Printers and registrars standardized on PDF for a reason
Academic portals, ATS systems, and copy shops lock layout in PDF because it prints the same on A4 and Letter devices. A .heic attachment is not “creative.” It is a file-type error. This spoke is that professional and school utility: homework photos, application scans, office packets, forms, and the email you send ahead of a print ticket. Local conversion matters when the pages are a passport, a transcript photo, or a lease. We never need those bytes on a server. You still follow the portal’s megabyte cap — a stack of 12 MP pages can be large; that is physics, not a trick. If the shop asks for 300 dpi TIFF, that is a different converter. If they ask for a PDF, you are in the right place. Combine pages so staff print one job, not twelve. Put IDs on their own page if a form requires it. Do not screenshot a PDF and re-upload; you will lose sharpness the counter will notice.