PostScript to HEIC Converter

PostScript to HEIC: What Actually Happens

A .ps file is a PostScript program — Adobe's page-description language, the ancestor of PDF — and HEIC is a single still image stored in the HEIF container and coded with HEVC. Going from one to the other is a rasterization: the page is "developed" at a chosen resolution and the result is squeezed into an HEVC-coded still. One thing decides whether that works at all, and it is worth knowing before you upload: PostScript has to become a PDF first. Uploading a genuine .ps to this page does not produce a HEIC — the file is handed to our PDF page renderer, which parses PDF byte structure (a file beginning %PDF-) and rejects a PostScript stream (%!PS-Adobe-…), so the job ends in an error instead of an image. Make the PDF yourself and the rest of the route is solid: PDF to HEIC is the same renderer with the same controls, and it is a well-travelled path.

How to Convert PostScript to HEIC

1. Turn the .ps Into a PDF First: Use Ghostscript's ps2pdf (ps2pdf input.ps output.pdf) on your own computer, or open the PostScript in any application that can print it and choose "Save as PDF" / "Print to PDF". Ghostscript's pdfwrite device is the reference implementation for this step and is free on Windows, macOS and Linux.
2. Open the PDF to HEIC Converter: Go to PDF to HEIC and drag the PDF in, or click "Add Files". Every page of the document becomes its own HEIC.
3. Set Conversion Quality and the Quality Preset: Conversion Quality is the render DPI — 72, 96, 150, 200, 300 (preselected), 400, 600 or 1200 — and it fixes the pixel dimensions of the result. Quality Preset controls the HEVC encoder: Very High is preselected, and Image Transparency picks the colour that fills empty page areas (White by default). Image resolution can rescale the finished raster if you want a smaller file.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the HEIC, or take the whole set as a ZIP for a multi-page document. No sign-up and no watermark; files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours.

Why PostScript Needs the PDF Step First

PostScript is a Turing-complete programming language: a .ps file is a program whose execution paints a page, which is why rendering it requires a full PostScript interpreter such as Ghostscript rather than a document parser. PDF, by contrast, is a static object graph with a cross-reference table — the same imaging model, but no program to run. Our page renderer is a PDF parser, so it reads the second and not the first.

The practical consequences:

• A real .ps file errors out here. Nothing partial is produced — there is no half-rendered HEIC to salvage, so retrying with different settings will not change the outcome.
• A .ps that is really a PDF converts fine. Renderers key on the %PDF- header, not on the file name, so a PDF someone renamed to .ps sails straight through. If a file of yours converts on a PostScript page, that is what it was.
• Ghostscript is the step our pipeline is missing, and it is the same software that would be doing the rasterizing anyway. ps2pdf is a thin wrapper over Ghostscript's pdfwrite device, which is documented, free and available for every desktop platform.
• Vector data does not survive either way. Whether you rasterize from PS or from PDF, the text and curves become pixels at the DPI you pick. Only the PDF keeps them scalable.

Picking a DPI: Page Size to Pixel Dimensions

Conversion Quality is the only control that sets how much detail is captured, because a page description has no inherent resolution. Pick it for the largest use you can foresee — you cannot add detail afterwards.

HEIC Against the Other Page-Image Targets

HEIC is the most efficient of these formats and the least portable. That trade is the whole decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my PostScript file fail on this page instead of converting?

Because the PostScript is passed to a PDF renderer. PDF parsers look for the %PDF- header and a valid cross-reference trailer; a PostScript file starts %!PS-Adobe- and has neither, so the parse fails and the job reports an error rather than writing an image. Converting the .ps to a PDF first with Ghostscript's ps2pdf — or any "Print to PDF" route — and then using PDF to HEIC produces exactly the output this page describes.

Is there any difference between the Highest and Very High quality presets for HEIC?

Not for the image. The presets map to encoder quality values — Highest is 100, Very High 95, High 90, Medium 80, Low 70, Very Low 60, Lowest 50 — and we measured the top two rungs to be pixel-identical on a rendered A4 page: the same byte count and zero differing pixels between Q100 and Q95. High (90) is the first rung that actually changes the picture. So leaving the preselected Very High costs nothing versus Highest.

Will the HEIC open on Windows, Android, or in Chrome?

Usually not without help. Native HEIF/HEIC decoding in browsers is Safari 17 and later on macOS and iOS; Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Opera do not support it, largely because HEVC licensing makes it expensive to ship — see the browser support table. Windows needs Microsoft's HEIF and HEVC extensions installed, and many upload portals reject .heic outright. If the file has to open for people you do not control, take the JPG or PNG route instead.

Does the HEIC keep transparency from the page?

No. The output of this route is 8-bit sRGB with no alpha channel, and empty regions of the page are filled with the Image Transparency colour — White unless you pick another. If you need real transparency, render to PNG or WebP instead; both carry an alpha channel, and PNG is the more widely respected of the two for that purpose.

What happens to a multi-page PostScript document?

Each page becomes its own image. A three-page document produces three HEIC files, numbered per page, downloadable individually or as one ZIP — never a single stacked file, because HEIC as we write it holds one still image. If you want every page in one file, keep the PDF you made in step 1; that is already the multi-page container.

Is .heif different from .heic here?

Only in name. Both extensions go through the same HEVC-in-HEIF encoder with the same settings, so the bytes are the same and only the file name differs. Pick .heic if the destination is an Apple device or app, since that is the extension Apple's own tools write.

Can I get the text back out of the converted image?

Not from the image. Rasterizing discards the text layer entirely — what remains is a grid of pixels with no characters, so nothing can be selected, searched or re-flowed. Keep the intermediate PDF if the text matters; it holds real text objects, and OCR on the HEIC would only be re-guessing what the PDF already knows.

Are my uploads private, and how long are they kept?

Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection and converted on our servers — this is not an offline tool. The upload and the results are deleted automatically after a few hours, they are never shared or made public, and no account is required. Nothing is watermarked, and there is no sign-up wall between you and the download.