I think using "convert x to y" is linguistically okay as you're referring to a type conversion. Both x and y refer to objects which can be related to each other

I think using "convert x to y" is linguistically okay as you're referring to a type conversion. Both x and y refer to objects which can be related to each other somehow. The same way a US plug adapter is used to convert a European plug to a American one. To (almost) keep with the analogy, it's okay to say a car was converted to a picture if it was squashed to be almost flat, framed and hung on a wall somehow. Some type conversions are highly destructive whereas others are trivial, like converting a table to a desk. To push the analogy even further I couldn't convert a car to a photograph exactly as the types are incompatable, like a float and an array (at least in most programming languages).