How to Convert HEIC to PNG

HEIC is the format many iPhones and some other cameras use to store photos with efficient compression. PNG is a lossless format that almost every editor, browser and upload form accepts, which makes it a practical choice when an app or tool rejects HEIC. This guide covers converting with tools you may already have and checking the converted file.

Before you start

Decide first whether the conversion should run on your own device or through a service. Preview, sips, Paint, Shortcuts, ImageMagick and libheif process files on your device. A web-based HEIC to PNG converter uploads your photo to someone else's server. Before using one, read its own statement on how long uploaded files are kept and who can access them. Avoid uploading photos that show faces, documents or locations you do not want to share.

• Work on a copy of the original HEIC file so the source stays untouched.
• Make sure your system can decode HEIC. Recent macOS versions open it natively. On Windows, support usually depends on the HEIF Image Extensions and, on some versions, the HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store. Check whether the file already opens before installing anything.
• Leave enough disk space. PNG uses lossless compression, so the result is usually considerably larger than the HEIC file.

A standard PNG holds one still image. Live Photo motion, depth data, extra images stored in the same HEIC container and HDR information are generally not carried over. Keep the HEIC original if you might need any of them later.

Step-by-step instructions

On a Mac with Preview

• Open the HEIC file in Preview.
• Choose File > Export.
• Set Format to PNG.
• Choose a name and location, then click Save.

To convert several files, open them together in Preview, select all thumbnails in the sidebar and use the export option for selected images. Depending on your macOS version, you may need to click Options to choose PNG as the format.

On a Mac with Terminal

The built-in sips tool converts without opening any app: sips -s format png photo.heic --out photo.png. The original file is not changed because the output gets a new name.

On Windows

• Confirm that Windows can display the HEIC file, for example in the Photos app.
• Open the file in Paint.
• Choose File > Save as and pick PNG. Menu wording differs slightly between Paint versions.
• Save under a new name so the original remains as it was.

On iPhone or iPad

The Shortcuts app includes a Convert Image action. Build a shortcut that takes photos as input, converts them with the format set to PNG and then saves the result to Files. Changing Settings > Camera > Formats to Most Compatible only makes future photos save as JPEG. It does not produce PNG and does not change existing photos.

Command line on any platform

With ImageMagick 7, run magick photo.heic photo.png. Older versions use convert instead of magick. ImageMagick reads HEIC only when it was built with libheif support, and magick -list format shows whether HEIC is listed. For a whole folder, magick mogrify -format png *.heic writes a PNG next to each original. The libheif tools can also convert directly. Recent releases call the decoder heif-dec, and older ones call it heif-convert.

Some tools expose PNG settings. The compression level changes only file size and encoding speed, because PNG is lossless and image quality stays the same. Bit depth matters if the HEIC holds more than 8 bits per channel: a 16-bit PNG preserves that precision at a larger size. If the tool offers an option to embed the color profile, turn it on.

Check the output

• Confirm the file format, not just the extension. Get Info on a Mac shows the file kind, and file photo.png in a terminal reports the actual type.
• Compare pixel dimensions with the original. They should match unless you resized, and the aspect ratio should be unchanged.
• Make sure the image is upright. HEIC stores orientation as a tag, and a converter that ignores it can produce a sideways image.
• Compare colors side by side. iPhone photos are commonly tagged with a wide-gamut profile, and if the profile is dropped, colors can look duller in color-managed apps.
• Check metadata if it matters to you. Some tools copy the capture date, camera details and location into the PNG and others drop them, so verify the result either way.
• Expect a fully opaque image. Camera HEIC photos have no transparent areas, so the PNG will not gain transparency without a separate background-removal step.
• Do not expect a quality gain. The PNG is a lossless copy of the decoded HEIC and cannot restore detail already lost to HEIC compression.

Common problems and next steps

• The file will not open or the converter reports an unsupported format: the HEIF decoder is missing. Install the Windows extensions mentioned above, or use an ImageMagick build that includes libheif.
• The PNG is much larger than the HEIC: this is expected with lossless compression. If you do not need a lossless file, JPEG or WebP will usually be smaller.
• You received JPEG files instead of HEIC when copying from an iPhone: the transfer setting under Settings > Photos for transferring to a Mac or PC may be set to Automatic. Choose Keep Originals to get the HEIC files, then convert them.
• The image is rotated: use a tool that applies the orientation tag. In ImageMagick, add -auto-orient before the output file name.
• Colors look washed out: the color profile was likely dropped. Convert with a tool that embeds the profile, then compare again.
• Only one image came out of a multi-image HEIC: some tools export only the primary image, while others write each image as a separate file. Check your tool's documentation for this behavior.
• You need to convert many files: use Preview's multi-file export on a Mac or mogrify on the command line instead of converting one file at a time.

Keep the HEIC originals after converting. If the PNG is going to a website or form, check its accepted file formats and maximum pixel dimensions before uploading.