Files are processed in your browser, not uploaded. Privacy →
Deckle
Open a PDF
Skip to guide

On your device

How to convert HEIC to PDF on a Mac

By DeckleUpdated

To convert HEIC to PDF on a Mac, open HEIC to PDF in your browser, drop the HEIC photos onto the page, put them in order, choose a page size and choose Create PDF. Each photo becomes one page of a PDF that opens on any computer, including Windows PCs and document portals that refuse HEIC. Your photos are not changed. macOS can also make a PDF from HEIC photos with the Finder or Preview, described below.

HEIC to PDF
Illustrated document pages containing a chart, photograph and text.
Illustration · a document can contain more than its visible pages.

How to convert HEIC to PDF on a Mac with Deckle

  1. In the Photos app, select the photos and choose File > Export > Export Unmodified Original to save them in their original HEIC format, or find the HEIC files AirDropped from your iPhone.
  2. Open HEIC to PDF in Safari, Chrome or Firefox.
  3. Drag the .heic or .heif files onto the page, or choose Select files. The decoder downloads the first time you convert a HEIC file.
  4. Under Images to include, check the ticks and use the up and down arrows to set the order.
  5. Press the rotate button on any photo that is on its side.
  6. Under Page size, choose Fit inside A4 for a printable document, or Match each image to keep each page the size of its photo.
  7. Choose Create PDF and download the file.

The result screen confirms how many pages the PDF has, one per ticked photo.

What happens to the photos

PDF cannot store HEIC data, so Deckle decodes each photo in your browser and saves it into the PDF as a high-quality JPEG (quality 90). At normal zoom you won't see a difference; very fine detail can change slightly.

Two other things change:

  • Camera and location metadata are not carried into the PDF. That is useful when you send photos of documents or ID.
  • Transparent areas become white, because JPEG has no transparency. This rarely matters for camera photos.

A HEIC file that holds several images, such as a burst or sequence, is refused before you start rather than reduced to one picture.

The Mac is the right place to convert iPhone photos

Deckle keeps up to 16 megapixels per page on a Mac, and up to 4 megapixels on iPhone and iPad. A larger photo is scaled down to that size with its proportions kept, and the review lists each photo that will be scaled, and to what, before you choose Create PDF. The page size does not change: with Match each image, the page is still sized from the photo's original pixels.

Recent iPhones save main-camera photos at 24 or 48 megapixels; Apple's iPhone 16 tech specs list both. On a Mac, either converts and is scaled to 16 megapixels. On an iPhone, a 24-megapixel photo is scaled to 4 megapixels, about a sixth of its pixels, and a 48-megapixel photo is refused, because iPhone and iPad refuse any image above 25 megapixels. That is why the Mac is the better place for full-size photos. Images above 64 megapixels are refused on a Mac too.

For more on the format, see how to convert iPhone HEIC photos to PDF.

Convert HEIC to PDF with the Finder

Apple's page Combine files into a PDF on Mac describes the Create PDF Quick Action, which works with images:

  1. Select the HEIC files in the Finder, in the order you want them.
  2. Control-click the selection and choose Quick Actions > Create PDF.

The PDF is named after the first file and keeps the order of your selection. There are no page size options.

Convert HEIC to PDF with Preview

Following Apple's Convert image file types using Preview on Mac:

  1. Open the photo in Preview. For several, open them in one window and select them in the sidebar.
  2. Choose File > Export and choose PDF from Format.
  3. Save the file.

Tips

  • Choose Fit inside A4 for documents. Photographed letters and receipts read like normal pages.
  • Check rotation in the list. HEIC to PDF has no page preview; compare the PDF with your photos and use the rotate button before converting.
  • Combine with other PDFs. Merge the photo PDF with forms or letters in Merge PDFs.
  • Use JPG to PDF for photos already in JPEG. If your iPhone shared the photos as JPG, use JPG to PDF; see how to convert JPG to PDF on a Mac.

Frequently asked questions

Can I convert HEIC to PDF without the Photos app?

Yes. Drop the HEIC files from the Finder into HEIC to PDF in your browser.

Does converting HEIC to PDF lose quality?

Slightly. Each photo is re-encoded as a quality-90 JPEG, which looks the same at normal zoom.

Will the PDF include where the photo was taken?

No. HEIC to PDF does not copy camera or location metadata into the PDF.

Why was one of my HEIC files refused?

It holds several images, is over 64 megapixels, or could not be decoded. A 24- or 48-megapixel iPhone photo is not refused on a Mac; it is scaled down to 16 megapixels. The message names the file and the reason.

Related tools

Sources