PNG to HEIF Converter

Convert PNG to HEIF Online

HEIF is the ISO container Apple's photo libraries are built on, and converting a PNG into one means re-encoding the picture with HEVC while keeping the alpha channel PNG gave you. That is a real advantage over JPEG, which has no transparency at all. The catch is reach: outside Apple's ecosystem almost nothing displays HEIF without help, so this is a storage-and-Apple-workflow format rather than a sharing one. Everything the converter does — and the two things it deliberately does not do — is spelled out below.

HEIF at a Glance

The .heif and .heic outputs are not merely similar — in our testing the same PNG converted at the same quality produced byte-identical files under the two extensions, both carrying the heic brand. Choose the extension your destination software expects and nothing else changes.

PNG vs HEIF

How to Convert PNG to HEIF

1. Upload Your PNG File: Drag your PNG onto the page or click "+ Add Files". Several files can be queued and each converts with the same settings; .apng is accepted, and only its first frame is used.
2. Pick a Quality Preset: Under "Image Compression" the "Quality preset" dropdown offers Highest, Very High (Recommended), High, Medium, Low, Very Low and Lowest. "Very High" is preselected and is the practical ceiling on this encoder.
3. Or Set a Specific File Size: Switch to "Specific file size" to name a byte target in bytes, kilobytes or megabytes; the "Auto Scale" toggle beside it lets the converter reduce pixel dimensions when quality alone cannot reach the target. Separately, "Image resolution" defaults to "Keep original" and offers percentage, preset, width, height and width × height resizing.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and save the .heif. No sign-up, no watermark; files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours.

What the Quality Presets Actually Do

The seven presets set the HEVC encoder's quality value: Highest is 100, Very High 95, High 90, Medium 80, Low 70, Very Low 60 and Lowest 50. There is no lossless switch and no bit-depth control on this page — every preset produces lossy, 8-bit output.

Worth knowing before you reach for "Highest": in our testing the top of that range plateaus. A photographic 1920 × 1080 PNG produced a 831,743-byte HEIF at quality 100, at 98 and at 95 — the same byte count each time — and only started shrinking at 90, where it dropped to 673,555 bytes. A flat logo behaved the same way. So "Highest" buys nothing over the default "Very High" here; if you need the file smaller, step down to High or Medium rather than trying to squeeze the top end.

For reference from the same test set: the photographic PNG was 1,501,179 bytes and became 831,743 bytes as HEIF at the default preset, about 45% smaller. A 1920 × 1080 flat logo on a transparent background barely moved — 21,244 bytes of PNG became 20,725 bytes of HEIF, with the transparency intact. Photographs and renders are where HEVC earns its keep; flat graphics are where PNG was already good.

Where a HEIF File Will and Won't Open

Apple devices handle HEIF natively — it is the format iPhones save photos in — and Safari joined them on the web when Safari 17.0 added HEIC image support. Nothing else on the web does: Chrome, Firefox and Edge do not decode HEIF images, largely because HEVC carries licensing obligations that a royalty-free codec does not.

On Windows the Photos app can show HEIF once the Store extensions are installed, and Microsoft is explicit that you need both of them — the HEIF Image Extensions and the HEVC Video Extensions — "even if you only plan on using photos and not videos." Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom read HEIF on both platforms; a lot of smaller and older tools still do not.

If your goal is an image anyone can open anywhere, this is the wrong target. Convert to PNG to AVIF for a modern web format with far better browser coverage, or simply keep the PNG. To go the other way, HEIF to PNG and HEIF to JPG both work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does HEIF keep the transparent background from my PNG?

Yes. HEIF stores transparency as an auxiliary alpha image sitting alongside the main picture, and this converter carries it through — in our testing a 1920 × 1080 logo on a fully transparent background came out with all four channels present and its corner pixels still fully transparent. This is the reason to pick HEIF over JPEG for cut-out artwork: JPEG has no alpha channel and would fill those areas with a solid colour.

Will converting my lossless PNG to HEIF lose quality?

Yes. There is no lossless mode on this page — all seven presets run lossy HEVC intra coding, including "Highest". At the default "Very High" preset the difference is not visible at normal viewing distance on photographic content, but it is not bit-exact, and re-converting the same image repeatedly will compound the loss. Keep the PNG if you need an exact master.

Is HEIF the same thing as HEIC?

Effectively, for what this converter produces. HEIF (ISO/IEC 23008-12) is the container specification; heic is the brand that identifies a HEIF file whose picture is HEVC-coded, which is what this page writes. In our testing the .heif and .heic outputs from the same source at the same quality were byte-for-byte identical, both stamped with the heic brand. Pick the extension your destination expects — see PNG to HEIC if that is .heic.

Does this converter produce 10-bit or HDR HEIF?

No. HEVC supports 10-bit and higher, and HEIF can carry HDR signalling, but this pipeline writes 8-bit samples regardless of the source — a 16-bit PNG comes out 8-bit. If you were hoping to move a wide-gamut or high-dynamic-range master into HEIF, this is not the route.

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

Because HEVC decoding is not shipped by default outside Apple's platforms. Chrome, Firefox and Edge do not display HEIF images at all; Safari does from version 17.0. On Windows the Photos app needs both the HEIF Image Extensions and the HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store — Microsoft states you need both even for photos alone. If the file has to be openable by anyone, convert it to HEIF to PNG or use PNG to AVIF instead.

Should I use HEIF or AVIF for this image?

AVIF unless the destination is specifically Apple. Both wrap coded stills in the same ISO container family and both carry alpha; the difference is the codec inside — AV1 for AVIF, HEVC for HEIF. AV1 is royalty-free, which is why every major browser decodes AVIF and only Safari decodes HEIF. On top of that, our AVIF output was consistently smaller at matched settings: the same photographic PNG that produced an 831,743-byte HEIF produced a 233,747-byte AVIF. Use PNG to AVIF for the web, HEIF for an Apple photo library.

How much smaller will the HEIF actually be than the PNG?

That depends heavily on the picture, more than most format comparisons admit. In our testing a detailed photographic 1920 × 1080 PNG dropped from 1,501,179 bytes to 831,743 bytes, roughly 45%. A flat 1920 × 1080 logo on transparency went from 21,244 bytes to 20,725 bytes — a saving of about 2%, which is to say none. HEVC's advantage is in complex, continuous-tone detail; on large flat areas PNG's lossless compression is already close to optimal.

What happens if I upload an animated PNG?

You get a still image. HEIF can hold an image sequence, but this page writes a single picture, so an animated source is decoded to its first frame and that frame is encoded. If the animation matters, keep the APNG or convert it to a format that animates rather than a still HEIF.

Where do my files go after converting?

They are uploaded over an encrypted connection, converted on our servers, and both the upload and the finished HEIF are deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark, and nothing is shared or made public.