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How to open HEIC photos on Windows

Last updated: 28 October 2026

You copy photos from an iPhone to a Windows PC, or someone emails you pictures, and instead of JPGs you get files ending in .heic. Double-clicking them shows an error, an upload form rejects them, and your photo editor does not list them. Nothing is wrong with the photos. They are simply saved in a format that Windows does not open out of the box.

What a HEIC file is

HEIC is Apple’s name for photos saved in the HEIF format (High Efficiency Image File Format). iPhones have used it as the default camera format since iOS 11 in 2017, because a HEIC photo needs roughly half the storage of a JPG of the same quality. It also stores extras such as depth information for Portrait photos and several frames for Live Photos.

The catch is compatibility. macOS and iOS open HEIC natively, but on Windows, in many older programs and on a lot of websites the format is still unknown or only works with add-ons.

Option 1: install Microsoft’s HEIF extensions

Windows 10 and 11 can show HEIC photos in the Photos app once two add-ons from the Microsoft Store are installed:

  • HEIF Image Extensions, which is free and handles the container format;
  • HEVC Video Extensions, which decodes the actual image data. Microsoft sells it for a small fee, and some PCs already have it from the manufacturer.

After installing both, HEIC photos open in Photos and show thumbnails in File Explorer. This is a good fix if you only need to look at the pictures on your own PC. It does not help when you need to send the photos to someone else, upload them to a website that only takes JPG, or open them in an older editor.

Option 2: convert HEIC to JPG in your browser

For anything beyond viewing, converting the photos to JPG is the reliable route: every computer, phone, app and website accepts JPG. With the HEIC to JPG converter you can do it without installing anything:

  1. Open the converter and drop in your .heic or .heif files, or click Choose files. You can add a whole batch at once.
  2. Leave JPG quality at 90 for photos that look the same as the original, or lower it for smaller files.
  3. Download each JPG, or click Download all to get every photo in one ZIP file.

The conversion runs on your own computer, so private photos are never uploaded to a server. If you need transparency or lossless quality for editing, use HEIC to PNG instead. PNG files are larger, but nothing is lost in the conversion.

Option 3: stop the iPhone from creating HEIC files

If you regularly move photos to a PC, you can change the source instead. There are two settings on the iPhone:

  • Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible makes the camera save new photos as JPG. Photos take more storage, and existing HEIC photos stay as they are.
  • Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic keeps HEIC on the phone but converts photos to JPG when you copy them to a computer over a cable.

Photos sent through some messaging apps or by email may still arrive as HEIC, so it is worth knowing how to convert them even with these settings on.

Which option should you pick?

  • To view photos on your own Windows PC now and then: install the extensions.
  • To share, upload, print or edit them anywhere: convert them to JPG.
  • To avoid the problem for future photos: switch the iPhone to Most Compatible.

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