Runs in your browser. Your files and text never leave your device - nothing is uploaded.
Click or drag a HEIC/HEIF photo here
Conversion happens entirely in your browser - your photo is never uploaded anywhere.
Convert HEIC to PNG Online, Free and Private
The Tools Kit’s free HEIC to PNG converter turns iPhone photos saved as .heic or .heif into standard PNG files that open in Windows, web apps, design software and older programs that cannot read HEIC. The conversion runs entirely in your browser: the photo is decoded on your own device and saved as a lossless PNG, so nothing is uploaded and there is no app to install or account to create.
PNG is the right target when you want to edit the image further without adding more compression, or when a program insists on PNG. For everyday sharing, the HEIC to JPG converter produces much smaller files from the same photo.
How to Convert HEIC to PNG
- 1
Add your HEIC photo
Click the upload area or drag a .heic or .heif file onto it. One photo is converted at a time.
- 2
Keep PNG as the output
The Convert to menu is already set to PNG on this page. Switch it to JPG only if you want a smaller, lossy file instead.
- 3
Click Convert
The photo is decoded and re-encoded as PNG in your browser. Large iPhone photos can take a few seconds.
- 4
Download the PNG
Check the preview and file size, then click Download. The file keeps its original name with a .png extension.
The converter accepts one photo at a time and checks that the file ends in .heic or .heif (or reports a HEIC/HEIF type) before converting it.
What Is a HEIC File, and Why Convert It to PNG?
HEIC is the extension Apple uses for photos stored in the HEIF container with HEVC (H.265) compression. iPhones have saved camera photos this way by default since iOS 11, because it keeps image quality close to JPG at roughly half the file size. The catch is compatibility: many Windows apps, websites, upload forms and older editors still cannot open HEIC files.
Converting HEIC to PNG solves that while avoiding a second round of lossy compression. Once the photo is a PNG you can crop, annotate or retouch it and save it again as often as you like without the quality drifting downward, which is what happens when a JPG is repeatedly edited and re-saved.
HEIC to PNG vs HEIC to JPG
- PNG: lossless, so no new artifacts are added, but the file for a detailed camera photo is usually several times larger than the HEIC. Best for editing, screenshots, images with text, and software that requires PNG.
- JPG: lossy, saved at 92% quality by this converter, and far smaller. Best for sharing, email, social media and web uploads.
Both outputs come from the same widget: the Convert to menu switches between PNG and JPG. If a PNG turns out too large for an upload limit, you can shrink its dimensions with the image resizer, convert it to a smaller modern format with the PNG to WebP converter, or reduce it with the image compressor.
What the Conversion Keeps and What It Drops
The HEIC file is decoded by heic2any, a library that runs a JavaScript build of the open-source libheif decoder in a background worker inside your browser. The decoded pixels are drawn onto a canvas and exported as PNG, which has a few practical consequences:
- Pixels: stored exactly as decoded, at 8 bits per color channel, the standard depth for PNG files viewed on the web.
- Metadata: EXIF data such as GPS location, capture date and camera model is not copied into the PNG. For JPG photos you share directly, the EXIF remover strips the same kind of data.
- Multiple images: only the first image in a HEIC file is converted, so a HEIC that stores several images, such as an image sequence, becomes a single still PNG.
- File name: the download keeps the original name, so IMG_1234.HEIC becomes IMG_1234.png.
Common uses
- Opening an iPhone photo on a Windows PC or in software that does not support HEIC
- Preparing a photo for editing in a design tool without stacking lossy compression
- Uploading to a website or form that accepts PNG but rejects HEIC
- Adding a converted photo to a document, then combining images into a single file with the image to PDF tool
- Removing location and camera metadata as a side effect of conversion before sharing
For other format changes, such as WebP, PNG or JPG in either direction, browse the full set of image tools on The Tools Kit.
HEIC and PNG terms explained
| Term | What it means here |
|---|---|
| HEIC | The file extension Apple uses for photos saved in the HEIF container with HEVC (H.265) compression |
| HEIF | High Efficiency Image File Format, the container standard behind HEIC; files may also end in .heif |
| PNG | Portable Network Graphics, a lossless image format that every browser, editor and operating system can open |
| Lossless | Compression that stores every pixel exactly, so saving the file again never adds new artifacts |
| Lossy | Compression, such as JPG or HEIC, that discards some detail to make files smaller |
| EXIF | Metadata stored with a photo, such as camera model, capture date and GPS location |
Frequently Asked Questions
Drop a .heic or .heif file onto the converter, leave the output set to PNG, click Convert, and then click Download. The photo is converted in your browser and saved under its original name with a .png extension.
Yes. It is free to use, needs no account or signup, and has no daily conversion limit.
No. The HEIC file is decoded by a JavaScript build of the open-source libheif decoder running in your browser, then re-encoded as PNG on your device. The photo is never sent anywhere.
The PNG step is lossless: every decoded pixel is stored exactly, so no new compression artifacts are added. The original HEIC was already lossy, though, so the PNG cannot recover detail that the iPhone discarded when it saved the photo.
HEIC uses efficient lossy compression, while PNG stores every pixel without loss. For detailed camera photos, a PNG is commonly several times the size of the HEIC. The converter shows the PNG size in KB before you download it.
Choose JPG for ordinary photos you want to share or upload, because the files are much smaller. Choose PNG when you plan to edit the image further, need pixel-exact output, or are using software that requires PNG. The same converter can output either format from its Convert to menu.
No. The converter handles one photo at a time. Convert and download each file, then add the next one.
No. The image is redrawn on a canvas before it is saved, so EXIF metadata such as the camera model, capture date and GPS location is not copied into the PNG.
Only the first image in the file is converted. A Live Photo becomes a single still PNG, and any additional images stored in the same HEIC file are ignored.
The file may be damaged, use an unsupported HEIC variant, or not actually be a HEIC file. A JPG or PNG that has simply been renamed to .heic is rejected, because it is already in a format browsers can open directly.
Yes. It runs in any modern browser on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android or iOS, with nothing to install. You only need to be able to select the HEIC file from your device.
Reviewed by Raja Jahangir · Last reviewed: October 7, 2026
How do you convert HEIC to PNG?
To convert a HEIC photo to PNG, drop the .heic or .heif file, choose PNG as the output format, and click Convert. The image is decoded in the browser and saved losslessly, so no compression artefacts are added, though the PNG will be several times larger than the HEIC. Nothing is uploaded, and the original filename is kept.
Should you convert HEIC to PNG or JPG?
Choose JPG for ordinary photos you plan to share or upload: files are far smaller and the 92% quality setting is visually indistinguishable. Choose PNG when the image will be edited repeatedly, needs pixel-exact reproduction such as screenshots or graphics with text, or is required by software that rejects JPG. PNG photos are typically five to ten times larger.