HEIC to JPG for Live Photos: the still and the video are two files

Short answer: converting a Live Photo's HEIC file gives you a normal JPG of the still frame — one picture, no motion. The moving part lives in a second file, a QuickTime .mov, and a HEIC to JPG converter never sees it. If you want to keep the motion, export the video separately and keep both files. Nothing about the conversion damages the video; it simply is not part of the HEIC.

What I measured on this site: I built a Live Photo pair — a 1920×1440 HEIC still (34,204 bytes) and a 1.33-second QuickTime video (15,825 bytes) — and ran both through the converter above. The still came out as live-still.jpg — 1920×1440 — 37 KB at the default 85% setting. The video file was refused with "Could not convert this file. Make sure it is a valid HEIC or HEIF photo from an iPhone."

Why a Live Photo is two files

When you take a Live Photo, the camera records two things at once: a full-resolution still, and a short video clip around it. On the phone they feel like one object, but on disk they are stored separately, and they are only "linked" by a piece of metadata — an identifier written into both files so software can tell which video belongs to which photo.

That separation is why the format behaves differently depending on where your photos end up. A HEIC to JPG converter reads the still file. The video file sits beside it, untouched, with an extension the converter does not accept.

What actually happens to each half

The still (HEIC) → converts normally. Mine produced a 1920×1440 JPG. I checked pixels before and after: the sky sampled at rgb(104,160,235) in both, the grass went from rgb(91,171,60) to rgb(91,171,58) — the two-point difference is ordinary JPEG compression, not a change of picture. The frame you get is the still, not a frame pulled out of the video.
The video (MOV) → refused. The converter reported it could not convert the file. It is not a HEIC file, and there is no setting that makes the converter accept it.
Both at once → only the first one is read. The file picker on this site accepts a single file, and its filter is .heic,.heif, so the video cannot be selected alongside the photo anyway.

File size at each quality setting

Same 1920×1440 still, three runs through the converter, so you can see what the quality slider is worth on a Live Photo still:

High — 95%: 97,020 bytes (shown as 95 KB)
Good — 85% (default): 37,826 bytes (shown as 37 KB)
Smaller file — 75%: 28,735 bytes (shown as 28 KB)

The source HEIC was 34,204 bytes, so at the default setting the JPG came out slightly larger than the HEIC it came from. All three finished in under four seconds end to end, the slowest being the 95% run.

The link between the two halves does not survive

The identifier that pairs a still with its video is metadata stored inside the files. I wrote one into the still before converting it (as XMP, the same packet format Apple uses for it), confirmed it was present in the HEIC, and then searched the JPG output for it.

It was gone — at 75%, 85% and 95% alike. The output JPG is a plain JFIF file with no metadata packet carried over. Which means: even if you keep the video file next to your converted JPG, no software will be able to tell from the JPG alone that the two ever belonged together. The pairing only exists in the original HEIC.

Practical version: convert the still when you need a JPG, and keep the original HEIC if you ever want the Live Photo back.

Keeping the motion: what to do with the video

Convert the HEIC for whatever needs a JPG — a form, a print, a website upload.
Export the video separately from your phone's Photos app, or copy it off the phone along with the photo. It arrives as its own .mov file.
Keep the original HEIC if the Live Photo matters to you. It is the only file that still knows about the video.

I have not measured how the video survives being sent through iCloud, AirDrop, or a messaging app, so I will not put numbers or guarantees on those paths. What I did measure is narrower and firmer: the JPG carries the still, the video is a separate file, and the link between them is metadata that the conversion drops.

Questions

Will converting to JPG turn my Live Photo into a video?

No. JPG is a single still image. There is no motion in the file, and none of the video is embedded in it.

Can I convert the .mov file too?

Not here. The converter refused it outright — it only reads HEIC and HEIF image files. A video converter is a different job.

Does the original Live Photo get damaged?

No. The converter reads your file and writes a new JPG; your originals are left as they are. And because the video is a separate file, it is not even opened.

Why does the JPG end up bigger than the HEIC?

HEIC compresses more efficiently than JPEG at similar quality. In my run the 34,204-byte HEIC became a 37,826-byte JPG at the default setting. That gap is normal, not a fault.

Which frame do I get — the still or a video frame?

The still. I compared pixels: the JPG matched the original HEIC frame, not any frame of the video clip.

Try it: open the converter and drop the HEIC half of a Live Photo in. Keep the video file where it is.

First published: 22 September 2026