What's the PSD maximum size?

PSD is Adobe Photoshop's native document format, in continuous use since Photoshop 3.0 in 1994 and still the universal interchange format for layered raster work across the design industry. Converting HEIC to PSD decodes your iPhone photo and places it inside a single-layer Photoshop document that Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, Krita, Pixelmator Pro, Procreate (read-only), and PaintShop Pro can all open natively. The decoded image lands on the Background layer at the source resolution, with EXIF orientation applied and the color profile (typically Display P3 on iPhone captures) carried across.

Retouchers, photo editors, and graphic designers convert HEIC to PSD when they need to start a layered edit from an iPhone capture - especially on Windows machines where Photoshop can't open HEIC at all unless the OS-level HEVC extensions are installed. Once inside the PSD, you can add adjustment layers (Curves, Levels, Hue/Saturation), text layers, smart objects, and non-destructive filters without touching the decoded pixels again. The PSD format supports up to 30,000 x 30,000 pixels and 2GB file size - beyond that you need PSB (Large Document Format).

Because PSD stores pixels essentially uncompressed (RLE at best), the output is much larger than the compact HEVC-encoded source - a 2MB 12-megapixel HEIC typically becomes a 25-40MB single-layer PSD. That's the cost of an editable working file. For final delivery, flatten and convert back to HEIC or a universal format. For very large canvases see PSB. PSD is also commonly used as a Photoshop-to-After-Effects bridge for motion graphics composites.

Reasons to convert HEIC to PSD usually come down to compatibility, file-size, or specific feature requirements. Common situations:

• An app or platform only accepts PSD uploads.
• You need a feature unique to PSD (e.g. transparency, vector scaling, animation, multi-page pages, etc.) that HEIC doesn't provide.
• You're optimising file size — modern formats often produce smaller files than the older format you started with.
• You need a single archival format across a project so files behave consistently in the same viewer.

1. Open the HEIC → PSD tool on heic.now.
2. Drag your HEIC file onto the drop zone, or click Select files. You can drop a whole folder of files at once.
3. The output is fixed to PSD. If the format supports extra options (page size, transparency background, quality, EXIF stripping), tweak them in the right-hand panel.
4. Click Convert. The job runs on our server and finishes in a few seconds for typical photos.
5. Download the result. Files stay in storage for 24 hours and are then permanently deleted.

The entire flow is free for the first 10 jobs per day with no signup required. A free account doubles that quota; a premium plan removes the limit entirely.

• Open the resulting PSD in Photoshop and immediately convert the Background to a regular layer (double-click) so you can add masks and adjustments non-destructively.
• Add a Curves or Levels adjustment layer at the top of the stack rather than editing pixels directly - PSD's strength is non-destructive editing.
• iPhone HEICs are usually tagged Display P3 - convert to sRGB (Edit > Convert to Profile) before web delivery, or keep P3 for wide-gamut print and screen work.
• If the PSD exceeds 2GB save as PSB instead - Photoshop will warn you when you cross the threshold.
• Affinity Photo opens and writes PSD with full layer support; GIMP reads PSD with most layer types intact but writes a simplified subset.