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HEIC to PNG Converter

Convert iPhone HEIC photos to PNG so any app or browser can open them.

Drop HEIC files here
or click anywhere in this box to choose files

Up to 50 MB per file. Sign up free to convert files up to 100 MB.

What to expect when converting HEIC to PNG

Typical file-size change
5–10× larger
Example

A 2 MB iPhone HEIC photo typically becomes 10 – 20 MB as PNG.

Quality: Lossless once decoded. PNG preserves the HEIC pixels at full fidelity.

Best for: editing photos in software that doesn't support HEIC.

Avoid when: compactness matters, PNG is much larger than HEIC.

Tip: PNG is overkill for most iPhone photos. Convert to JPG unless you specifically need lossless or transparency.

HEIC to PNG: maximum quality from iPhone photos

Converting HEIC to PNG decodes the HEVC-compressed image data and stores every decoded pixel losslessly. Unlike HEIC-to-JPG (which re-compresses with a second lossy codec), HEIC-to-PNG preserves the decoded quality without any additional loss. The file will be significantly larger (often 10-20×) but represents the highest quality extraction possible from the HEIC source.

Choose PNG over JPG when the iPhone photo will be heavily edited (each lossless save avoids accumulating artifacts), when you need to add transparency in an editor, or when maximum quality preservation justifies the larger file size.

HEIC vs PNG: Side-by-side

Technical comparison of the two formats, useful for deciding which to use, or for confirming what changes during conversion.

Property HEIC PNG
Full name High Efficiency Image Container Portable Network Graphics
Year introduced 2017 1996
Developer / standard body MPEG / Apple PNG Development Group / W3C
MIME type image/heic image/png
File extension .heic / .heif .png
Compression Lossy (HEVC) Lossless (DEFLATE)
Color / data depth 8/10-bit 24-bit truecolor + 8-bit alpha
Max dimensions / size 8,192 × 4,320 px 2,147,483,647 × 2,147,483,647 px
Transparency Yes Yes
Animation Yes APNG extension only
Standard / specification ISO/IEC 23008-12 W3C / ISO/IEC 15948
Best for iPhone photo storage (50% smaller than JPG at equivalent quality) Logos, screenshots, graphics with transparency or sharp edges

Frequently asked questions

What is HEIC?

HEIC is Apple's efficient HEIF format, typically used for iPhone photos at small file sizes. Converting it to PNG produces a file that opens on systems without HEIC support.

HEIC vs PNG - which format should I use?

HEIC is Apple's efficient HEIF format best for iPhone photos at small file sizes. PNG is a lossless format with transparency support best for logos, screenshots, and graphics with sharp edges. Choose PNG when the site or application you are submitting to asks for it, or when you need lossless quality and transparency.

How do I open HEIC files?

On Windows: Photos, after installing the free HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store. On a Mac: Preview and Photos, natively. This is the classic iPhone problem. Windows cannot open HEIC out of the box, and the required extension is easy to miss because Windows does not always prompt for it.

HEIC vs PNG - which format should I use?

HEIC is Apple's efficient HEIF format best for iPhone photos at small file sizes. PNG is a lossless format with transparency support best for logos, screenshots, and graphics with sharp edges. Use PNG when a website, form, or app requires it, or when you need lossless quality and transparency.

When should I convert HEIC to PNG instead of JPG?

Choose PNG when you need lossless quality (no compression artifacts at all), when you plan to edit the image repeatedly without accumulating quality loss, or when the image has transparency that needs to be preserved, though iPhone photos rarely have transparency.

Why is the PNG so much larger than my iPhone HEIC photo?

HEIC uses the highly efficient HEVC codec, a 12 MP iPhone photo is typically 1–3 MB. PNG is lossless and stores every pixel exactly, resulting in files of 15–30 MB for the same photo. The size increase is the cost of lossless storage.

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