Convert HEIC to PNG on Windows 11
You copied photos across from an iPhone and Windows will not open them. Photos shows an error, File Explorer shows a blank thumbnail, and half the upload forms you try reject the file outright. Nothing is broken — Windows genuinely cannot read the format without help, and there is a specific commercial reason for that.
This page explains the reason, then gives you three ways to get PNGs, ordered by how much trouble they are.
Why Windows can't open HEIC files
A .heic file is a container holding an image compressed with HEVC, also known as H.265. HEVC is covered by a large pool of patents, and shipping a decoder means paying royalties per device. Apple pays those royalties for iPhones and Macs, which is why the same file opens instantly there.
Microsoft chose not to bundle the cost into every copy of Windows. Instead the decoder lives in two separate Microsoft Store packages: HEIF Image Extensions, which is free, andHEVC Video Extensions, which is normally a paid item. This is why so many people find a confusing paywall standing between them and their own holiday photographs.
Option 1: Convert in your browser (no installation)
The fastest route, and the only one that works on a locked-down work or school machine where you cannot install anything. Our HEIC to PNG converter decodes the file using its own copy of the decoder, running inside the browser tab. Windows never has to understand the format at all.
Drop the files in and download PNGs. Nothing is uploaded to a server, there is no account, and there is no limit on how many you convert — you can drag a whole folder across from the iPhone import and take back one ZIP.
Option 2: Install HEIF Image Extensions
If you want Windows itself to display HEIC files in Photos and File Explorer, install the freeHEIF Image Extensions package from the Microsoft Store. Afterwards, thumbnails appear normally and you can open a photo in Photos and use See more → Save as to write a PNG.
Whether that alone is enough depends on your machine. On systems whose hardware ships an HEVC decoder — most recent Intel, AMD and Nvidia graphics — the free extension is all you need. On others, Photos will prompt you to buy HEVC Video Extensions as well. If you are being asked to pay simply to look at your own photographs, use option 1 instead; it costs nothing and takes less time than the Store page takes to load.
Option 3: Convert from the command line
If you have hundreds of files and convert them regularly, do it locally. WithImageMagick installed, this converts every HEIC in the current folder:
magick mogrify -format png *.heicOr in PowerShell, one file at a time with the output named to match:
Get-ChildItem *.heic | ForEach-Object {
magick $_.FullName ($_.BaseName + ".png")
}ImageMagick carries its own HEIF support, so this works whether or not the Store extensions are installed.
Should you convert to PNG or JPG?
Worth pausing on, because most people converting a camera roll want JPG and do not realise it. A 12-megapixel iPhone photo is around 2 MB as HEIC and becomes 20–35 MB as PNG, because PNG stores every pixel losslessly. The same photo as JPG is 2–4 MB and looks identical.
Choose PNG when you need exact pixels, transparency, or a system that specifically demands it. For ordinary photographs you are emailing or uploading, JPG is the better answer. There is a fuller breakdown in the format comparison on the converter page.
Stop the problem happening again
On the iPhone, open Settings → Camera → Formats and selectMost Compatible. New photos will be taken as JPG and Windows will read them without any of the above. Photos already in your library stay HEIC, so you will still need to convert those once.
If a file still will not convert
A handful of files genuinely cannot be read: .heics image sequences, files truncated during transfer from the phone, and files that were renamed to .heic without ever being HEIC. Transferring again over a cable rather than a messaging app fixes most truncation problems, because several chat apps re-encode or clip attachments in transit.