Batch Converting JPEGs to HEICs

Posted on September 25, 2023 Tags
TIL Photography CLI

Why Convert to HEIC? #

HEICs are much smaller than JPEGs with no noticeable quality loss (at least as far as I can tell) so I use it to save a bit of storage space. I was able to get around a 75% reduction in file size for a set of images taken on a full frame camera (Sony a7IV).

Installing ImageMagick #

ImageMagick is an open-source CLI tool for image processing.

On macOS, install it with homebrew:

brew install imagemagick

On Ubuntu, use apt:

sudo apt install imagemagick

Converting Between Formats #

JPEG to HEIC #

magick convert input.jpg output.heic

HEIC to JPEG #

magick convert input.heic output.jpg

Batch conversion #

The mogrify command is the batch version of the magick command. These commands can take a while, depending on the size of your images and which formats you're converting from/to.

Convert a directory of JPEGs to HEICs #

mogrify -monitor -path OUTPUT_DIRECTORY -format heic *.jpg

The -path OUTPUT_DIRECTORY is optional. By default, mogrify will place the new files in the current directory - overwriting any files with the same name.

Convert a directory of HEICs to JPEGs #

mogrify -monitor -path OUTPUT_DIRECTORY -format jpg *.heic

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