# Live Photo to Video (and Video to Live Photo): Every Method That Works > How to turn a Live Photo into a video with Apple's built-in Save as Video, how to make a video into a Live Photo, how to turn Live Photos off for good, and what they cost in storage. *Published: 2026-08-18* ยท *7 min read* Canonical URL: https://timestampcamera.net/photo-guides/live-photo-to-video-and-back **Quick answer:** Turning a **Live Photo into a video** needs no app at all: open the photo in Photos, tap the More button, and choose **Save as Video**. The clip lands in Recently Saved while the original stays put. Going the other way, **video to Live Photo**, is the part Apple never built: iOS has no native converter, so you either set the video as a wallpaper-style Live Photo through a third-party app or accept a Loop effect instead. And if you would rather stop shooting them altogether, **Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings > Live Photo** is the switch that makes "off" actually stick. A Live Photo is not a video and not quite a still. Your iPhone records **1.5 seconds before and after** you press the shutter, then stores the result as a photo plus a short movie file bundled together. That hybrid nature explains almost every question people have about them, so let us take them in order. ## How to turn a Live Photo into a video Apple's own method, no app required: 1. In the **Photos** app, swipe up to find **Media Types**, then tap **Live Photos**. 2. Tap the Live Photo you want. 3. Tap the **More** button (upper-right), then choose **Save as Video**. The video appears in your **Recently Saved** album, and the Live Photo remains in the Live Photos album untouched. If you want several of them stitched into one clip, Apple's own suggestion is to combine them in iMovie. One nuance worth knowing: the exported video is the full ~3 second capture, not just the frames after the shutter. If the interesting moment is at the end, that is fine; if the beginning is shaky, trim the exported video afterwards. ## How to turn a video into a Live Photo This is the direction with no official answer, and it is worth being straight about why: Apple provides no built-in video-to-Live-Photo converter in iOS. What people usually want is one of three things: - **A moving lock screen.** On modern iOS you can set a video directly as a Live wallpaper without converting anything, which solves the actual goal for most people. - **A Live Photo file to share.** This needs a third-party app from the App Store; the conversion itself is not something Photos will do. - **A GIF-style loop.** If your source is already a Live Photo, tap the **Live Photos** button at the top of the photo and choose **Loop** or **Bounce**. That gives you the looping effect without leaving Photos. Anyone promising a browser-based video-to-Live-Photo converter is overselling: the format is an Apple bundle (a HEIC still paired with a MOV), and writing one back into your photo library requires an app with library access, not a web page. ## How to turn Live Photos off, permanently Tapping the Live Photos button in the Camera app only turns it off **temporarily**: the Camera app switches it back on by itself. To make it stick: **Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings**, then turn on the switch next to **Live Photo**. Now the camera remembers your choice between sessions. To find them or check what you already have, the Photos app groups them under **Collections > Media Types > Live Photos**. ## What Live Photos cost you in storage This is the practical reason many people turn them off. A Live Photo stores two things: the still image (a HEIC file) and a short MOV clip beside it. In round numbers that means roughly **double the storage of a normal photo**, and the extra weight is video, which does not compress the way a still does. Two consequences worth knowing: - Exporting with **Save as Video** does not delete the Live Photo, so you now have three files. Delete the original if you only wanted the clip. - The still half of a Live Photo is a HEIC file, which brings its own compatibility questions on Windows and Android. We covered those in [what is a HEIC file](/photo-guides/what-is-a-heic-file), including how to open one anywhere. ## What happens when you share a Live Photo The motion survives some routes and dies on others, which is the source of a lot of confusion: - **Messages to another iPhone:** arrives live. Press and hold to play it. - **Mail:** Apple states plainly that a Live Photo sent via Mail goes as a **still image**. - **Most social platforms and messengers:** the still frame only, since almost nothing outside Apple's ecosystem understands the pairing. - **Sharing deliberately as a still:** open the photo, tap Share, then tap **Live** in the upper-left corner to switch it off before sending. If you want something that plays everywhere, export with Save as Video first and send the MP4-style video instead. That is the reliable cross-platform route. ## Do Live Photos keep EXIF and GPS data? Yes. The still half carries the same metadata as any iPhone photo: capture date, device model, and GPS coordinates if location is on. The paired video carries its own timestamps too, which is why an exported Live Photo video can still reveal when and where it was shot. You can check exactly what any file carries with our [EXIF viewer](/exif-viewer), and strip it before sharing with the [EXIF remover](/exif-remover). For video files specifically, see [does video have metadata](/photo-guides/does-video-have-metadata). ## FAQ ### How do I turn a Live Photo into a video on iPhone? Photos app, swipe up to Media Types, tap Live Photos, select the photo, tap the More button, then Save as Video. The result lands in Recently Saved. ### How do I save a Live Photo as a video without an app? That is exactly what Save as Video does; it is built into Photos and needs nothing extra. Third-party apps are only necessary for the reverse direction (video to Live Photo). ### How do I turn a video into a Live Photo? iOS has no native converter. For a moving lock screen, set the video as your wallpaper directly. For an actual Live Photo file, you need a third-party app. For a looping effect on an existing Live Photo, use the Loop or Bounce effects in Photos. ### Can I convert a GIF into a Live Photo? Not with any Apple tool, and this is a heavily searched dead end. What Photos does offer is the reverse: converting a Live Photo into a Loop, which behaves like a GIF. Third-party apps handle GIF to Live Photo if you specifically need the file type. ### How do I turn off Live Photo permanently? Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings, then turn on the Live Photo switch. Without that step, the Camera app re-enables Live Photos on its own the next time you open it. ### Do Live Photos take up more space? Yes, roughly double a normal photo, because each one stores a still plus a short video. Turning the feature off, or periodically exporting the ones you care about and deleting the rest, is the practical fix. ### Why did my Live Photo lose its motion when I sent it? Because the destination did not support the format. Mail sends Live Photos as stills by Apple's own design, and most non-Apple platforms do the same. Export as a video when the motion is the point. ### Which iPhones support Live Photos? iPhone 6s and later, plus iPad (5th generation) and later, iPad Air (3rd generation) and later, iPad mini (5th generation) and later, and iPad Pro models from 2016 onwards. ## Bottom line Live Photo to video is a two-tap job Apple built into Photos. Video to Live Photo is the direction Apple never shipped, so treat any tool claiming an instant browser conversion with suspicion. If they are eating your storage or vanishing on send, either export the keepers as videos or turn the feature off properly through Preserve Settings, and remember that the still half is a HEIC file with all the [compatibility quirks that implies](/photo-guides/what-is-a-heic-file).