Backing up photos directly from an iPhone to a computer over USB can be surprisingly frustrating:

• Transfers frequently freeze or disconnect midway through large batches of photos.
• Reconnecting often displays different sets of photos or a mess of split .jpg and .mov pairs.
• Relying entirely on iCloud isn’t always viable if the photo library exceeds the cloud tier or when trying to retain offline archival copies.

The root cause

By default, iOS attempts to convert HEIC/HEVC photos and videos into older formats (JPEG / H.264) on the fly during transfer over USB. This real-time transcoding process is resource-heavy, stalls on large batches, and causes the device connection to time out and drop.

The fix: Keep Originals

Instructing iOS to transfer the original uncompressed files eliminates the transcoding step and prevents connection drops:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Scroll all the way down to Transfer to Mac or PC.
4. Change the setting from Automatic to Keep Originals.

Settings > Photos > Transfer to Mac or PC > Keep Originals

Photos will now transfer rapidly over USB without intermittent disconnects.

Handling HEIC files on Windows

With Keep Originals enabled, photos will copy as .heic files rather than converted JPEGs:

• Windows Photo Viewer: Install the HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store to view HEIC images natively in Windows Photos.
• Third-party viewers: Tools like IrfanView or ImageGlass also support viewing and converting .heic files out of the box.