What happens when you convert PDF to HEIC
- Each page of the PDF is drawn by MuPDF, the open-source PDF renderer, on our conversion server at 150 dpi, so an A4 page becomes about 1240 by 1750 pixels, and ImageMagick saves it as a HEIC file.
- A one-page PDF gives a single HEIC; a longer one comes back as a ZIP file with one HEIC per page, named page-01.heic, page-02.heic and so on, for up to 100 pages.
- The HEIC files are compressed with HEVC at quality 80 on a white background. iPhones, iPads and Macs open it, and so does Windows with the free HEIF Image and HEVC Video extensions; most browsers and many upload forms cannot.
- This conversion runs on our server: the file is uploaded, converted, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result has been sent back to you. Nothing is kept. Files up to 25 MB are accepted.
How to convert PDF to HEIC online
- Press "Choose PDF files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. Files up to 25 MB each can be converted.
- There are no settings to choose: the converter keeps everything the target format can hold.
- Press "Convert to HEIC". The file is uploaded to our conversion server, converted in a few seconds, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result is sent back.
- Save each HEIC with its download button. Our server has already deleted both your PDF and the HEIC by then.
Why convert PDF to HEIC?
PDF files usually come from documents, forms, invoices and print-ready files. People convert them to HEIC because HEIC is what iPhones and iPads save photos as, and it is about half the size of a JPG of the same quality.
In short, PDF is good at what it was made for, and HEIC is the more practical choice when the file has to open, upload or print somewhere else. PDF opens in every browser's built-in viewer, while Safari on Apple devices shows HEIC; Chrome, Edge and Firefox cannot.
How to convert PDF to HEIC on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your PDF files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each HEIC is saved to your Downloads folder.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the PDF files from Finder onto the drop zone and the HEIC files land in Downloads.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose PDF files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted HEIC appears in Files, in the Downloads folder; to put it in your photo library, open it there, tap Share and choose Save Image.
On Android
Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose PDF files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The HEIC is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for PDF to HEIC
There are no settings: every page is rendered at 150 dpi, up to the first 100 pages, with the longest side capped at 6,000 pixels.
For a result that stays sharp at any size, convert to SVG or EPS instead, which keeps the vectors.
PDF vs HEIC: the differences
| HEIC | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Portable Document Format | High Efficiency Image Container |
| Type | document | image |
| Created by | Adobe | the Moving Picture Experts Group, adopted by Apple |
| First released | 1993 | 2017 |
| Compression | Lossy or lossless | Lossy |
| Transparency | No | Yes |
| Animation | No | No |
| Vector or raster | Vector | Raster |
| Colour | any colour, pages can mix text, vectors and images | up to 16-bit colour |
| In a browser | opens in every browser's built-in viewer | Safari on Apple devices shows it; Chrome, Edge and Firefox cannot |
| Common uses | documents, forms, invoices and print-ready files | photos taken on iPhones and iPads since iOS 11 |
| MIME type | application/pdf | image/heic |
About PDF and HEIC files
What is a PDF file?
A PDF fixes the layout of every page so it looks the same on any device. Converting a PDF to an image renders each page to pixels; converting an image to PDF wraps it as a page.
What is a HEIC file?
iPhones save photos as HEIC because it is roughly half the size of an equivalent JPG. The catch is compatibility: Windows needs an extra codec, and most upload forms and older software reject it.
PDF to HEIC not working? Common problems
- "Files up to 25 MB can be converted." Server conversions have a size limit. Compress the images inside the file, or split it, and try again.
- "The conversion took too long and was stopped." Very long or complex files can pass the 90 second limit. Split the file and convert the parts.
- "This file is not really in PDF format." The converter checks every file before it runs anything, so a file of another format renamed to .pdf is refused. Choose the page for its real format.
Convert PDF to HEIC from the command line
Poppler and ImageMagick do the same on your own computer:
pdftoppm -r 150 -png input.pdf page
magick mogrify -format heic -quality 80 page-*.pngConverting on your own computer keeps the file entirely local, which is worth it for very large or very sensitive documents. For everything else, the converter on this page does it without installing anything.
PDF to HEIC converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting PDF to HEIC?
The pages are rendered to pixels at 150 dpi, which is sharp for reading and for printing text. HEIC is lossy, so fine detail is simplified slightly.
Why is the HEIC a different size from the PDF?
The HEIC stores every pixel, while the PDF stores drawing instructions, so the HEIC is usually larger for detailed pages and can be smaller for simple ones.
Are my PDF files uploaded?
Yes, for this conversion. A faithful PDF to HEIC conversion needs MuPDF and ImageMagick, two open-source tools, which cannot run in a browser. The file travels over an encrypted connection, is converted in a private temporary folder, and is deleted together with the HEIC as soon as the result has been sent back to you. We do not keep, read or share it.
Can I convert several PDF files to HEIC at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many files as you like; they are converted one after another and each gets its own download button.
How do I open a HEIC file?
Safari on Apple devices shows HEIC; Chrome, Edge and Firefox cannot. HEIC is common for photos taken on iPhones and iPads since iOS 11.
Is this PDF to HEIC converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no watermark. Because this conversion uses our server, there is a fair-use limit of 25 MB per file and a number of files per hour, which stops the service being overloaded.
Can I convert PDF to HEIC on my phone?
Yes. It works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. The conversion happens on our server, so it is as fast on a phone as on a computer; the HEIC is saved to your Downloads folder.