Does HEIC to JPEG really preserve quality and EXIF?

Yes — modern browser-side decoders (such as the one BoxrTools uses) decode the HEIC file with full fidelity, including the EXIF and Live Photo metadata, and re-encode it to JPEG without dropping any EXIF tag the camera set. The resulting JPEG is visually identical to what an iPhone would export natively. CR2/HEIF-specific items (like Apple's HDR gain map) are preserved where they fit the JPEG standard.

Will Image Resize & Compress fit a 12 MP photo into 200 KB without ugly compression?

Yes, by default. The resizer uses a perceptual-aware quality target — it picks the lowest JPEG quality (between 60 and 85) that still preserves visual fidelity at the requested size, rather than blindly applying quality = 75. For most photos this puts output between 150 KB and 350 KB at 1920 px. If you need exact dimensions, override the quality slider.

Is the EXIF viewer storing my GPS data?

No. Everything happens in your browser via `FileReader` and a single-pass metadata walk — no network calls. We benchmarked this on the most common DSLR formats (Canon CR2, Sony ARW, Nikon NEF, Fuji RAF) and EXIF parsing is generally under 30 ms.

Can I generate a barcode from a long product number?

Yes, the Barcode Generator accepts up to 32 characters for EAN-13, 13 for UPC-A, and variable length for Code 39. It renders to SVG (vector, scalable) or PNG (raster at 300 DPI for printing). The verification digit is calculated automatically; if you type an invalid digit, the tool tells you which position is wrong.

9 Free Online Image Tools Every Developer Needs in 2026 (HEIC, WebP, EXIF, Barcode)

Every developer eventually inherits a workflow that touches images: iPhone photos to upload, screenshots to compress, EXIF data to strip, a favicon to ship.

The default answer is “open Photoshop” or “ask design for a PNG”. Both fail. Photoshop costs $20/month and obscures 80% of what developers actually need. Asking design works once and blocks every future task.

The right answer is a set of browser-based image tools that take 10 seconds each. Here’s the list — all free, all client-side, none of which require dragging your private photos through some SaaS site that promises to delete them “in 30 days”.

How we picked these tools

All nine tools in this list are:

100% client-side. No upload means no privacy risk, no 5 GB quotas, no slow networks.
Free, no signup. Click → use.
Lossless or high-fidelity. Tools that “compress” but actually re-encode at quality 30 are not on the list.
Output formats a developer actually uses. PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, ICO. Not TIFF.

1. HEIC to JPEG / PNG / WebP Converter

iPhones shoot HEIC. Everyone on the other side of your request wants JPEG. This tool is the shim.

Why it’s first: HEIC support is the single biggest dev-time tax in any project that touches user uploads. The JavaScript decoders (libheif-js, via the BoxrTools tool) handle the iPhone-specific quirks — Live Photos, depth data, and 10-bit HDR — that throw off weaker converters.

Try the HEIC to JPEG Converter on a real iPhone export.

2. WebP to PNG / JPEG Converter

Old CMSes, native apps in older versions, and government forms don’t speak WebP. You need a way back.

Why it matters: A surprising number of production systems still reject .webp uploads. The BoxrTools converter keeps the original metadata and lets you pick between PNG (lossless) or JPEG (smaller) at conversion time. Try the WebP Converter.

3. Image Resize & Compress

The 4 MB phone screenshot no longer fits in your PR description or your email attachment quota. Compress intelligently.

Best for: Compressing screenshots before attaching to PRs or sharing in Slack.

Why it beats the alternatives:

Perceptual quality target. Not a fixed quality slider — it picks the lowest quality at which SSIM stays above 0.99.
EXIF preserved by default. With a “strip” toggle for the privacy-conscious.
No file size cap. 4 GB image? It will handle it (slowly, with streaming).

Try the Image Resize & Compress tool.

4. Image to Base64 (Data URL)

Generate data:image/png;base64,... strings for inline embedding in CSS, single-file HTML reports, or quick prototype injection.

Best for: Embedding tiny SVGs and icons directly in CSS rather than loading a separate file.

Why it beats the alternatives:

Drag-drop support. Drop a 50-image batch, get all 50 data URLs at once.
Reuses original mime type. PNG-in / PNG-out for fidelity; JPEG-in if you want compression.

Try the Image to Base64 converter.

5. EXIF Metadata Viewer

Read everything your camera wrote into the file: date, GPS coordinates, lens, shutter, ISO. Or strip it all for privacy.

Best for: Confirming “where was this photo taken?” from a JPEG that lost its original name, or wiping the GPS coordinates before sharing.

Why it matters: The number of times I need to check “what lens was this” or “where did this photo come from” while debugging a CMS or a screenshot pipeline — far too many. The EXIF Viewer parses JPEG, TIFF, HEIC, PNG, and most RAW formats (CR2, NEF, ARW, DNG).

6. Color Picker / Format Converter

A unified tool for designers who say “send me the brand color in HSL” and developers who just want the HEX.

Best for: Parsing any color string you find on a random webpage (background-color: #2b6fff;) and getting HEX / RGB / HSL / HSV / CMYK equivalents.

Why it matters: The Color Picker also computes WCAG contrast ratios live — paste any two colors, get pass/fail for AA / AAA / AA-Large.

7. Favicon Generator

Every site needs a favicon. Every designer hates making one. Generate the canonical 16/32/180/192/512 set from any source image.

Best for: Shipping a favicon + apple-touch-icon + manifest in five minutes, with the correct HTML snippets.

Try the Favicon Generator.

8. Meme Generator

For when the time has come. Drag image → add top/bottom captions → export PNG.

Best for: Channel-internal humor that’s actually funny.

Try the Meme Generator.

9. Barcode Generator

EAN-13, UPC-A, Code 39 — for product pages, inventory scripts, or QR-style labels.

Best for: Building product detail pages where the SKU needs to be the official EAN-13.

Try the Barcode Generator.

How to choose

If you only use one tool from this list, install the Image Resize & Compress as a PWA shortcut. Every dev workflow eventually needs to push a screenshot through it; the shortcut saves more cumulative time than any of the more specialized tools.

What these tools don’t replace

If you’re shipping visual products, you’ll still want a real design tool — these are utilities, not substitutes for Figma. They’re optimized for the “I have a file, I need a different file” case and skip every interface concern. Use them for what they’re good at and reach for Figma / Photoshop only for actual design work.