HEIC to PNG Converter — A Lossless Master from Your iPhone Photo
When you need an editable, pixel-perfect, transparency-capable copy of an iPhone .HEIC — for retouching, print prep, archival, or just because every other app in your workflow expects PNG — drop the file below. Decoded and re-encoded right here in your browser.
Drop images here or click to browse
Supports HEIC, WEBP, AVIF, BMP, TIFF, SVG, GIF, ICO, PDF, JPG, PNG
100% Private — Your files never leave your device
All conversion happens directly in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded to any server. Your images stay on your computer the entire time.
What HEIC → PNG actually does
The .HEIC file is a HEIF container holding an HEVC-compressed frame. Converting to PNG runs the HEVC decoder once to recover the pixels, then re-encodes those pixels with PNG's lossless DEFLATE compression. A few things are worth knowing about the round trip:
- The conversion itself loses nothing. Every pixel the HEVC decoder produces ends up in the PNG byte-for-byte.
- 10-bit color gets folded to 8-bit.Standard PNGs store 8 bits per channel — adequate for almost every use but a step down from HEIC's 10-bit ceiling. (PNG technically supports 16-bit, but browser canvases don't emit it.)
- Sidecar items in the HEIC are dropped.Depth maps from Portrait Mode, burst-mode siblings, and Apple's auxiliary alpha all live inside the HEIF container; only the primary frame survives.
- EXIF metadata is typically stripped.Date, location, camera model — gone in canvas-based conversion. Pixels are preserved, metadata isn't.
File size: how much bigger to expect
PNG can't throw anything away, so expect a substantial size jump. Rough numbers from real iPhone shots:
- Outdoor portrait, even lighting: 1.8 MB HEIC → 9 MB PNG (~5×)
- Indoor low-light photo with noise: 2.4 MB HEIC → 14 MB PNG (~6×)
- Document / receipt photo: 600 KB HEIC → 3 MB PNG (~5×)
- Screenshot of iPhone home screen: 1.2 MB HEIC → 4 MB PNG (~3×)
The exact ratio depends on how "busy" the scene is. Textured foliage, sand, and fabric compress poorly in PNG; flat blue skies, indoor walls, and graphic content compress much better.
When PNG is the right call (and when JPG would be smarter)
Choose PNG when:
- You're going to retouch or composite the photo and re-save many times.
- You need transparency — masking out a subject, layering on a slide background.
- The image is a screenshot with sharp UI / text rather than a true photo.
- You're archiving a master file and file size isn't the constraint.
- The destination is a print shop that prefers lossless input.
Choose HEIC → JPG instead when:
- You're emailing, uploading, or texting the photo — file size matters.
- It's a photo you won't edit further, just share once.
- The receiving system has an upload size limit (most CMS / job boards / insurance portals).
Who reaches for HEIC → PNG
- Photographers bringing iPhone shots into Lightroom / Affinity / Photoshop alongside DSLR exports.
- Designers who need to cut a subject out of an iPhone photo for a Figma mock-up or product page.
- Marketplace sellers whose Etsy or Shopify workflow expects PNG with transparency for product overlays.
- Print shops and bookmakers requesting a lossless source — wedding albums, photo books, large prints.
- UX researchers sending iPhone screenshots into a usability report where text legibility matters more than attachment size.
- Anyone archiving family photoswho wants a universally-readable, lossless copy not tied to Apple's codec.
Frequently asked questions
Why convert HEIC to PNG instead of JPG?
PNG is lossless — once you have the PNG, you can re-edit, crop, and re-save as many times as you like with no further degradation. JPG re-encodes lossily every save. PNG also keeps an 8-bit alpha channel for any transparency. The cost is file size: a HEIC photo that's 2 MB will typically land between 8 MB and 14 MB as a PNG.
Does HEIC to PNG conversion preserve the original photo quality?
Yes, with one asterisk: the conversion itself is lossless from the HEVC decoder's output onward, so what comes out of the decoder gets into the PNG byte-for-byte. But the HEIC was lossily compressed when your iPhone wrote it — that detail loss is already baked in and the PNG can't recover it.
Are HEIC to PNG files much larger than the original?
Significantly — typically 4–7× the size of the .HEIC. HEIC uses HEVC, a modern video codec that throws away perceptually-unimportant detail. PNG uses DEFLATE, which never discards anything. A 12-megapixel iPhone photo that's 2 MB as HEIC commonly lands at 8–14 MB as PNG.
Will iPhone screenshots saved as HEIC look better as PNG?
Yes — this is one of the strongest cases for PNG over JPG. iOS screenshots contain sharp text and high-contrast UI that show JPG's 8×8 block compression as faint mosquito-noise around edges. PNG reproduces every pixel exactly, so text stays razor-sharp at any zoom level.