Convert HEIF to APNG Online

Make an Animated APNG from HEIF Photos

Drop in one or more HEIF images and each becomes a frame of a single animated PNG, played in upload order. This is the fix for HEIF's central problem: HEIF renders natively only in Safari 17 and later — roughly 15% of browsers by global usage — while APNG reaches about 96% and degrades gracefully to a static picture everywhere else. Upload one HEIF and you get an ordinary static PNG; upload several and you get a looping animation whose pace you set with the FRAMERATE control.

How to Convert HEIF to APNG

1. Upload Your HEIF Files: Drag and drop your .heif images or click "+ Add Files". Upload order is frame order, so add them in the sequence you want them played.
2. Set the FRAMERATE: Choose how fast frames advance. The dropdown runs from "1 FPS (Slideshow)" to "50 FPS (Max Speed)", and the default is "10 FPS (Recommended)". Lower values hold each photo on screen longer; higher values make real motion look smoother.
3. Choose Combine and Image resolution: Under "Combine?", "Single animation" merges every upload into one APNG and "Individual files" gives you one APNG per photo. Image resolution stays on "Keep original" unless you pick Resolution Percentage, a Preset Resolution, or an explicit Width x Height.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and save your .apng. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, converted on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark.

HEIF vs APNG

Choosing a FRAMERATE

Because APNG stores every frame losslessly, doubling the frame rate over a fixed set of photos does not add data — it just plays them faster. Adding more photos is what grows the file.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I combine several HEIF photos into one animation?

Yes, and that is the main point of this page. Leave "Combine?" on "Single animation", upload your photos in the order you want them shown, and each becomes a frame. Switch to "Individual files" if you would rather get one APNG per photo. A single upload with "Single animation" still works — with one picture there is nothing to animate, so it produces a plain static PNG that any viewer opens.

Is there a quality slider or colour-reduction option on this page?

No. We checked the option set that renders for a HEIF-to-APNG job and it is deliberately short: Image resolution, FRAMERATE, and "Combine?". There is no quality percentage and no palette or colour-reduction control, because APNG output here is full-colour and lossless. The only levers on output size are how many frames you include and what resolution you output at. To shrink an APNG afterwards, run it through compress APNG, which has the reduction controls this page does not.

Will the APNG be much larger than my HEIF files?

Usually yes, sometimes dramatically. HEIF is one of the most space-efficient image formats in use, packing a photo with HEVC compression, while APNG stores each frame losslessly with the same DEFLATE scheme PNG has always used. A handful of camera-resolution photos can produce an APNG several times the size of the sources combined. The practical remedies are to lower the output resolution before converting, include fewer frames, or compress the result afterwards.

Does transparency survive the conversion?

Yes. APNG carries a full 8-bit alpha channel, and transparency in a source image is preserved rather than flattened onto a background. If your HEIF files are ordinary camera photos they have no alpha to begin with, so this only matters for images that were composited or exported with a cut-out subject.

What happens in a browser or app that doesn't support APNG?

It shows the first frame as a static PNG. That is by design — APNG stores its animation in ancillary chunks (acTL, fcTL, fdAT) that a plain PNG decoder is required to ignore, so the file remains a valid PNG no matter what opens it. That graceful degradation is the strongest argument for APNG over a video format when you cannot control the viewer.

Is APNG actually a standard, or a Mozilla extension?

It is a standard now. APNG began as an extension outside the original PNG specification, but it is formally part of the PNG Specification Third Edition, published as a W3C Recommendation on 24 June 2025. Browser support arrived long before that — Firefox from version 3, Safari from 8, Chrome from 59, Edge from 79, and Opera again from 46 after a gap.

Why convert HEIF to APNG instead of just keeping the HEIF?

Compatibility, and it is not a close call. Only Safari 17 and later renders a .heif natively, so on Windows, Android, Chrome, Firefox, or Edge your file is either unopenable or requires a codec pack. APNG opens in essentially every browser and image viewer with nothing installed. You give up HEIF's compression efficiency in exchange for a file the recipient can actually see.

What if I only want a single static image, not an animation?

Then pick a still target instead. HEIF to PNG gives a lossless single image, HEIF to JPG gives the most universally readable one, and the HEIF converter lets you pick any supported image format. Come to APNG specifically when you want motion — a burst of photos, a short sequence, or a looping animation that must survive being embedded anywhere.

How are my HEIF files handled while they are on your servers?

They are uploaded over an encrypted connection, converted on our servers, and deleted automatically a few hours later. There is no sign-up, no watermark on the output, and files are never shared or made public. On a large batch the practical constraint is upload size and time rather than the conversion itself.