updated
Aug 5, 2026
26.6MB
file size
14.8K
downloads
XnConvert is a free batch image converter from XnSoft that reads more than 500 formats and exports to about 70. It applies over 80 operations - resize, crop, watermark, colour adjustment, metadata editing - to entire folders at once, with presets you can save and reuse.
It is free for private, educational and non-profit use, but using it inside a company requires a paid licence.
Point XnConvert at a folder of 400 photos, tell it to resize them, strip the location data and save them as WebP, and it does all three in one pass.
That is the whole job, and it does it faster and with fewer surprises than any browser-based converter.
Version 1.115.0 is a 26.6 MB download for Windows, with Mac and Linux builds from the same developer.
The Licence Catch Nobody Mentions
XnConvert is genuinely free, and it is not free for everyone.
XnSoft licenses it as freeware for private, educational and non-profit use. If you are converting your own photos, studying, or working for a charity, you pay nothing and there is no trial clock, no watermark and no nag screen.
Company use requires a paid licence. The developer's price list starts at 15 euros for a single seat and drops per seat in volume, down to 6.50 euros at 100 or more. Worth knowing before you install it on a work machine, because batch image conversion is overwhelmingly a work task.
It is a fair deal by any measure, and the honest position is that most people reading this owe nothing and a few owe 15 euros.
What It Actually Does
You add files or drag a folder in, stack up the operations you want, pick an output format, and run it.
More than 80 operations are available and they combine. The useful ones in practice are resize, crop and rotate, brightness and contrast, watermarking, and metadata editing - which includes stripping EXIF, so you can remove GPS coordinates from a batch of photos before they go anywhere public.
Input covers over 500 formats and output about 70. The full list is on XnSoft's format reference if you need to check something obscure.
Because it works on the queue rather than one file, the time saved scales with the job. Ten files is a convenience. Four hundred is the difference between a minute and an afternoon.
Presets and Watch Folders
These are the two features that turn it from a converter into part of a workflow, and both go unmentioned almost everywhere.
Presets save an entire stack of operations under a name. If you always resize to 1200px, sharpen slightly and export as WebP for a website, that becomes one click forever.
Watch folders monitor a directory and apply a preset automatically to anything that appears in it. Drop a file in, the processed version comes out, and for a recurring job it removes the application from the loop entirely.
There is also a command-line sibling, NConvert, from the same developer, if you would rather script the whole thing than click it.
HEIC, AVIF and the Other Awkward Formats
The reason most people arrive here is a folder of iPhone HEIC files that Windows will not deal with sensibly.
XnConvert handles HEIC and HEIF directly, along with AVIF, JPEG XL, camera RAW, DNG, CR2, PSD, OpenEXR and JPEG 2000. Our quick guide to converting HEIC files with XnConvert walks the process, and the steps apply to any format it supports.
If you would rather not install anything for a handful of files, these convert in the browser.
- JPEG to HEIF and HEIF to JPEG.
- JPEG to HEIC and HEIC to JPEG.
If the goal is to view HEIC in Windows rather than convert it, HEIF Image Extensions adds native support to Photos and File Explorer. For camera RAW, the Raw Image Extension does the same job.
Which Build You Need
The current release is 64-bit on every platform, and this has changed since a lot of pages were written.
Windows gets an installer or a ZIP, both 64-bit, supporting Windows 7 through 11. macOS gets a universal DMG covering Intel and Apple Silicon, requiring macOS 10.13 or later, and there is a Mac App Store listing as well. Linux gets a DEB or a TGZ, 64-bit.
32-bit is legacy only now. The developer still hosts 32-bit builds, but they are frozen at old versions - 1.98.0 on Windows and 1.76 on Linux - and get no updates. If you are on 32-bit hardware you are running software several years behind.
There is also an Android version on Google Play, which is a genuinely different app rather than a port.
The Rest of the XnView Family
XnConvert is one of several tools from the same developer, and picking the right one saves effort.
- XnView MP - the viewer and organiser, if browsing and cataloguing is the actual job.
- XnResize - resizing only, much simpler if that is all you need.
- NConvert - the command-line engine, for scripting and automation.
- XnShell - right-click conversion from File Explorer.
If you only ever resize, XnResize will be less to learn than XnConvert with one operation enabled.
Free Alternatives Worth Knowing
Several tools overlap, and one of them may fit better depending on what you are doing.
- Light Image Resizer - simpler and faster for straightforward resize-and-compress jobs.
- Adobe DNG Converter - free, and the right tool specifically for archiving camera RAW as DNG.
- Image Toolbox - open source, no telemetry, strong on batch operations and format conversion.
- RapidRAW - for actual RAW developing rather than conversion.
For viewing rather than converting, LeafView is a light image viewer, and there are more in the Image Viewers category.
Batch conversion is not undoable. XnConvert can overwrite originals if you point the output at the input folder, and there is no history to roll back. Write to a separate folder the first time you run a new preset, check the results, and only then trust it with the real set.
Who Should Look Elsewhere
The tell is whether you are processing many files or perfecting one.
If you are editing a single photo properly, with retouching, masking and layers, this is a batch tool and it will frustrate you. Snapseed and Adobe Lightroom are built for that.
ACDSee sits between the two if you want cataloguing alongside editing, though it is paid software.
If you want to organise and find images rather than transform them, a converter is the wrong shape of tool, and the Graphics category has viewers and managers that will suit better.
And if you need this on a work machine, revisit the licence section above before you install it.
Quick questions
Is XnConvert really free?
For private, educational and non-profit use, yes, with no trial period and no watermark. Using it inside a company requires a paid licence starting at 15 euros per seat.
Does it convert HEIC files from an iPhone?
Yes, HEIC and HEIF are both supported for input and output, along with AVIF, JPEG XL, camera RAW and DNG.
Is there a 32-bit version?
Only a legacy one. Current releases are 64-bit on all platforms, and the 32-bit builds are frozen at older versions that receive no updates.
Does it work on Mac and Linux?
Yes. macOS 10.13 or later as a universal build for Intel and Apple Silicon, and Linux as a 64-bit DEB or TGZ package.
Can it strip GPS data from photos?
Yes. Metadata editing is one of the available operations, so you can remove EXIF including location from an entire folder in one pass.
What is the difference between XnConvert and XnView MP?
XnConvert is a batch processor for converting and editing many files at once. XnView MP is a viewer and organiser for browsing and cataloguing them.
Download XnConvert 1.115.0 and see how it handles your folder, or tell us how you got on if you have used it before.
There are screenshots here, and more image software in the Graphics category.
