Melt guide

Receive iPhone photos as JPG via AirDrop (not HEIC)

AirDropping photos from iPhone keeps landing them as HEIC files on your Mac. Here's how to get them as JPG instead.

4 min read

You AirDrop a photo from your iPhone to your Mac, drop it into a CMS or design tool, and the upload fails because the format isn’t supported. AirDrop preserves the source format, and if your iPhone is shooting HEIC then HEIC is what your Mac receives.

Why this happens

iPhones shoot HEIC by default to save space. AirDrop is a fast file-transfer protocol, not a conversion tool — it sends the bytes as they exist on the source device. So a HEIC stays a HEIC, even when the receiving end might prefer JPEG.

The permanent fix on the iPhone

The cleanest option is to make the iPhone shoot JPEG in the first place:

  1. Open Settings on the iPhone.
  2. Tap Camera.
  3. Tap Formats.
  4. Choose Most Compatible.

Every photo taken from this point lands as JPEG. AirDrops are JPEG. Uploads work. You lose roughly half your storage efficiency, which only matters if you’re tight on phone space.

The “this transfer only” fix

If you want to keep shooting HEIC but get JPEG for one specific share:

  1. On the iPhone, open the photo in Photos.
  2. Tap the Share button.
  3. Tap Options at the top of the share sheet.
  4. Toggle "All Photos Data" off (this forces a JPEG re-encode for compatibility).
  5. AirDrop as normal.

The receiving Mac gets a .jpeg.

Converting on the Mac if you forgot

If photos are already on your Mac as HEIC:

sips -s format jpeg photo.heic --out photo.jpg

For a folder, drop them into Melt and set the output to JPEG. It handles a whole AirDrop session in one drag, plus you can strip EXIF on the way out if you’re sharing further. Download Melt.

Batch convert in Melt

  1. Open Melt.
  2. Drag every AirDropped HEIC in.
  3. Set output to JPEG.
  4. Quality 85 is a sensible default.
  5. Click Compress.

What you lose, what you keep

JPEG copies are larger than the HEIC originals at the same visual quality (often 1.5–2×). You also drop to 8-bit colour and lose any depth/portrait metadata. None of that matters for sharing or web uploads — but if you’re archiving, keep the HEICs and only convert what you send.

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