HEIC to PNG or HEIC to JPG: which one do you need?
Both formats open everywhere. The choice depends on what happens to the picture next.
| Your plan | Better output |
|---|---|
| Editing in Photoshop, GIMP, Canva or Figma | PNG |
| Adding captions, arrows or stickers | PNG |
| Sending by email or chat | JPG |
| Uploading to a form with a size limit | JPG |
Note that a camera photo has no transparent areas, so PNG will not give you a cutout by itself. For that, run the photo through Remove Background. If you only want to share or upload, the HEIC to JPG converter makes much lighter files.
Why the PNG is bigger than your HEIC photo
HEIC uses lossy compression that is very efficient for camera photos. PNG compression is lossless and works best on flat areas of color, like logos and screenshots. Photos have grain and fine texture, so they stay large as PNG.
A 2 MB HEIC from a recent iPhone can easily become a PNG of 15 MB or more. That is expected. No detail was added, the PNG keeps every pixel instead of discarding some.
When your edit is finished, export the final version as JPG for sharing, or run it through Compress PNG if it has to stay a PNG.
An editing workflow for iPhone photos
- Copy the HEIC photos to your computer by cable, AirDrop or a cloud folder.
- Convert them here to PNG and use those as working copies.
- Edit, crop or annotate the PNG. Saving it again and again will not soften it.
- Export the finished image in the format the destination asks for.
Keep the original HEIC files as well. They still hold the capture date and location, which the PNG copies leave out.
Only need part of the picture? Trim it with Crop Image before editing. A smaller canvas keeps the PNG lighter and your editor quicker.