Image Toolkit

HEIC to PNG Converter

Convert iPhone Photos to PNG

Convert iPhone HEIC photos to PNG, free and as many as you like at once. PNG is lossless, so nothing more is lost when you edit the photo or save it again. It all happens in your browser, so your photos are never uploaded.

HEIC/HEIF files from iPhone will be converted to PNG for universal compatibility.

Drop HEIC/HEIF files here or click to select

Will be converted to PNG

Guide by Ashley Whitehair, web designer at Norwich Website Design

How to convert HEIC to PNG

  1. Add your HEIC photos

    Drop HEIC or HEIF files onto the box above, or click it to choose them. Add one photo or a whole batch.

  2. PNG is already selected

    This page opens with PNG chosen. There’s no quality slider, because PNG is lossless: every pixel of the photo is kept exactly.

  3. Convert and download

    Press Process. Save each PNG with the download button beside it, or press Download ZIP to get them all in one file, converted_images.zip.

When PNG is the right choice, and when JPG is

PNG stores every pixel exactly, with no compression that throws detail away. That makes it the better choice when:

  • You’ll edit the photo more than once. A JPG loses a little more detail every time it’s saved. A PNG can be opened, changed and saved again as often as you like with no further loss.
  • Something you’re using asks for PNG, such as a design app, a template or an upload form.
  • The picture is mostly text, a diagram or a screen. JPG compression can leave faint smudges around sharp edges; PNG keeps them clean.
  • The image has transparent areas. Camera photos don’t, but if a HEIC file does, the PNG keeps them. JPG can’t store transparency at all.

For sharing, emailing, uploading and printing photos, JPG is the better choice: the files are many times smaller and look the same. Use the HEIC to JPG converter for those.

How much bigger is a PNG than a HEIC?

A lot bigger. PNG’s lossless compression works well on flat colours and sharp edges, but not on the fine detail and grain of a photo. We converted the same photos to JPG (at the default 92% quality) and to PNG:

PhotoHEICJPGPNG
1600 × 1200 test image165 KB183 KB1.9 MB
3840 × 2160 landscape754 KB1.2 MB8.8 MB
Same landscape, higher-quality HEIC1.3 MB1.25 MB9.6 MB

The PNGs were 7 to 12 times the size of the HEIC files, and 7 to 11 times the size of the JPGs: roughly 1 MB for every megapixel. At that rate a 12-megapixel iPhone photo makes a PNG of 12 MB or more, which is too big for many upload forms and slow to email.

Each converted photo shows its old and new size, so you’ll see this before you download. If the PNG only needs to be smaller, resize it: fewer pixels means a smaller file, and it’s still a PNG.

What the PNG keeps, and what it leaves behind

  • Full resolution. The PNG has the same number of pixels as the photo; nothing is scaled down.
  • The right way up. iPhones record which way up a photo should be shown, and the PNG is saved upright, so it doesn’t depend on a rotation tag that some apps ignore.
  • Transparency, if there is any. Transparent areas in a HEIC file stay transparent in the PNG.
  • No date, camera details or location. Only the picture is copied, so the PNG holds no EXIF data at all, including GPS coordinates. That’s useful before you share a photo, but keep the HEIC if you want your photos sorted by the date they were taken.

Want to be sure a photo doesn’t give away where it was taken? Check it with the photo location remover.

Private by design

Your photos are converted by your browser, on your own phone or computer, and never uploaded. The first time you convert, the HEIC decoder is downloaded to your device from this site: code coming in, not photos going out. Our privacy policy explains the anonymous counts this site keeps.

Frequently asked questions

Is PNG better quality than JPG for iPhone photos?

Slightly. PNG keeps every pixel exactly, while JPG at the default 92% quality loses a little detail that’s very hard to see. The price is a file 7 to 11 times bigger, so PNG is only worth it when you’ll edit the photo or need PNG for a particular app.

Does converting HEIC to PNG lose quality?

No. The photo is decoded once and its pixels are stored with lossless compression, so nothing more is lost, however often you open and save the PNG. It can’t gain quality either: HEIC is already compressed, and PNG can’t restore detail.

Why is the PNG so much bigger than the HEIC file?

HEIC keeps photos small with lossy compression, the same technology used for video. PNG is lossless, which suits graphics but not photos. In our tests PNGs came out 7 to 12 times the size of the HEIC.

How do I convert several HEIC files to PNG at once?

Add them all, press Process, then press Download ZIP. You get converted_images.zip with one PNG for each photo, named after the original, such as IMG_0001.png.

Does the PNG keep transparency?

Yes, if the HEIC has transparent areas, they stay transparent. Photos from the iPhone camera have none, so they come out as ordinary opaque images.

Are iPhone screenshots HEIC or PNG?

Screenshots are already PNG files, so they don’t need converting. It’s photos taken with the Camera that are saved as HEIC, unless the camera format is set to Most Compatible.

How can I make the PNG files smaller?

Resize them to the size you need with the image resizer, which keeps PNG as PNG. If they don’t need to be lossless, convert to JPG or WebP instead: at 92% quality a JPG is many times smaller and looks the same.

Does the PNG keep the date the photo was taken?

No. Only the picture is copied, so the date taken, camera details and location are left behind. Apps that sort by date taken may show the PNG under the day you converted it.

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