Choosing Image Formats for Printing

You're about to order prints of your favorite photos. The printing service asks what format. Your files are HEIC from your iPhone. Do you need to convert? Will the quality be okay?

Here's the short version: JPG or TIFF at the highest quality you have. Don't upload HEIC or WebP—most print services won't accept them.

What Print Services Actually Accept

Most online print services (Shutterfly, Snapfish, Costco Photo, local print shops) accept:

JPG: Universally accepted. The standard for photos.
PNG: Usually accepted. Overkill for photos, but works.
TIFF: Accepted by professional services. Highest quality, largest files.

Formats they typically don't accept:

HEIC: Apple's format. Most print services haven't added support. Convert to JPG first.
WebP: Made for web, not print.
AVIF: Too new. Almost no print support yet.

Does Format Affect Print Quality?

Yes and no. The format matters less than the resolution andcompression quality of your file.

Resolution

For prints, you need enough pixels. The standard is 300 DPI (dots per inch). That means:

4×6 print: 1200×1800 pixels minimum
8×10 print: 2400×3000 pixels minimum
11×14 print: 3300×4200 pixels minimum
16×20 print: 4800×6000 pixels minimum

Modern phone cameras shoot at 12-48 megapixels. Even the lowest end (12MP = 4000×3000) is enough for a 13×10 print at 300 DPI. You probably have enough resolution.

Compression Quality

If you've compressed your JPG to a small file size (for email or web), you've permanently lost quality. That quality loss becomes visible in print.

Always print from your original files. Don't print from a photo you downloaded from Facebook—that's been recompressed and resized. Use the original from your phone or camera.

JPG Quality Settings

If you're saving a JPG specifically for print, use 90-100% quality. The file will be larger, but you'll preserve the maximum detail.

JPG at 80% quality is fine for on-screen viewing but may show artifacts in large prints—especially in areas of smooth gradients like sky or skin tones.

When TIFF Makes Sense

TIFF is lossless—it preserves every pixel perfectly with no compression artifacts. Use it when:

You're making large prints (16×20 or bigger)
You're printing professionally (gallery prints, commercial work)
You've heavily edited the photo and want to preserve every detail

For a 4×6 print from Costco? JPG is fine. The difference is invisible at that size.

Color Profiles

This gets technical, but it matters for accurate color. Most print services expect sRGB color space. If your photo uses a wider color space (Adobe RGB, ProPhoto RGB), colors may print differently than they look on screen.

If you're not editing in Lightroom or Photoshop, you probably don't need to worry about this—your phone already uses sRGB.

Printing iPhone Photos

For standard prints from iPhone photos:

Transfer photos to your computer (they'll be HEIC if you haven't changed settings)
Convert HEIC to JPG at high quality
Upload to your print service

Or use Apple's print integration if your service supports it—some services handle HEIC when you order directly from the Photos app.

Summary

Standard prints: JPG at 90-100% quality
Professional/large prints: TIFF if supported, otherwise high-quality JPG
HEIC files: Convert to JPG before uploading
Resolution: Make sure you have enough pixels for the print size (300 DPI)
Always use originals: Don't print from compressed web images or screenshots