HEIC and Live Photos, explained
Apple describes a Live Photo as recording what happens 1.5 seconds before and after you take the picture, and its Photos guide says exporting one in its original format gives you two separate files: a still image and a video. The Photos app shows them as one thing. Convert the still here and you get a JPEG of the picture; the motion stays in the video, which this converter does not touch. If you want the movement, save the Live Photo as a video from the Photos app instead.
See what the quality setting does
Drag the line to compare the original with the JPEG at the quality you chose. The loupe shows a 3× crop under your pointer.
What you actually get
Apple describes a Live Photo as recording what happens 1.5 seconds before and after you take the picture, and its Photos guide says exporting one in its original format produces two separate files: a still image and a video. How iOS stores that internally is not documented; what matters here is what comes out when you export it. On a Mac, File > Export > Export Unmodified Original gives you both files, the still and the clip.
What converting does
This site converts the HEIC. The result is a JPEG of the still frame, the same one you see when you don’t press and hold. The video clip is untouched, and the JPEG has no link to it. That is not a limitation of this tool; a plain JPEG has nowhere to keep a video clip.
If you want the motion
In the Photos app, open the Live Photo, tap the More button in the upper-right corner, then Save as Video. Apple says you will find the new video in the Recently Saved album, and the Live Photo stays in the Live Photos album. Do that for the motion and convert the HEIC for the still.
Bursts and multi-image HEIC files
A HEIC container can hold more than one image, such as a depth map beside the photo. This converter takes the primary image, the one the Photos app shows, and converts that. The Photos app keeps a burst as a group; Apple’s guide has you pick the frames you want and save them as individual photos, which you can then convert.
Turning Live Photo off
In the Camera app, turn Live Photo off with its control; where that control sits depends on your iOS version, and Apple’s iPhone User Guide shows the current steps. The phone then saves a plain still, still in HEIC unless you have set Most Compatible.
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