iPhones have used HEIC as the default photo format since iOS 11. HEIC produces smaller files than JPEG at equivalent quality, which is why Apple uses it. The problem appears when you need to share photos with someone who cannot open HEIC files, or when you need to combine multiple photos into a single PDF document. Both tasks are possible on iPhone without installing any additional apps.
What HEIC is and why it causes problems
HEIC stands for High Efficiency Image Container. It is Apple's implementation of the HEIF standard, which uses the H.265 video codec to compress still images. The codec produces files roughly half the size of JPEG at the same visual quality. For storing thousands of photos on a device with limited storage, the efficiency gain is meaningful.
The compatibility problem is that HEIC is not universally supported. Windows 10 and 11 support HEIC with the optional HEVC codec installed, but older Windows versions and many online tools do not. Android devices generally cannot open HEIC files. Many PDF editors and document management systems built before 2018 do not handle HEIC.
Method 1: Change iPhone camera settings to JPEG
The most reliable solution for ongoing compatibility is to change the iPhone camera to capture in JPEG instead of HEIC. Open Settings, scroll to Camera, tap Formats, and select Most Compatible. From that point, all new photos are captured as JPEG files that any device or application can open.
This setting does not convert existing HEIC photos. It only affects new photos taken after the setting change. If you have existing HEIC files you need to convert, the methods below handle them without changing your camera settings.
Method 2: Convert automatically when sharing
iPhone converts HEIC to JPEG automatically when you share photos to services that do not support HEIC. When you use AirDrop to send a photo to a Mac running a recent version of macOS, the photo stays as HEIC. When you use AirDrop to send to an older Mac or a non-Apple device, or when you email the photo, iPhone converts it to JPEG before sending.
This automatic conversion is lossless from the perspective of what you intended to share — the recipient gets a JPEG that looks identical to the HEIC original. You do not need to do anything extra; the conversion happens transparently as part of the share operation.
Method 3: Create a PDF from Photos directly
To create a PDF from one or more photos on iPhone, open the Photos app and select the photos you want to include. Tap the Share button, scroll down in the share sheet, and tap Print. On the print preview screen, use a pinch-to-zoom gesture on the preview to expand it into a full-screen PDF viewer. From there, tap the Share button in the top right and choose Save to Files or any other destination that accepts PDF files.
This method works for any number of photos and arranges them one per page in the PDF. The output is a multi-page PDF with each selected photo on a separate page. No app is required, no conversion service is needed, and the photos remain on the device throughout the process.
Method 4: Use the Files app to convert
The Files app on iPhone can create PDFs from documents, images, and scans. Open Files, navigate to the location of your HEIC files, long-press a file, and look for a Create PDF option in the contextual menu. On recent versions of iOS, this option is available for image files and produces a PDF of the image content.
For multiple files, select them all before long-pressing to apply the operation to all selected files. The Files app creates individual PDFs, not a combined document. To combine them, use the merge approach described above, or select all the photos at once from the Photos app and use the Print method, which produces a single multi-page PDF.
Automating batch HEIC-to-PDF with Shortcuts
For users who convert HEIC images to PDF regularly, the Shortcuts app on iPhone can automate the entire workflow with a single tap or a Siri command. The basic recipe takes selected photos, converts them to PDF, and saves to a chosen location.
To build the Shortcut, open the Shortcuts app and create a new Shortcut with the following actions in order: Select Photos (with Select Multiple turned on so you can choose more than one image at a time), Make PDF from the selected photos, and Save File with the destination set to Files or a specific folder you use for converted documents.
Add the Shortcut to your Home Screen for one-tap access, or assign it a Siri voice command such as 'Convert photos to PDF' so you can trigger it hands-free. Once the Shortcut is built, the entire HEIC-to-PDF workflow takes about three taps regardless of how many photos you are converting.
A useful refinement is to add a Resize Image action before the Make PDF step. This lets you control the resolution of the resulting PDF — useful when the source photos are larger than necessary for the document use case. Resizing to 2000 pixels on the long edge is sufficient for screen viewing and most printing while reducing the final PDF size significantly compared to using full-resolution iPhone photos.
For workflows that always send the resulting PDF to the same recipient — a weekly expense report to your accountant, monthly photos to a client — the Shortcut can include a final Share or Send Email action that pre-fills the recipient. This turns a multi-step manual workflow into one tap.
Resolution and file size considerations
The PDF resolution from iPhone's built-in conversion depends on the source photos. A standard iPhone photo is between 8 and 12 megapixels depending on the camera model. When the photo is placed in a PDF at full resolution, the resulting page can be 1 to 2 megabytes per photo.
For multi-photo PDFs intended for screen viewing or email, this resolution is higher than needed. A 50-photo PDF can be 50 to 100 megabytes — large enough to bounce some email systems and slower to send on a mobile connection. Reducing photo resolution before creating the PDF brings the file to a more practical size.
The Resize Image action in Shortcuts, or the explicit photo size settings when sharing from Photos, let you choose between Original, Large, Medium, and Small sizes. For most document use cases, Medium produces a PDF that looks identical at typical viewing zoom while being roughly one-tenth the size of the Original version.
For documents that may be printed at standard letter size, Medium resolution is still sufficient. iPhone Medium output is around 2 megapixels per photo, which prints at approximately 200 DPI on letter-size paper — adequate for printed photos and far more than adequate for printed document content.
On iPad, the same workflow and resolution settings apply, with the larger screen making the PDF preview easier to review before saving. The Files app and Photos app share the same conversion engine across iPhone and iPad, so a Shortcut built on one device works identically on the other when synced through iCloud.
When you need HEIC to PDF with other content
If you need to combine HEIC photos with Word documents, spreadsheets, or other files into a single PDF, the approach changes slightly. Convert the HEIC photos to JPEG first using the sharing method above, then combine all files using a PDF tool. Once the HEIC is in JPEG or PDF form, it can be merged with any other document type.
Filum's PDF merge tool works with standard image files and PDFs. For the HEIC-to-PDF conversion itself, the iPhone's built-in print-to-PDF workflow is the most convenient no-app approach. The resulting PDF can be uploaded to Filum for merging with other documents.