Is FreeConvert
safe?
By its own account it uploads your files over HTTPS and deletes them after a few hours, which is an ordinary and reasonable arrangement. Its free tier is metered, and that turns out to be the most interesting thing about it.
The answer, first
By its own published account, yes — with the usual cloud caveat. FreeConvert says it uploads your files over a secure HTTPS connection and deletes them automatically after a few hours. That's a normal, reasonable arrangement. The only real question is whether you want a copy of the photo on someone else's machine for those hours at all.
We build a converter that competes with theirs, so read this with that in mind. Every fact here is quoted from FreeConvert's own pages and linked, our own downsides are listed below, and you can check all of it yourself in a couple of minutes. Don't take our word for any of it.
What FreeConvert says about your files
Its HEIC-to-JPG page is straightforward about the mechanics, which is more than many converters bother with:
"we upload your files over a secure HTTPS connection"
And about what happens afterwards:
"delete them automatically after a few hours"
The same page lists Max file size 1GB — a ceiling far above anything
your phone's camera will ever hand you.
Two honest observations about those quotes. First: saying plainly "we upload your files" is a point in their favour. A converter that uploads and doesn't mention it is worse than one that uploads and says so on the page you're standing on. Second: "a few hours" is a commitment without a number in it. That's a small thing, and softer than some competitors manage, but it is what the page says and we're not going to pretend it says more.
The free tier, and why it's metered
FreeConvert's pricing page is specific, so we'll quote it rather than summarise it:
"Free users get 20 conversion minutes per day for both Web and API use."
"This means up to 20 files per day can be converted for free."
"a limit of 5 conversion minutes per file for free usage"
And a detail that deserves more credit than it usually gets:
"You do not need to create an account to get these benefits on our website."
Metering is the rational design here, not a trick. Every conversion FreeConvert performs costs them CPU time, bandwidth and storage on machines they rent. Their costs scale directly with your files. A free tier with no ceiling would be a bill with no ceiling, so there is a ceiling. Any server-based converter that claims "unlimited free" is either subsidising you from somewhere or being loose with the word.
The reason this converter has no daily cap isn't virtue. It's that the conversion happens on your computer, using your CPU and your electricity, so there is no bill that grows with your batch. Different architecture, different economics. We didn't out-generous them; we just don't have their costs.
Side by side, verified facts only
Only things we could read on a published page on 15 July 2026. Where something isn't stated, the cell says so rather than guessing. Our own row is marked, because not marking it would be the sly version of the same thing.
| FreeConvert | Safelight | |
|---|---|---|
| Where conversion happens | On their servers — "we upload your files over a secure HTTPS connection" | In your browser. Nothing is uploaded |
| Stated retention | "delete them automatically after a few hours" | No retention — the file never leaves your device |
| Free-tier limit | "Free users get 20 conversion minutes per day for both Web and API use"; "up to 20 files per day can be converted for free" | No daily cap, no file limit — limited by your device's memory |
| Per-file limit | "Max file size 1GB"; "a limit of 5 conversion minutes per file for free usage" | Not stated — bounded by your device's memory |
| Account needed | "You do not need to create an account to get these benefits on our website" | No account |
| Works offline | No — it's a server converter by design | Yes, after the page has loaded |
| Output formats | Many, including formats we don't support | JPG, PNG, WebP and PDF |
| Whose page this is | Not ours | Ours. Weigh accordingly |
Our bias, and our own downsides
We are a competitor. That's a conflict of interest, and it's why every claim above is a quote with a link rather than a characterisation. Here's the list a fair rival would want printed:
- Our JPGs are ~168% the size of your HEICs. So are theirs. Every HEIC-to-JPG converter does this — it's the codecs, not the tool.
- We drop EXIF metadata — dates, camera, GPS. Rotation is applied so photos come out upright, but the rest doesn't survive.
- JPG, PNG, WebP and PDF only. FreeConvert converts far more formats than we do — video, exotic image types, and more. If you need one of those, they're the right tool and we're not.
- Very large zips hit browser memory limits. The app warns first, but their server doesn't have that problem.
- A ~1.4 MB decoder downloads once on first use.
- We're a small independent project, not an audited company.
To check any of this: press F12, open the Network tab
and convert a photo — on their site you'll watch the upload go out, on ours you'll
watch nothing happen. Or turn off Wi-Fi and try both. The
ten-second version of the test
works on any converter, including this one.
No cap, no account, no upload
Drop in a few hundred iPhone photos. There's no daily allowance to spend, because there's no server whose bill grows with your batch.
Questions people actually ask
- Does FreeConvert upload my files?
- Yes, and it says so on the page: "we upload your files over a secure HTTPS connection". That's a server-side converter, which is how most of them work. It isn't a problem in itself — it just means a copy of your photo exists somewhere else for a while.
- How long do they keep my files?
- The HEIC page says they "delete them automatically after a few hours". A published commitment, if a less precise one than a stated number of hours. Like every retention promise, it can't be verified from outside.
- Is it really free?
- Free and metered: 20 conversion minutes per day, which their pricing page says works out to up to 20 files per day, with a limit of 5 conversion minutes per file. No account required. That's a real free tier with real edges.
- Why is there a limit at all?
- Because their costs scale per file. Bandwidth, CPU and storage all cost money on every conversion, so a free tier has to have a ceiling somewhere. It's the rational design of a server-based free tier, not a dark pattern.
- Should I use them or a local converter?
- If you need a format we don't do — video or anything exotic — use them, without hesitation. If you're converting iPhone photos, especially ones you'd rather not copy onto a stranger's machine, convert on your own device. That's the only claim we're making, and it's architectural, not moral.
Keep reading
- Is CloudConvert safe? — a cloud converter whose stated practices are notably strong.
- Alternatives to heictojpg.com — the honest roundup, ours and everyone else's.
- Free and unlimited, without the asterisk — why local converters have no cap.