Convert APNG to HEVC Online

Convert APNG to HEVC Online

An animated PNG stores every frame losslessly, so even a short loop runs large — and almost nothing outside a browser will play an .apng directly. Encoding it to HEVC (H.265) produces a very small modern-codec video: HEVC needs roughly half the bitrate of H.264 for similar quality. The trade-offs to know up front: the output is a raw .hevc bitstream rather than a packaged file, HEVC playback is narrower than H.264, and APNG transparency is flattened onto a solid background color. If you want a clip that plays everywhere, convert APNG to MP4 instead.

How to Convert APNG to HEVC

1. Upload Your APNG File: Drag and drop your .apng onto the page or click "Upload" to choose it. You can add several files at once.
2. Choose a Merge Strategy: Leave it on "Merge images" to turn one APNG into one video. With multiple files, "Video per image" outputs a separate clip for each.
3. Set Quality Preset, Resolution, and Background Color: Keep Quality Preset on "Very High (Recommended)" for a near-original look, or step down to shrink the file. Pick a Video resolution (keep original or a preset), and set Background Color — Black is the default — because HEVC has no alpha channel and will flatten transparency onto that color.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your .hevc file. No sign-up, no watermark. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours.

APNG vs HEVC — What Changes in the Conversion

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I convert APNG to HEVC or to MP4?

Pick HEVC only if you specifically need the smaller H.265 codec and your playback target supports it — for example feeding a hardware encoder pipeline, an Apple device, or a 2018-or-newer smart TV. For anything you want to share or open reliably, convert APNG to MP4: MP4 with H.264 plays on essentially every device and browser, while a raw .hevc file does not. HEVC's advantage is size, not compatibility.

What opens a .hevc file?

A .hevc file is a raw H.265 elementary bitstream with no container, so it will not play in most everyday apps that expect a packaged file. VLC and mpv can usually open it, and FFmpeg or MP4Box can remux it into an MP4 or MKV for normal playback. If you need something that "just plays," convert to MP4 rather than HEVC.

Why is the HEVC video so much smaller than the APNG?

APNG is lossless and stores full frame data, while HEVC is a lossy inter-frame codec that only encodes what changes between frames — and HEVC needs roughly half the bitrate of H.264 for comparable quality. The combination makes the output dramatically smaller. In our testing, a 1080p 3-second APNG loop of about 9 MB encoded to a roughly 200-350 KB .hevc clip at the default Very High preset.

What happens to the transparent background?

HEVC has no alpha channel, so any APNG transparency is flattened onto one solid color during conversion. By default that color is Black; set Background Color to White or another color so the flattened background matches where the clip will sit. There is no way to keep true transparency in HEVC — to preserve an alpha channel, stay on APNG or use a format like WebP.

Will the HEVC file lose quality compared to the APNG?

APNG is lossless and HEVC is lossy, so technically yes, but at the Very High preset the difference is hard to see on normal animation. It shows most on hard-edged graphics, flat color areas, and sharp text, which HEVC can soften slightly. Raise the Quality Preset if edges look soft, or keep the original resolution to avoid extra rescaling.