HEIC to JPG or PNG: Which Format Should You Choose?

For most HEIC photos, convert to JPG. In our test, a quality-90 JPG was 1.3–2.6 MB while a PNG of the same photo was 11.7–16.7 MB, about 6.6–9 times larger, and the PNG cannot be sharper than the HEIC original, because the HEIC was already compressed with loss. Choose PNG only when you need what PNG adds: an exact copy of the decoded pixels for repeated editing, transparency that is really in the original, or a site that asks for PNG.

JPG vs PNG at a glance

	JPG	PNG
Compression	Lossy	Lossless
Size of a 12 MP photo (our test)	1.3–2.6 MB at quality 90	11.7–16.7 MB
Transparency	Not supported	Supported (alpha channel)
Quality setting in heicly	Yes, 1–100, starts at 90	No, PNG has no quality setting
Date taken and camera details in heicly	Kept by default	Not included
Good for	Sharing, uploading, printing, everyday storage	Editing that saves many times, images with transparency, PNG-only uploads

Format facts come from MDN’s image format guide and the W3C PNG specification, checked on 31 October 2026. MDN calls JPEG “currently the most widely used lossy compression format for still images” and says it is “particularly useful for photographs”; the PNG specification describes PNG as “lossless”.

File size: what we measured

We converted four real phone photos (about 12 megapixels each) with heicly in desktop Chromium, once to JPG at the default quality of 90 and once to PNG.

Phone (from the photo’s Exif)	HEIC	JPG, quality 90	PNG	PNG ÷ JPG
iPhone 7	0.88 MB	1.49 MB	12.32 MB	8.3×
iPhone 12 Pro	1.72 MB	2.55 MB	16.72 MB	6.6×
Samsung SM-A326B	1.22 MB	1.70 MB	14.39 MB	8.4×
Samsung SM-S906U	3.68 MB*	1.30 MB	11.67 MB	9.0×

1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes. *This HEIC is a motion photo that also contains a short video of about 3.2 MB; JPG and PNG keep only the still image.

The PNG was 6.6–9.0 times the size of the JPG, and about 10–14 times the size of the HEIC for the three ordinary photos. In an earlier heicly test, 20 PNGs of a 12 MP photo added up to 246 MB, which matters when you email files or upload them on a slow connection. Results depend on the photo, so treat these as examples rather than fixed ratios.

Is PNG better quality?

PNG is lossless, but only from the point where it starts. A camera HEIC is already compressed with loss. HEIF itself can hold lossy or lossless images, according to the HEIF technical summary, but the sizes above show that these photos were not stored losslessly: the same pixels saved losslessly as PNG took about ten times the space.

So a PNG made from a HEIC keeps the decoded photo exactly, with no further loss, but it cannot be sharper than the HEIC. A JPG adds a second, small round of compression. How small depends on the quality setting; our quality test measures it at several settings.

Two more details about heicly’s PNG files: they are 8 bits per channel, so they do not keep the extra precision a HEIF can store, and in our test (desktop Chromium) they were RGBA. For a normal photo, every pixel is fully opaque.

Transparency: only if the original has it

JPG cannot store transparency at all; MDN states that “JPEG does not support an alpha channel”. PNG can. That only helps when the HEIC itself contains transparency, such as a cut-out image saved by an editing app. Ordinary camera photos have none, so converting them to PNG does not make the background transparent.

We tested a sample HEIC with an alpha channel: in the PNG from heicly, 74% of the pixels were transparent or partly transparent, as in the original. Check the edges in your editor if you depend on it.

Photo details: date, camera and location

By default, heicly writes the date taken and camera details into the JPG. Location (GPS) is removed unless you turn on “Also keep location (GPS)”.

The PNG files contain no photo details. The PNG format can carry Exif data in an eXIf chunk, but heicly does not write one. If you sort photos by date taken, JPG keeps that information and PNG from heicly does not.

When to choose JPG

• Sending photos to friends, family or colleagues.
• Uploading to a website, form or online store.
• Printing, or storing a copy that opens almost everywhere.
• Keeping the date taken and camera details in the file.

When to choose PNG

• You will edit the image and save it many times, and want a starting copy with no further compression loss.
• The HEIC contains transparency that you need to keep.
• A site or app accepts PNG but not JPG.

Convert HEIC to PNG or JPG in your browser

The converter below makes PNG files. It runs on this page, and your photos are not uploaded. For JPG, use the HEIC to JPG converter instead.

1. Drag your HEIC files into the box, or click “Choose Files”.
2. Download each PNG, or download a batch as one ZIP.
3. Need smaller files? Under “Output size”, choose a long edge of 2560, 1920 or 1280 px. The setting applies to photos you add after changing it.

Images larger than 16,777,216 pixels are resized proportionally, and the page tells you when that happens.

Sources

Checked on 31 October 2026: MDN image file type and format guide, the W3C PNG specification (Third Edition), and the HEIF technical summary from Nokia. File sizes are our own measurements with heicly.

Summary

• JPG is the practical choice for photos: in our test it was 6.6–9 times smaller than PNG.
• PNG adds no detail that the HEIC did not have; it only avoids a second round of compression.
• Pick PNG for repeated editing, real transparency, or PNG-only uploads.

Want the background on the source format? Read HEIC vs JPG. Converting many photos to JPG? Use batch HEIC to JPG.