HEIC vs PNG
Both store photographs, but they make different trade-offs. Here is where they actually differ, and how to pick.
Short answer
These two are not competing for the same job. HEIC is how an iPhone stores photographs; PNG is how you hand a pixel-exact image to software. Converting between them is an export step, not a choice of format.
Why this comes up
Almost everyone comparing these has an iPhone photo and a piece of software that wants a PNG — a design tool, an image-processing script, a print workflow that specifies lossless input, or an upload form that lists PNG and JPEG and nothing else. You are not deciding which format is better. You are working out what happens to the picture on the way across.
Side by side
| Property | HEIC | PNG |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy | Lossless |
| Transparency | Yes | Yes |
| Typical file size | 50-60% of an equivalent JPEG | 300-500% of an equivalent JPEG |
| Compatibility | Native on Apple devices; often rejected by web uploads | Opens everywhere, including decades-old software |
| Usually comes from | iPhone and iPad photo libraries | Screenshots, logos and graphics |
What actually differs
The file will get much bigger, and that is expected
HEIC is lossy and sits around half a JPEG; PNG is lossless and sits at three to five times a JPEG. Converting a 2 MB HEIC to PNG can easily produce a 15 MB file. Nothing has gone wrong — PNG is storing every pixel verbatim, including all the photographic noise that lossy formats discard. If the destination does not require lossless, JPEG is usually the better export target.
Converting to PNG does not restore anything
A lossless container cannot bring back detail that lossy compression already removed. The PNG is a faithful copy of the HEIC's decoded output — artefacts and all — just stored without further loss. This matters if someone told you to "convert to PNG for quality": it prevents further degradation from here on, which is genuinely useful before an editing pass, but it does not improve the image you have.
Both carry alpha, so transparency survives
Unlike a HEIC-to-JPEG conversion, this direction keeps transparency intact. Relevant if the HEIC came from a markup or screenshot app on iOS rather than the camera — those can contain transparent regions, and PNG is the one common target that preserves them without filling in a background colour.
Which to use
Use HEIC for
Leaving photos on the phone, where HEIC halves storage and every Apple app opens it natively.
Use PNG for
Feeding an editor, a processing script, or any workflow that specifies lossless input and will re-save the file more than once.
One thing that catches people out
If the destination just needs to open it, PNG is the wrong target
PNG gets chosen by reflex whenever "quality" is mentioned, and for an upload form or an email attachment it produces a needlessly enormous file with no visible benefit. Lossless matters when the file will be edited and re-saved. When it will only be viewed, JPEG at a high quality setting is smaller by an order of magnitude and indistinguishable on screen.