How to Convert HEIC Photos to PNG, JPG on iPhone, Mac, Windows or Online

Question from our Reader Pavan – I recently purchased a new Apple iPhone and have been loving all the camera features and the functionalities of the smartphone, but there are some different file formats I noticed on my iPhone. On my Android Smartphone, all the photos were saved in JPG and also in RAW format, i.e., DNG, which was easily converted into PNG, but on this new iPhone, all the photos are stored in HEIC. How do I convert them into PNG that is easily accessible on my Windows laptop? 

A. Apple announced their proprietary file format in 2017 and introduced it with iOS 11 to their users. HEIF stands for High Efficiency Image File Format, which means that it’s a container format for storing individual images. This format offers iOS users better compression when compared with the JPG format, so they will be able to store more content on their mobile devices without the need to buy higher storage options. The only issue is that, because this is a new format, it isn’t compatible with many Windows computers, and you’ll need to convert it before you can use it. Do read our Guide on How to clear your iPhone storage.

Here are a few ways to convert your HEIC into different formats.

How to Convert HEIC to PNG on your Mac – In order to do this, you can make use of the inbuilt feature Apple has provided that offers you the opportunity to get this job done easily. Just open any of your images and make sure it opens in the “Preview App” and then click on the menu bar and click on File, followed by Export.

From here you get the option to select the format, and from the drop-down menu, select PNG, and voila, you have the same picture in the format you wanted. Apple offers you to export the same file in HEIC, JPEG, JPEG-2000, Open EXR, PDF, PNG, and TIFF. You can now click on Save and access the newly exported file on any of your other devices.

Converting HEIC to PNG on a Windows Computer – In order to do this, you can opt for some paid applications if you think you would need to perform this conversion regularly, though an easier option would be to use an online converter called Convertio that’s accessible from your web browser. Just visit the website and select the file from your computer and save it as PNG. 

How to Switch from HEIC to PNG on Your iPhone – This is the best way to fix this issue at the source itself since the file is already on your smartphone and it’s better to change it at the source itself and to get this done separately on your computer. In order to make the format change, you need to go to Settings > Camera > Formats, and here you can switch between High Efficiency (HEIC/HEVC) and the Most Compatible, which will use the JPEG/H2.64 formats. Though you do not get the PNG format, the JPG format should be helpful to you as it is compatible with your operating systems.

I hope that all the above mentioned steps are useful for you to convert your files easily on any of your devices and also help you in saving the storage space.