What is a HEIC file, and how do you open it?

HEIC is the reason a photo from an iPhone shows up as a blank icon on a Windows PC or gets rejected by an upload form. Here is what the format is and the quickest way around it on each device.

Updated 9 October 2026 · 6 min read

What a HEIC file actually is

HEIC stands for High Efficiency Image Container. It is Apple's flavour of HEIF, a standard image format that stores pictures compressed with HEVC (H.265), the same technology used for modern video. Apple made it the default camera format with iOS 11 in 2017, so almost every iPhone photo taken since then starts life as a .heic file.

The point is size. A HEIC photo is usually much smaller than a JPG of the same visual quality, often around half. HEIC can also hold things JPG cannot: 10-bit colour, transparency, depth information for Portrait mode and several images in one file. You will also see the extension .heif; for everyday purposes it is the same thing.

The downside is support. Apple devices handle HEIC everywhere, but plenty of Windows PCs, older Android phones, web upload forms, print shops and photo editors still do not.

Sizes vary a lot with the scene and the camera, so treat the numbers above as a rough guide rather than a rule.

How to open HEIC files on Windows 10 and 11

Windows can show HEIC photos, but it needs two add-ons from the Microsoft Store. Many new PCs already have them; if your photos show as blank icons or the Photos app says it needs a codec, they are missing.

1. Open the Microsoft Store and search for HEIF Image Extensions. It is free. Install it.
2. Search for HEVC Video Extensions. This is the part that decodes the actual image data. Microsoft usually charges a small fee for it (around one US dollar or the local equivalent). Some PCs ship with a free manufacturer version already installed.
3. Restart the Photos app or File Explorer. Thumbnails should appear and photos should open normally.

Once the extensions are installed you can also open a HEIC file in Paint and use Save as › JPEG picture to make a copy. For more than a handful of files that gets tedious; the HEIC to JPG converter on this site does a whole batch at once in the browser, without installing anything and without uploading the photos.

Opening HEIC on a Mac, Android or Chromebook

• Mac: macOS has opened HEIC natively since High Sierra (10.13). Double-click to open it in Preview. To make a JPG, choose File › Export and set the format to JPEG.
• Android: Android 10 and later can decode HEIF, and Google Photos displays HEIC files on most phones. Older phones and some third-party apps may still show an error.
• Chromebook and Linux: support depends on the version and the app. If a photo will not open, converting it is the quickest fix.
• Web browsers: most browsers will not display a HEIC file in a web page, which is why upload forms often reject them.

How to stop your iPhone saving photos as HEIC

If you regularly send photos to Windows users or upload them to forms, it can be easier to have the camera shoot JPG in the first place.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Camera, then Formats.
3. Choose Most Compatible instead of High Efficiency.

From now on new photos are saved as JPG and new videos as H.264. Three things to know before you switch:

• It only affects new photos. Everything already in your library stays HEIC.
• Your photos take more space. Expect your library and iCloud storage to fill noticeably faster.
• Some camera modes need High Efficiency. Certain high-resolution and high-frame-rate video modes, such as 4K at 60 fps on many models, are only available with High Efficiency selected. Exact options depend on your iPhone model and iOS version.

A middle ground: keep HEIC, convert when you transfer

You can keep the space savings on your phone and still get JPGs on your computer. Go to Settings › Photos, scroll to Transfer to Mac or PC and choose Automatic. When you import over a cable, the iPhone converts photos to a compatible format on the way out. Choose Keep Originals only if the computer can read HEIC.

iOS also converts automatically in many sharing situations, for example when you attach a photo to an email or share it to some apps. It does not happen everywhere: AirDrop to a Mac, iCloud downloads and some file-sharing apps keep the original HEIC.

Converting HEIC to JPG without losing quality

JPG is a lossy format, so every conversion throws away a little detail. In practice it is invisible if you use a high quality setting:

• Quality 0.9 (90%) or higher gives a JPG that looks identical to the original on a screen. Lower settings make smaller files but can show blockiness in skies and shadows.
• Choose PNG if you need a pixel-exact copy for editing. Expect files several times larger than the JPG.
• Convert once. Keep the HEIC as your master copy and make JPGs from it when you need them, rather than converting a JPG back and forth.

Not sure which format to pick for where the photo is going? The guide to JPG vs PNG vs WebP vs AVIF walks through the choice.

Common problems

• Renaming .heic to .jpg does not work. The file inside is still HEIC; changing the extension just confuses the apps that try to open it. It has to be re-encoded.
• Location and date disappeared after conversion. Many converters, including the one on this site, re-encode only the pixels, so camera metadata such as GPS location is not carried over. That is usually a privacy bonus when sharing, but keep the original if you need the date for sorting.
• A form says the photo is too big after converting. JPGs are larger than HEICs, so a converted phone photo can easily be 3–5 MB. Resize or compress it before uploading.
• Live Photos: a Live Photo is a still image plus a short video. Converting the HEIC gives you the still frame only.

Frequently asked questions