Convert HEIC to PNG
Choosing PNG rather than JPG as the destination for an iPhone photo is a deliberate decision, and it is the right one in one specific situation: when the photo is about to be edited, cropped, annotated or composited, and you do not want a second round of lossy compression baked in before the work even starts. PNG is lossless, so from the moment of conversion onwards nothing further is thrown away no matter how many times you save.
Drop your HEIC files below and download PNG in seconds. Free, unlimited and completely private: the conversion runs inside your browser, so your files never leave your device and are never uploaded to a server.
No upload. Works with your network switched off. Check it yourself, or read what actually happens to your file.
Why convert HEIC to PNG?
For a photo you are simply sending to someone, PNG is the wrong choice and JPG is the right one. Photographs do not compress well losslessly, so a PNG of an iPhone photo routinely lands several times larger than the JPG would, sometimes many megabytes for a single shot. Screenshots, receipts, documents photographed on a phone and images with flat areas or sharp text are the exception: those compress well as PNG and stay crisp.
Apple made HEIC the default camera format on iPhone because it stores photos at roughly half the size of JPG. Outside the Apple ecosystem support is poor: Windows needs paid extensions and many websites reject HEIC uploads, making it one of the most converted formats on the web.
PNG stores every pixel exactly as it was saved, which makes it the safe choice whenever detail matters more than file size. It supports a full alpha channel, so logos and UI elements keep clean, soft edges on any background. The tradeoff is that photos saved as PNG can get large.
What this converter does to your HEIC file
The HEIC is decoded by libheif compiled to WebAssembly in your browser, then written out as PNG by the browser's own encoder. PNG is lossless, so the output is a pixel-for-pixel record of what the HEIC decoder produced and nothing further is lost from that point on. It cannot undo the compression HEIC applied at capture. EXIF, including the date and GPS coordinates, is not carried across. There is no quality setting, because PNG does not have one.
HEIC vs PNG at a glance
| HEIC | PNG | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | High Efficiency Image Container | Portable Network Graphics |
| Compression | Lossy (HEVC) | Lossless |
| Transparency | No | Yes |
| Best for | iPhone and iPad photos | Logos, screenshots and graphics with transparency |
What changes when you convert HEIC to PNG
| What happens | |
|---|---|
| Image quality | Unchanged from here on. PNG is lossless, so it preserves exactly the pixels decoded from the HEIC file. It cannot restore what the HEIC encoder already discarded. |
| Transparency | HEIC has no alpha channel, so there is no transparency to lose. |
| EXIF and GPS | Removed. The conversion goes through a pixel buffer, so camera data and location are not carried into the PNG file. |
| Colour profile | Not carried across. The image is handled in sRGB, which is right for the web and wrong for colour-managed print work. |
| Animation | Not applicable. HEIC files here are single images. |
| File size | Larger, often several times. Lossless formats cannot match what a lossy encoder already achieved. |
How to convert HEIC to PNG
- Drop one or more HEIC files into the box above, or click to browse.
- ImageConvert converts each file to PNG right on your device.
- Download a single file, or grab everything at once as a zip.
Frequently asked questions
Should I convert HEIC to PNG or to JPG?
PNG if you are going to edit the image and want no further loss. JPG if you are going to send, upload or print it, because a photograph as PNG is typically several times larger for no visible gain.
Does PNG make my iPhone photo look better?
No. PNG prevents any further loss, it does not reverse the loss that already happened when the phone encoded the shot. The picture will look exactly as it did, in a considerably larger file.
Why is the PNG so much larger than the HEIC?
Because lossless compression cannot compete with a modern lossy codec on photographic content. HEIC discards detail your eye is unlikely to notice; PNG keeps every pixel exactly, including all the sensor noise, which compresses poorly.
What is a HEIC file?
HEIC is Apple's high efficiency photo format used by iPhones and iPads. Many apps cannot open it directly.
What is a PNG file?
PNG is a lossless format with transparency support, ideal for graphics, logos and screenshots.
Is it free to convert HEIC to PNG?
Yes. There are no limits, no watermarks and no account needed. Convert as many HEIC files as you like.
Are my files private?
Completely. Your HEIC files never leave your browser and are never uploaded to a server, so your images stay on your device.