HEIC to PNG Converter
Convert HEIC photos to lossless PNG for editing and archiving
How to convert HEIC to PNG
Upload your HEIC image
Click the upload area below or drag and drop your HEIC file onto the converter.
Click "Convert to PNG"
The conversion runs instantly in the cloud at high quality. No software installation required.
Download your PNG file
Click the Download button to save your converted PNG image directly to your device.
Drop an image here
JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, TIFF, GIF, BMP, HEIC
Max 50 MB
What is HEIC to PNG conversion?
HEIC-to-PNG produces a lossless representation of your iPhone or iPad photo in the most universally supported lossless format. The HEIC source itself is lossy — Apple's HEVC encoder applied quantization at capture time per ISO/IEC 23008-2 (HEVC) — but the PNG conversion preserves every decoded pixel without further loss. PNG becomes your editing master: subsequent saves during retouching never introduce additional artifacts the way repeated JPG saves do. The primary use case is preparing iPhone captures for professional editing pipelines. Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, GIMP, Affinity Photo, Paint.NET, and Pixelmator all handle PNG flawlessly without HEIC plugins. This matters most when your edit involves many save cycles — colour grading, layered compositing, retouching skin in multiple passes, or producing variations for an iteration loop. Each JPG re-save would compound generation loss; PNG saves are byte-stable. Expect a substantial size increase: PNGs from iPhone HEICs typically run 5-10x the source — a 2 MB HEIC commonly produces a 10-20 MB PNG, and 48 MP ProRAW captures from iPhone Pro can balloon to 50-100 MB PNG. This is the cost of lossless storage and is appropriate only for editing and archival, never for web delivery. For sharing use HEIC to JPG and for browser-targeted publishing use HEIC to WebP. One subtle note: PNG cannot store the wide colour gamut data that some iPhone HEIC captures contain in Display P3; the converter tags the PNG with a P3 ICC profile when the source carries one, but viewers without colour-management default to sRGB rendering.
Why convert HEIC to PNG?
- PNG is lossless - no further quality is lost on subsequent saves or edits
- Design tools like Photoshop, Figma, GIMP, and Canva all work natively with PNG
- PNG supports transparency, useful when compositing iPhone photos
- Universal format accepted by all operating systems without plugin installation
What is the difference between HEIC and PNG?
The table below compares HEIC vs PNG across key format characteristics.
| Feature | HEIC | PNG |
|---|---|---|
| File extension | .heic | .png |
| Compression type | Lossy | Lossless |
| Transparency support | Yes (alpha) | Yes (alpha) |
| Animation support | Yes | No |
| File size | Smaller | Larger |
| Best use case | iPhone photography | Graphics, transparency |
| Browser support | Apple ecosystem | Universal |
Use HEIC for compact Apple storage; convert to PNG for lossless editing and universal compatibility.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the PNG larger than the original HEIC?
HEIC uses advanced lossy compression to achieve very small file sizes. PNG stores every pixel without lossy compression, which results in larger files. The PNG will be pixel-perfect, whereas the HEIC already has some compression applied.
Should I convert HEIC to PNG or JPG?
Use PNG if you plan to edit the image in a design tool or need to maintain maximum quality for printing. Use JPG if you need the smallest file size for sharing, uploading, or emailing.
Does HEIC support transparency?
HEIC can store alpha channels, but iPhone camera photos do not include transparency. The converted PNG will have an opaque background matching the original photo.
Can I edit an HEIC photo in GIMP or Paint.NET after converting to PNG?
Yes. GIMP, Paint.NET, and virtually all image editors open PNG files natively. The lossless PNG preserves full detail from the HEIC source, giving you the best starting point for editing, retouching, or compositing.
Is HEIC to PNG better than HEIC to JPG for printing at a photo lab?
Yes, if you are doing any editing before printing. PNG preserves all detail without generation loss during your editing workflow. Export the final edited PNG to JPG or TIFF only when submitting to the print lab. If you are printing unedited photos, HEIC to JPG at high quality is sufficient and produces much smaller files to upload.
Can I use the PNG output to remove the background from my iPhone photo?
Yes. After converting to PNG, open the file in any image editor that supports background removal. PNG fully supports alpha channel transparency, so once you remove the background, the transparent areas are preserved correctly. This is the standard workflow for creating product cutouts and portrait overlays from iPhone photos.
Will the 48 MP photos from iPhone Pro cameras convert correctly?
Yes. The converter handles the full 48 MP resolution (8064x6048 pixels) from iPhone 14 Pro and later ProRAW and HEIC captures. The resulting PNG will be large (potentially 50-100 MB for 48 MP) but preserves every pixel of detail from the high-resolution source.
How are the colours from a Display P3 iPhone HEIC handled in the PNG?
The converter detects the embedded Display P3 ICC profile and writes it into the PNG output. Colour-managed apps (Photoshop, Affinity, modern macOS Preview) will render the wider gamut accurately. Apps without colour management default to interpreting PNG pixels as sRGB, which can desaturate vivid reds and greens. For display-only use on non-managed platforms, consider converting to sRGB during edit before final export.