How to convert HEIC to PNG
- Add your HEIC photos. Drop them anywhere on the page, or click the box and choose them. You can add a whole folder's worth at once.
- Press Convert. PNG is lossless, so there is no quality setting to choose. Every row shows the HEIC size and the PNG size when it is done.
- Download with the link on a row, or use Download all as ZIP when you converted several.
Each result keeps the photo's name with a new ending, so IMG_2041.HEIC becomes IMG_2041.png. Your original HEIC files are not changed or removed.
PNG or JPG: which one do you want?
Both open everywhere, and for most people JPG is the right answer: it is a lot smaller. PNG is the better choice in a few cases.
- You will edit the photo. A JPG is compressed again every time it is saved, and the damage adds up. A PNG is not, so you can edit and save as often as you like and make a JPG at the end.
- A program wants PNG. Some design, game, 3D and dataset tools take PNG and not JPG.
- You want to compress only once. The HEIC is decoded without loss and written to a PNG without loss, so no further quality is thrown away. A JPG adds one more round of compression.
- You are preparing a cut-out. PNG is the format that keeps see-through areas, for use with the background remover or the object cut-out.
If none of that applies, use HEIC to JPG. The HEIC vs JPEG guide explains why iPhones save HEIC in the first place.
How big the PNG will be
Much bigger. HEIC is an efficient format, and PNG keeps every pixel. We converted three HEIC test photos with this page:
| The HEIC photo | As a PNG | As a JPG, quality 92 |
|---|---|---|
| 1024 × 768, 109 KB | 1,040 KB | 153 KB |
| 512 × 512, 74 KB | 531 KB | 98 KB |
| 512 × 512, 63 KB | 506 KB | 65 KB |
The PNGs were between 8 and 10 times the size of the HEIC files. A real iPhone photo has many more pixels than these test pictures, so expect PNGs of ten megabytes or more each. Convert big folders in groups, and keep an eye on your storage.
How accurate is the conversion?
The HEIC is decoded by libheif, a widely used open-source HEIC library. We checked our PNG files against a separate copy of libheif run from the command line (heif-convert) on the same three photos. The pictures were the same size, the average difference was between 0.16 and 0.41 out of 255 levels, and the largest single difference on any color of any pixel was 18. That is the size of rounding differences between two programs, not a shift in color. The decoder we use is heic-to (libheif, LGPL-3.0); an older decoder we tried first was off by 6 to 10 levels and clipped bright areas, so we did not use it.
What is kept and what is not
- Size and rotation. The photo keeps its full pixel size, and the rotation of the phone is applied, so photos taken sideways open upright.
- Camera details and location. Dates, camera settings and the GPS location stored in the HEIC are not copied to the PNG, because the new file is a fresh picture. That protects your privacy when you share it, and photo apps that sort by the date inside the file will not know when it was taken. See our EXIF guide.
- Color depth and profile. The PNG has 8 bits per color. A wide-gamut Display P3 profile is not carried over, so very saturated colors can look slightly different.
- Live Photos become one still picture: the short video is not converted.
- Bursts and multi-image files. If one HEIC file holds several pictures, the first one is converted.
- Depth maps and HDR information are not carried over: you get an ordinary picture.
- Transparency. HEIC photos rarely have any. If one does, the PNG keeps it.
The first photo takes a little longer
Safari can open HEIC itself, so there the conversion needs nothing extra. Other browsers cannot, so the first time you add a HEIC photo the page downloads a decoder of about 3 MB, and only then. After it is loaded, the rest of your photos convert without another download. If the page says it could not load the decoder, check your connection and try again.
Limits
- Browsers will not draw a picture wider than 16,384 pixels or larger than about 120 megapixels.
- Every finished picture is held in memory until you download it, and PNGs are large, so do big folders in groups, especially on a phone.
- If you need the camera data and the location kept, convert on your phone or computer instead.
Privacy
The conversion happens in this tab, and the files on your disk are never changed or deleted. For what the site collects, see our privacy policy.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert HEIC to PNG for free?
Drop your HEIC photos on this page and press Convert. Then download each file or the whole batch as a ZIP. Nothing needs to be installed and there are no settings to choose.
Is HEIC to PNG lossless?
The conversion itself loses nothing: the photo is decoded and written to a PNG exactly. The HEIC was already compressed by the phone, so detail it dropped is not coming back, and the PNG cannot hold the extras HEIC can, such as depth data.
Why is my PNG so much bigger than the HEIC?
HEIC compresses photos very efficiently, and PNG keeps every pixel. In our tests the PNG was 8 to 10 times larger than the HEIC. If size matters, convert to JPG instead.
Will the PNG keep the date and location of the photo?
No. The converted file does not carry the camera details, date or GPS location of the original. The original HEIC is not changed, so you still have them there.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, in any current browser. Safari reads HEIC itself; other browsers download a small decoder the first time. Large photos make large PNGs, so convert a few at a time on a phone.