How to open HEIC files on Windows 10 and 11

What a HEIC file is

HEIC is the file extension Apple uses for photos saved in HEIF, the High Efficiency Image File Format. iPhones and iPads use it by default for photos taken with the camera. Inside the file, the picture is compressed with HEVC, the same codec many phones use for video, which is why a HEIC photo usually takes noticeably less space than a JPG of similar quality. A HEIF file can also hold extra data such as a depth map, an HDR gain map or several images, and you may also see the extensions .heif and .hif from other cameras.

Windows does not open these files on every PC out of the box. HEVC is covered by patents, and Microsoft supplies support for HEIF and HEVC as separate add-ons from the Microsoft Store rather than building them into every copy of Windows. When they are missing, the Photos app says it cannot open the file or asks you to install an extension, and File Explorer shows a blank icon instead of a thumbnail.

You have two basic choices. Either teach Windows to read HEIC, which is best when you get HEIC photos regularly and only want to look at them, or turn the photos into JPG, which is best when they have to go into other programs, to other people or onto a website that only accepts JPG.

Install HEIF Image Extensions for the Photos app

Microsoft's HEIF Image Extensions add HEIF support to Windows 10 and 11, so the Photos app can open HEIC files and File Explorer can show their thumbnails. Other programs that use the Windows image components, such as Paint, can then usually open them too. In Paint you can save a copy with File > Save as and choose JPEG picture or PNG picture, which converts a single photo without any extra software.

The HEIF extension handles the container, but the picture inside is HEVC. On some PCs the HEVC decoder is already present, for example because the manufacturer installed it. On others, Windows also needs HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store before HEIC photos display, and that extension is a paid item in the Store at the time of writing. If photos still do not open after installing the HEIF extension, a missing HEVC decoder is the likely reason. Store listings and names have changed over the years, so search the Store for both names and check the publisher is Microsoft Corporation.

1. Open the Microsoft Store from the Start menu.
2. Search for HEIF Image Extensions, check that the publisher is Microsoft Corporation, and install it.
3. Double-click a HEIC photo. If it opens in Photos, you are done.
4. If the photo still does not open, search the Store for HEVC Video Extensions from Microsoft and install it, then try again.
5. Restart File Explorer or sign out and back in if thumbnails still do not appear.

Get JPG files from the iPhone instead

If you mainly need photos from your own iPhone on your PC, you can often avoid HEIC files on the computer. On the iPhone, open Settings > Photos and look for Transfer to Mac or PC at the bottom. With Automatic selected, the iPhone converts photos to a compatible format, normally JPG, when you copy them to a Windows PC with a USB cable, for example through the Photos app's import or by opening the phone in File Explorer. With Keep Originals selected, the HEIC files are copied as they are. The setting does not change the photos on the phone or in iCloud.

For future photos you can also make the camera save JPG directly with Settings > Camera > Formats > Most Compatible. That costs storage space on the phone and does not change photos you already have; the guide on converting HEIC to JPG covers that option in more detail.

If you use iCloud Photos, Apple's iCloud for Windows app can download your photo library to the PC, and on Windows 11 it can show iCloud Photos inside the Photos app. Its Photos options have included a setting to download high-efficiency originals when available; with it turned off, iCloud provides compatible JPG copies instead. The exact wording and place of this option have varied between versions of the app, so check the Photos options in your version.

Open HEIC files in free desktop programs

Some image editors bring their own HEIF support and do not depend on the Microsoft extensions. GIMP, the free and open source image editor, can open HEIC files in its Windows builds through the libheif library, and can export them with File > Export As to JPG, PNG and other formats. Use File > Open, choose the HEIC file and, if GIMP asks, accept the default import settings. Support depends on how the build was made, so if your version refuses the file, update to the current release from gimp.org.

Other viewers and editors also read HEIC, sometimes only with an extra plugin or with the Windows extensions installed. Check the documentation of the program you already use before installing something new.

Convert HEIC to JPG in your browser with FileReshape

When you cannot install anything, for example on a work PC, or the photos have to go to someone else anyway, FileReshape's HEIC to JPG page converts them in the browser. It works in Chrome, Edge and Firefox on Windows without any extension. The photos are decoded on your own computer with libheif, an open source HEIF library compiled to WebAssembly. The decoder is about 1 MB and loads only when you choose a HEIC file; your browser keeps it in its cache for next time. The photos are not uploaded.

You can add one photo or a batch of up to about 200 MB at a time, and add more files before you convert. Choose a JPG quality of 95, 90, 80 or 70 %; 90 % is recommended and looks the same as the original to most people. Every photo is turned upright using the rotation the iPhone stored. One photo downloads as a JPG; several are downloaded together as a zip, each named after its original, for example IMG_1234.jpg.

If you want lossless copies for editing, use HEIC to PNG instead, which keeps every decoded pixel but makes much larger files. To send several photos as one document, for example receipts or pages of notes for an office or an insurance claim, HEIC to PDF puts them into one PDF with a page per photo, in the order you choose and on A4, US Letter or photo-sized pages.

1. Open the HEIC to JPG page and drop your .heic files in the box, or click to choose them.
2. Pick a JPG quality, or keep the recommended 90 %.
3. Click Convert to JPG and save the JPG, or the zip with all photos.

What to expect after converting

The JPG holds the picture only. FileReshape does not copy the date taken, the GPS location or the camera details from the HEIC file, which is good for privacy but means photo apps that sort by date taken fall back to the file date. Keep the HEIC originals if those details matter. A Live Photo gives only its still image, because the motion is in a separate video file. HDR and the wide Display P3 colours of recent iPhones are reduced to standard colour, so very saturated colours can look slightly less vivid.

Expect the JPG to be larger than the HEIC, since JPG compression is less efficient; choose 80 or 70 % when size matters. Very large photos, such as 48-megapixel ones, need a lot of memory, but a Windows PC usually handles them without trouble.