Half a million U.S. monthly searches seek image format conversions

Ahrefs keyword data compiled by FormatDrop estimates 605,000 U.S. searches a month for seven common “convert it back” queries, led by “heic to jpg.” The numbers underscore how newer image formats from phones and websites often hit older systems that still expect JPEG, PNG, GIF or PDF.

Why it matters: - The search volume points to a common compatibility problem across phones, websites, printers and older software. - Users are paying a conversion tax when modern formats meet systems that still do not accept them. - FormatDrop argues the issue also raises privacy concerns because many converters upload files to servers.

What happened: - Keyword data from Ahrefs, compiled by FormatDrop, shows seven common image conversion queries draw an estimated 605,000 U.S. searches a month. - The single query “heic to jpg” accounts for about 218,000 monthly U.S. searches. - FormatDrop is a browser-based file converter that handles conversions inside the user’s browser tab. - FormatDrop says no file contents leave the device during conversion.

The details: - The seven queries tracked include HEIC, WebP and AVIF conversions into JPEG, PNG, GIF or PDF. - The monthly U.S. estimates include about 149,000 searches for “webp to png,” 103,000 for “webp to jpg,” 42,000 for “heic to png,” 37,000 for “avif to jpg,” 30,000 for “heic to pdf” and 26,000 for “webp to gif.” - Since iOS 11 in 2017, every iPhone from the iPhone 7 onward has saved photos in HEIC by default. - Apple says HEIC stores photos at about half the size of an equivalent JPEG. - The 2024 Web Almanac from the HTTP Archive found JPEG’s share of images fell from 40% to about 32% in two years. - The same report found WebP reached 12% of images and AVIF rose to around 1%, nearly four times higher than two years earlier. - Older Windows versions cannot open HEIC photos without add-on codecs. - Upload forms, government portals, printing services and legacy software often accept only JPEG or PNG. - FormatDrop’s free tier includes a repeating formatdrop.com watermark, batch limits of five files and a 10 MB cap per file. - FormatDrop’s Pro plan costs $9.99 per month, removes the watermark, lifts the batch limit and raises the per-file cap to 500 MB. - The converter covers image, audio, video and document formats.

Between the lines: - The data suggests file-format fragmentation is now a mainstream consumer problem, not a niche technical issue. - The search behavior also shows users are not choosing modern formats for fun; they are reacting to defaults set by devices and websites. - The conversion demand appears to be driven less by format quality and more by the last system in the chain that cannot read the file.

What’s next: - FormatDrop will keep positioning browser-based conversion as a privacy-preserving alternative to upload-based tools. - As more devices and websites use newer formats, compatibility gaps may continue to fuel conversion searches until downstream systems catch up. - FormatDrop is available at FormatDrop.

The bottom line: - Better image formats have spread faster than the software and services that need to open them, and that gap is creating hundreds of thousands of monthly searches for conversion workarounds.