Apple’s HEIC format saves images at just half the size of a traditional JPEG image without any noticeable reductions in visual quality. Unbelievable, right? That is why Apple made it the default camera photo format on the iPhone. Briefly, HEIC assists a lot when it comes to managing storage.
Although, your iPhone may still end-up with tons of space-consuming JPG images, especially those auto-downloaded through social media applications. So if you want to free up some space or room, it’s best to convert them to the HEIC format. But the question is, how?
Using a 3rd party file converter for the task can put sensitive images at risk. That’s why I am going to show you how to convert JPG images to HEIC using just your iPhone itself. For that purpose, you must create a shortcut.
Don’t anxious. The Shortcut is easy and straightforward to create. Once you have set one up, you can convert batches of JPG photos to the HEIC format in a single go.
Creating the Shortcut to Convert JPG to HEIC
To create the Shortcut that allows you to convert JPG to the HEIC format, you should have the Shortcuts app installed on your iPhone. If you cannot find it, get it from the App Store, it’s free of charge.
But before you begin, it’s best to create a separate album or folder to save your converted HEIC images. That should make it much effortless to locate them after performing a conversion with the Shortcut that we are about to create.
First, Go to Photos > Albums > New Album to create one, then name it as ‘HEIC’ or something along those lines.
After that, let’s get started.
Step 1: Open the Shortcuts application on your iPad or iPhone.
Step 2: Switch to the ‘My Shortcuts’ tab, then tap Create Shortcut. Click ‘Search for apps and actions’ to the bottom of the screen.
Step 3: Now perform a search for ‘select photos,’ and then click Select Photos under Actions. After that, expand the Select Photos action (tap Show More), and then turn on the switch next to Select Multiple.
Step 4: Click ‘Search for apps and actions’ again, search for ‘convert image’ this time, and click Convert Image under Actions.
Now, modify the Convert Image action from the default Convert Photos to JPEG to Convert Photos to HEIF, tap JPEG, and then pick HEIF.
It’s the best idea to expand the action (click Show More) and make sure that the switch next to Preserve Metadata is turned on.
Step 5: Click ‘Search for apps and actions’ once more, perform a search for ‘save to photo album,’ and click Save to Photo Album under Actions.
If you created an album or folder to save converted HEIC images, select it now, click Recents, afterwards pick the relevant album on the popup list.
In my case, I have picked an album called HEIC, which I created earlier. And if you do not want to save the photos to any particular collection, leave the action as it is. Finally, click Next.
Step 6: Now name the Shortcut (JPG to HEIC, for instance), and click Done.
Now the Shortcut is created and ready to go, now time to put it through its paces.
Converting JPG to HEIC With the Shortcut
You can quickly run the Shortcut that you just created through the Shortcuts app. On the other hand, you can run it through the Shortcuts widget or Siri (say, Hey Siri, ‘shortcut name’).
But before you begin, you may want to add the JPG images that you’re about to convert to a separate or particular album in the Photos application. In this way, you can quickly delete them after the conversion process to avoid image duplicates if freeing up storage space is what you’re after.
Step 1: Run the JPG to HEIC shortcut. Use the Photos application image picker that shows up to select the JPEG images that you need to convert; you can choose as many pictures as you desire. Now click ‘Done’ to begin the conversion process.
Step 2: The Shortcut will denote the conversion progress. When it’s done, head into the relevant album within the Images app to check the converted images.
Step 3: Make sure that the images are in the HEIC format. The Photos app does not let you check the file format of an image, so I suggest using Google Photos for this job.
Just pick a converted image in Google Photos, click the three-dot icon to the upper right corner of the screen, and see the file format listed underneath Details.
If you created the Shortcut correctly, you should have the images converted to the HEIC format. If all looks great, you can delete the JPG originals.
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High Efficiency:
With the help of Shortcuts that you just created, it’s exceptionally effortless to convert JPEG images into the HEIC format. Beats having to suffer via an ad-ridden file converter.
Must remember that aside from the reduced file sizes, converted HEIC images will not gain any of the other advantages — full-colour gamut, depth maps, etc., that you usually get when shooting images straight in the HEIC format.