Convert HEIC images/files on macOS with CLI

converting HEIC images to JPEG, JPG format etc.

This is a note to self.

A historical context: I juggle between my roles as a developer and an amateur iPhone photographer, and I faced a recurring challenge. iOS, in its wisdom, captured my memories in HEIC format. Perfect for storage, but not so friendly when I needed to share or upload those snaps across various platforms. Many apps just raised an eyebrow at HEIC, leaving me in a bind.

The web was filled with conversion tools, but as a developer, opening a browser, uploading, and then downloading converted files felt...inefficient. My developer instincts craved a streamlined option to do this, something right from the terminal.

Enter sips - macOS's unsung command-line hero, present since Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther). A tool that could convert and edit images without breaking a sweat. Unofficial sips CLI reference: https://ss64.com/osx/sips.html

Straightforward basic image conversions : sips 🔥

sips -s format jpeg file.HEIC --out file.jpg

Batch conversion: 🎒

for i in *.heic(:r); do sips -s format jpeg "$i.heic" --out "$i.jpg"; done;

Note: (:r) is a specific feature of the zsh shell's filename generation, where it strips away the file extension. So, when you use *.heic(:r), it would transform filenames like a.heic and b.heic to just a and b.

Feeling brave? Convert and replace: 🦸

If you want to also delete the originals while converting the files, follow up with a rm *.heic – or use this variant instead:

for i in *.heic(:r); do sips -s format jpeg "$i.heic" --out "$i.jpg" && rm "$1.heic"; done;