | 1.29 MB | 8.45 MB | 6.6x | 614 ms / 3.4 s |
Use the default JPEG for photographs. The PNG option exists for when a later step must not add another round of JPEG compression.
What the tool does, step by step
- libheif, compiled to WebAssembly, decodes the HEIC into pixels in your browser.
- The pixels are drawn on white and saved as a JPEG at quality 0.92, or as a PNG if you ticked lossless.
- The picture is placed on a page of the size you chose, in the order you chose.
- The PDF is built in memory and offered as a download. The Exif data of the HEIC, including its location, is not copied into the PDF.
How long it takes
The time is mostly decoding. The 4.35 MB photograph took 2.0 s and the 1.71 MB scan 614 ms with the default JPEG; the PNG option took 6.2 s and 3.4 s because the picture is written losslessly. These are headless desktop Chromium times; a phone will be slower, and many large photos at once need memory, so do a few at a time.
Questions people ask
How do I convert HEIC to PDF?
Choose your HEIC files above and download the PDF. Your browser decodes the HEIC; nothing is uploaded.
Why is the PDF a different size from the HEIC?
The photo is saved as JPEG in the PDF. Ours went from 4.35 MB to 3.59 MB.
Is it lossless?
The default saves a JPEG at quality 0.92. Tick the lossless option for PNG, which is much larger.
Does it work with Live Photos?
Only the still image is used.
Is the location in my photo kept?
No. The photo is saved again and the Exif data is not copied into the PDF.
Does it work on my iPhone?
Yes, in a current browser. Large photos can take a few seconds.
Can I combine several photos?
Yes. Each becomes a page.
What page size should I choose?
A4 or Letter for printing; the picture size to keep the whole photo.
Is my photo uploaded?
No.
Related
Sources and how we checked
- Wikipedia: PDF (filters) (read 2026-10-10)
- Wikipedia: Point (typography) (read 2026-10-10)
- Wikipedia: ISO 216 (A4) (read 2026-10-10)
- PDF.js (Mozilla): the reader used to check every PDF (read 2026-10-10)
Reviewed October 10, 2026. The measurements ran the tool's own code and then opened every PDF with pdf.js and pdf-lib to compare pages, sizes, text and picture bytes. The files and results are in data/seo/hub/evidence/2026-10-10/pdf.