Convert HEIC to PNG
Free, private and fast: everything runs in your browser and your HEIC files are never uploaded.
HEIC to PNG: why convert
A JPG copy is the right choice for sharing iPhone photos, but not always for working on them. If you retouch a photo, cut out a person or product, or place it in a layout that will be exported several times, every JPG save throws away a little more detail. PNG is lossless: the decoded HEIC pixels are stored exactly, so the copy you start editing from has no extra compression of its own, and you can add transparency to it later. The price is size, since PNG files of photos are many times larger than the HEIC. Drop your HEIC files here and download PNGs, one at a time or in a zip. The photos are decoded in your browser, by Safari's own decoder or by the open source libheif library, and are never uploaded.
How to convert HEIC to PNG
- Drop your .heic photos in the box, or click to choose them.
- Check the list. PNG has no quality setting, because nothing is thrown away.
- Click Convert to PNG and download the PNG, or a zip with all of them.
What changes when you convert
Lossless from here on
The PNG keeps the pixels exactly as they come out of the HEIC decoder. It does not undo the HEVC compression the iPhone applied, but it adds no new loss, so it is a good master copy for editing.
Very large files
Photos contain fine detail and noise that lossless compression cannot shrink much. Expect PNG files many times larger than the HEIC, and tens of megabytes for 48-megapixel photos. Phones may run out of memory with the largest photos; a computer handles them better.
8 bits per channel
The HEIC format can hold 10 bits per channel, and iPhone photos use the wide Display P3 colour range. The PNG made here always has 8 bits per channel in standard colour. On a normal screen the difference is hard to see; very saturated colours can look a little less intense.
Depth, HDR and Live Photo motion stay behind
A HEIC can carry a Portrait mode depth map and an HDR gain map, and a Live Photo has its motion in a separate video file. The PNG contains only the main photo, the way it looks on a standard screen.
Date and location are removed
The GPS position, the date taken and camera details in the HEIC metadata are not written to the PNG. Good for privacy when you share the file, but photo libraries cannot sort it by date taken.
About the formats
HEIC
HEIC is the photo format iPhones and iPads have used by default since iOS 11 in 2017. It is a HEIF file (High Efficiency Image File Format, an MPEG standard) with the picture compressed by HEVC, the H.265 video codec, which makes files considerably smaller than a JPG of similar quality.
- Opens on iPhone, iPad and Mac; many Windows PCs, web upload forms and older apps cannot read it without a converter or extra codec.
- Stores 8-bit or 10-bit colour; iPhones use the wide Display P3 colour range.
- One file can hold several images: the photo, a thumbnail, and on newer iPhones a depth map (Portrait mode) and an HDR gain map.
- Rotation is stored as a transform in the file, separate from the pixels.
PNG
PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a lossless image format from 1996 and the usual format for screenshots, logos, diagrams and images with transparency. Every pixel is stored exactly, so text and sharp edges stay crisp.
- Lossless: saving again never reduces quality.
- Supports full transparency (an alpha channel).
- Photos saved as PNG are usually several times larger than as JPG.
Frequently asked questions
Are my photos uploaded?
No. They are decoded and saved as PNG in your browser, on your own device.
PNG or JPG for iPhone photos?
JPG for sharing, email and uploads, because the files are small. PNG when you are going to edit, retouch or cut out the photo, or when a program asks for a lossless file.
Are iPhone screenshots HEIC too?
No. iPhones save screenshots as PNG already. Only photos from the camera are HEIC when the Camera format setting is High Efficiency.
Can I convert a batch of HEIC photos?
Yes. Select or drop as many as you like; they are converted one after another and you download one zip with a PNG for each photo.