HEIC vs PNG
These formats are not really alternatives to each other. One is built to make photographs small; the other is built to make sure nothing changes.
The fundamental difference
PNG is lossless. Every pixel you put in comes back out identically, however many times you open and re-save it. HEIC is lossy. Its encoder discards information the eye is unlikely to miss, which is how it achieves such small files.
That single difference determines everything else about when to use them.
| Attribute | HEIC | PNG |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy (lossless mode exists, rarely used) | Always lossless |
| 12 MP photo | 1.6 MB | 14–22 MB |
| Screenshot, 1920×1080 | ~250 KB | ~400 KB |
| Transparency | Yes | Yes |
| Colour depth | Up to 16-bit | Up to 16-bit |
| Repeated editing | Degrades each save | Never degrades |
| Universal support | No | Yes, since the 1990s |
It depends what is in the image
PNG's compression looks for repeating patterns and predictable rows. That works brilliantly on flat colour and sharp edges, and terribly on photographic noise.
- Photographs — PNG is roughly ten times larger than HEIC for no visible gain. Avoid.
- Screenshots — the gap narrows dramatically. PNG is a perfectly reasonable choice.
- Logos, icons, diagrams — PNG wins on quality, since lossy compression puts ringing around every hard edge.
- Text on a flat background — PNG, definitively. Lossy compression makes small text mushy.
When converting HEIC to PNG makes sense
- The image is heading into an editor
If you will open, adjust and re-save it repeatedly, a lossless intermediate stops generation loss accumulating.
- Transparency must be preserved and WebP is not an option
PNG is the universally understood transparent format.
- A system explicitly requires PNG
Some print workflows, design handoffs and technical tools specify it.
- The image is a screenshot rather than a photograph
Then PNG is the right format anyway and the size penalty is small.
For everything else — camera photos being shared, emailed, uploaded or stored — JPG or WebP is the better target. The PNG converter is here when you need it.
Lossless does not mean better. Converting a HEIC to PNG does not recover detail the HEIC encoder already discarded. It preserves what is there and prevents further loss. Starting from a lossy source, PNG is a preservation format, not a restoration one.
Common questions
- Is PNG better quality than HEIC?
- PNG is lossless, so it preserves exactly what it is given. But converting a HEIC to PNG cannot recover detail the HEIC encoder already discarded — you get a faithful copy of a lossy image.
- Why is my PNG ten times bigger than the HEIC?
- PNG stores every pixel exactly, with no lossy compression. Photographs are close to a worst case for it, since they contain no repeating patterns for its algorithm to exploit.
- Should I convert iPhone photos to PNG?
- Rarely. JPG or WebP is almost always the better target. PNG is worth it only for transparency, repeated editing, or when a system specifically requires it.
- Which is better for screenshots, PNG or HEIC?
- PNG. Screenshots contain text and sharp edges, which lossy compression blurs. The size advantage of HEIC also shrinks considerably on this kind of content.