What a HEIC File Actually Is
Every iPhone since iOS 11 saves photos as HEIC by default, and the format still surprises people when they try to open one on a Windows PC or upload it to a website. Understanding what is inside the file explains both why it is so small and why so little software can read it.
A Container, Not a Picture
A HEIC file is a HEIF container holding one or more images compressed with the HEVC video codec. Converting HEIC to PNG decodes the primary image and stores it as an uncompressed grid of pixels.
HEIF — High Efficiency Image File Format — is a box structure borrowed from the MP4 family. Inside it, Apple stores the photo as a single HEVC (H.265) frame, the same codec used for 4K video. That codec is why a 12-megapixel photo fits in 2 MB: it is roughly twice as efficient as JPEG at the same quality.
Why Windows and the Web Choke on It
The efficiency comes with a licence. HEVC is patent-encumbered, so Windows ships without a decoder, most browsers refuse to add one, and many web apps simply reject the upload. The container also carries things a plain image never would: a depth map from Portrait mode, a thumbnail, an alpha channel, and the full EXIF block including GPS coordinates.
Live Photos, Bursts and Multi-Image HEIF
A single HEIC can hold several frames — a burst sequence, or the still frame of a Live Photo. When you convert HEIC to PNG here, the primary image is the one exported: the frame the Photos app shows as the picture. The motion clip lives in a separate .mov and is not part of the image file.
Why Convert HEIC to PNG Instead of JPG
Most people converting HEIC reach for JPG, and for holiday snaps that is the right call. PNG earns its place in three specific situations.
Lossless Means Nothing Is Re-Compressed
The photo has already been through one lossy compression, inside the phone. Every further lossy pass stacks new artefacts on top of the old ones — blocking in skies, halos on edges. PNG stops the count at one. The decoded frame is stored exactly, so a HEIC to PNG conversion is as faithful as the original file allows.
That matters when the image is going to be edited again, printed large, or kept as a master. It matters less when it is going into a group chat.
Transparency Survives
HEIF can carry an alpha channel, and screenshots, stickers and cut-outs saved from some iOS apps use it. JPG throws the alpha away and paints the background white. PNG keeps it, so a transparent HEIC comes out as a transparent PNG.
When JPG Is the Better Choice
Honesty first: for an ordinary photograph that will be viewed on a screen and never edited, JPG at quality 90 is visually identical and a tenth of the size. If that describes your photos, the HEIC to JPEG converter is the better tool. Come back to PNG for screenshots, graphics, transparent images, and anything you plan to work on further.
The File-Size Trap — and the Resize Option
The one thing every HEIC to PNG converter should warn you about, and almost none do: the output is going to be big.
Why a 2 MB HEIC Becomes a 20 MB PNG
A 12-megapixel HEIC of about 2 MB typically becomes a 20–30 MB PNG at full resolution, because PNG stores every one of the 36 million colour values instead of describing them.
HEVC gets its small files by describing the image — this block looks like that block, shifted slightly. PNG describes nothing; it records each pixel and applies a general-purpose compressor that helps with flat colour and does little for photographic noise. Four thousand by three thousand pixels, three bytes each, is 36 MB before compression, and camera noise means it does not compress well.
Picking a Long-Edge Size
This is why the converter has a size cap. It limits the longer edge of the image and scales the shorter one to match, before the PNG is written:
- Original — full 4032 × 3024. Use for archival masters and print. Expect 20–30 MB per photo.
- 4096 px — no change for phone photos; caps oversized scans and pro-camera files.
- 2048 px — 2048 × 1536, about 6 MB. Sharp on any monitor or tablet. The sensible default for most uses.
- 1080 px — 1080 × 810, under 2 MB. For web pages, documents and social posts.
Downscaling is done with high-quality resampling in your browser, then the result is encoded as PNG. The cap only ever shrinks; it never enlarges a smaller image.
How to Convert HEIC to PNG in 3 Steps
Drop your HEIC photos
Drag files from Finder, Explorer or the Photos export folder onto the dashed area, or click to browse. Up to 20 HEIC or HEIF files at a time on desktop. Each is decoded in your browser — the row shows a HEIC badge until the PNG exists, because browsers cannot display HEIC themselves.
Choose a size cap
Open Conversion Settings and pick Original, 4096, 2048 or 1080 pixels for the longer edge. If you are not sure, 2048 is the right answer for anything viewed on a screen; choose Original only when you need a full-resolution master.
Download PNGs or a ZIP
Press Convert. Each photo shows its new dimensions, its PNG size and the change against the HEIC. Download files one at a time, or use Download All to get a single ZIP with the original file names.
Drop up to 20 HEIC or HEIF photos. They are decoded locally and never uploaded.
Choose a size cap — or keep the original dimensions for archival quality.
Download each PNG on its own, or everything at once as a ZIP.
Where HEIC Won't Open (and PNG Will)
The practical reason to convert HEIC to PNG is that the file has to go somewhere HEIC cannot follow. The list is longer than people expect.
Operating Systems
Windows 10 and 11 can display HEIC only after installing the HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store — a paid add-on on many machines. Android supported HEIC from version 9 onward, but older phones and many budget devices still cannot decode it. Linux desktops need extra libraries. Every one of them opens a PNG.
Browsers and Web Apps
Chrome, Firefox and Edge do not render HEIC at all; Safari does. That means a HEIC dropped into a web form, a CMS media library, a forum post or a support ticket usually fails silently or shows a broken image. PNG is understood by every browser ever shipped.
Editors and Design Tools
GIMP, Paint, Paint.NET, older Photoshop versions and most online editors reject HEIC on import. Figma and Canva accept PNG without a second thought — and, unlike JPG, keep any transparency the image carried.
Format Compatibility at a Glance
| HEIC | PNG | JPG | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opens on Windows without add-ons | No | Yes | Yes |
| Opens in Chrome / Firefox / Edge | No | Yes | Yes |
| Transparency | Yes | Yes | No |
| Lossless | No (HEVC) | Yes | No |
| 12 MP photo size | ≈ 2 MB | 20–30 MB (6 MB at 2048 px) | 3–4 MB |
| Best for | iPhone storage | Editing masters, screenshots, transparent images | Sharing, web, email |
What People Do With HEIC Photos as PNG
The reasons cluster around one theme: the image needs to stay exact, or stay transparent, in a place that does not speak HEIC.
Screenshots and App Captures
iOS screenshots are saved as PNG already, but screen recordings exported as stills, and captures from some third-party apps, arrive as HEIC. Converting HEIC to PNG keeps the crisp text and flat colour of a screenshot exactly as captured — where JPG would smear the letters.
Stickers, Cut-outs and Transparent Subjects
iOS lets you lift a subject out of a photo and save it with a transparent background. Those files are HEIF with alpha. As PNG they drop straight into a slide, a design tool or a chat sticker pack; as JPG they arrive with a white box around them.
Editing Masters
If a photo is going into Lightroom, GIMP or Affinity for real editing, start from a lossless file. A 2048-pixel PNG is a good working copy; the original setting is the archival one.
Documents, Wikis and Print Layouts
Word, Google Docs, Confluence and InDesign all place PNG reliably. Use the 1080-pixel cap for documents that will be read on screen and 2048 or higher for anything that will be printed.
Browser-Based vs Server-Based HEIC Converters
Most HEIC converters online work by upload: the photo goes to a server, is decoded there, and the PNG comes back. It works, but it is worth knowing what you hand over.
What Travels With a HEIC
A phone photo carries its EXIF block: the exact GPS position it was taken at, the time to the second, the device model, and often a depth map that outlines the people in it. Uploading the file uploads all of that, to a company you have no relationship with, under a retention policy of an hour or a day.
How This Tool Avoids It
The HEVC decoder here is compiled to WebAssembly and runs inside your browser tab. The file is read from disk into memory, decoded, resized if you asked, and encoded to PNG — all on your device. Nothing is transmitted. You can confirm it in your browser's developer tools: the Network panel stays empty while a conversion runs.
It also removes the usual limits. Upload converters cap file size and count because decoding costs them money; here the only cost is your own processor, so there is no quota and no account. On a very old laptop a large batch will take longer than a data centre would — that is the trade.
One more thing to know: the PNG keeps the EXIF metadata that survived decoding. If you are sharing the file publicly, run it through Remove EXIF first.
What to Do With the PNGs Next
The output is standard PNG, so every other tool on this site accepts it without another upload.
If the files are still larger than you need, Compress PNG shrinks them losslessly and PNG Size Reducer goes further by reducing the palette. For a web page, PNG to WebP keeps transparency at a fraction of the size. If it turns out you wanted JPG after all, PNG to JPG makes the switch — or go back to the HEIC to JPEG converter and start from the original.
Need exact dimensions rather than a cap? Resize Image takes the PNG to any width and height. And before posting anything publicly, strip the EXIF data so the GPS coordinates do not travel with it.