PNG to HEIF Converter

Convert PNG to HEIF Online

HEIF stores a PNG-quality image in roughly half the space by encoding it with the HEVC (H.265) codec, and unlike JPEG it keeps your PNG's transparency. The catch worth knowing before you convert: HEIF is an Apple-ecosystem format — iPhones, iPads, and Macs open it natively, but Chrome, Firefox, and Edge cannot, so it is built for storage savings on Apple devices, not for universal sharing. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically a few hours after conversion — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared or made public.

How to Convert PNG to HEIF

1. Upload Your PNG File: Drag and drop your PNG onto the page, or click "+ Add Files" to pick one or several from your computer. Each file converts with the same settings.
2. Choose a Quality Preset: Leave "Very High (Recommended)" for near-original results, or step down to High/Medium to shrink the file further. HEIF is lossy by default, so this is the main quality-vs-size lever.
3. Set Lossless or Bit Depth (Optional): Switch the "Lossless?" toggle to Yes if you need an exact pixel-for-pixel copy of the PNG, or raise Bit Depth to 16-bit for high-precision color. You can also resize under "Image resolution".
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your .heif file. No sign-up, no watermark.

PNG vs HEIF: Which Should You Keep?

Frequently Asked Questions

Will converting my lossless PNG to HEIF lose quality?

By default, yes — HEIF uses lossy HEVC compression, so re-encoding a lossless PNG discards some data to gain the size savings. At the "Very High" preset the difference is usually invisible, but if you need an exact copy, switch the "Lossless?" toggle to Yes. Note that a lossless HEIF of a detailed PNG is much closer in size to the original, so you trade most of the space savings for that exactness.

Does HEIF keep my PNG's transparent background?

Yes. HEIF stores transparency as an alpha plane (per the ISO/IEC 23008-12 specification), so the transparent areas of your PNG carry over to the HEIF output. This is a key advantage over JPEG, which has no transparency at all and would fill those areas with a solid color.

Why can't I open the HEIF file on Windows or in my browser?

HEIF is HEVC-coded, and that codec is complex and costly to license, so Chrome, Firefox, and Edge do not display HEIF images — only Safari 17.0 and later does. On Windows you need the Microsoft HEVC/HEIF extensions (Windows 11 22H2 and later include support), and on Apple devices it just works from iOS 11 / macOS High Sierra onward. If you need a file anyone can open anywhere, convert to PNG or JPG instead.

Is HEIF the same as HEIC?

They are closely related. HEIF is the container format (ISO/IEC 23008-12); HEIC is the specific profile where the image inside is encoded with the HEVC (H.265) codec. The .heic extension implies HEVC, while .heif is the generic container name. For the images this tool produces the practical difference is just the file extension — if your target is an Apple photo library, see PNG to HEIC.

How small will the HEIF file actually be?

It depends on the image, but HEVC-coded HEIF is typically around 40-50% smaller than JPEG at matched visual quality, and often roughly half the size of an equivalent PNG. In our testing, a detailed 1920×1080 PNG at the "Very High" preset produced a HEIF file in the low hundreds of kilobytes versus a multi-megabyte source. Flat graphics with few colors compress less dramatically than photographs.