What HEIC to PNG does
iPhones save photos as HEIC by default, and most non-Apple software cannot open them. This converter decodes a HEIC file with the heic2any library and saves it as PNG — lossless, so no further quality is lost after the HEIC's own compression, and universally supported. It runs in your browser; the photo is never uploaded. If you do not specifically need PNG, the HEIC to JPG tool produces a much smaller file that is equally compatible.
PNG or JPG from a HEIC?
| PNG | JPG | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | Lossless — exactly the decoded HEIC | Lossy — a second generation of compression |
| File size (12 MP photo) | 15–30 MB | 3–5 MB at 0.9 |
| Transparency | Preserved (rare in photos) | Lost |
| Use when | Editing further, screenshots saved as HEIC, graphics, archival masters | Sharing, uploading, emailing, almost everything else |
For ordinary photos, JPG is the sensible choice. PNG earns its size when the HEIC is going into an editing workflow with many saves, when it is actually a screenshot or graphic (some iPads save those as HEIC), or when a print or archive pipeline demands lossless input.
About HEIC
HEIC is the HEIF container holding an HEVC-compressed image. Apple adopted it in 2017 because it stores photos at about half the size of JPG with better quality, plus depth maps, Live Photo frames and 10-bit colour. The catch is that HEVC is patented, so Windows needs a paid extension to open HEIC, and free software and web forms mostly never added support. Converting to a standard format remains the practical fix for sharing outside the Apple ecosystem.
What is kept and what is lost
- Kept: full resolution, correct orientation, all visible detail of the decoded image.
- Lost: the Live Photo video, depth information, the HEIC's 10-bit colour (PNG output is 8-bit, which is what screens show), and EXIF metadata including GPS location.
- Colour: iPhone photos are Display P3; the output is sRGB. Highly saturated reds and greens may look fractionally less vivid, as they would in any non-Apple viewer.
Stopping HEIC at the source
- Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible makes the iPhone shoot JPG from then on.
- Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic converts when copying by cable without changing what is stored on the phone.
- Sharing to Mail or Messages converts automatically; AirDrop and Files keep HEIC.