Why HEIC photos won't open on Windows (and how to fix it)

You copied photos from your iPhone to your PC, double-clicked one, and got an error, a blank window, or a prompt to buy something from the Microsoft Store. Nothing is wrong with the photos. They’re in a format called HEIC, and Windows doesn’t read it out of the box.

This guide explains what’s going on, the options Microsoft gives you, and the fastest fix if you just want the photos to work.

What is a HEIC file?

Since iOS 11 in 2017, iPhones have saved photos as HEIC by default. HEIC is Apple’s name for images stored in the HEIF container (High Efficiency Image File Format) and compressed with HEVC, the same codec used for 4K video.

Apple chose it because it’s efficient. A HEIC photo is roughly half the size of a JPG of similar quality, so your phone holds about twice as many pictures. HEIC can also store extras like depth information for Portrait mode, Live Photo frames and a wider range of colour.

The trade-off is compatibility. JPG has been around since 1992 and works with essentially everything. HEIC is newer and relies on HEVC, a codec covered by patents and licence fees, which is a big reason it isn’t built into every operating system for free.

Why Windows can’t open HEIC by default

Windows 10 and Windows 11 can display HEIC photos, but only with two add-ons from the Microsoft Store:

1. HEIF Image Extensions: lets Windows understand the HEIF container. It’s free and is sometimes preinstalled.
2. HEVC Video Extensions: provides the HEVC decoder that actually unpacks the image. This one usually costs a small fee.

Without both, the Photos app may show an error, File Explorer shows no thumbnails, and other apps simply refuse the file. Even with both installed, plenty of software ignores them: older versions of Microsoft Office, many photo editors, email clients and especially websites. A job portal or online form running on a server doesn’t care what’s installed on your PC; if it only accepts JPG and PNG, your HEIC upload fails.

Your options, from quickest to most permanent

1. Convert the photos to JPG (fastest, works everywhere)

Converting gives you ordinary JPG files that open in every app, upload to every website and print anywhere. You can do it without installing anything:

1. Open HEIC to JPG in Edge, Chrome or Firefox on your PC.
2. Drag the .heic files (or a whole folder of them) onto the converter.
3. Wait a moment while they convert, then press Download all (ZIP) or download them one by one.

Because the conversion runs inside your browser, the photos are never uploaded. That matters for family pictures, screenshots of documents and anything else you’d rather keep private. The JPGs also come out without GPS location data, which is safer if you plan to post them online.

If you need a lossless copy for editing, use HEIC to PNG instead. PNG files are bigger, but nothing is compressed away.

2. Install the Microsoft codecs

If you open a lot of iPhone photos on the same PC and only need to view them there, the codecs are a reasonable choice:

• Open the Microsoft Store, search for HEIF Image Extensions and install it.
• Search for HEVC Video Extensions and install it (paid).
• Restart the Photos app.

This lets the Photos app and File Explorer show HEIC files. It does not fix uploads to websites or apps that don’t use Windows’ codecs, so you may still need to convert for sharing.

3. Let the iPhone convert when it transfers

iPhones can convert photos to JPG automatically when they’re copied to a computer over a cable. On the iPhone, go to Settings › Photos, scroll to Transfer to Mac or PC and choose Automatic. With that setting, photos imported through the Windows Photos app or File Explorer arrive as JPG.

This only applies to cable transfers. Photos sent via iCloud, AirDrop to a Mac, email or messaging apps may still arrive as HEIC.

4. Stop the iPhone saving HEIC at all

If you never want to deal with HEIC again, you can tell the camera to shoot JPG. The setting is under Settings › Camera › Formats › Most Compatible. Photos will take up roughly twice the space, so it’s worth thinking about storage first. Our guide on how to stop your iPhone saving photos as HEIC walks through it and covers the trade-offs.

Which fix should you choose?

Situation	Best option
You need to upload or email a few photos now	Convert to JPG in the browser
You view iPhone photos on this PC every week	Install the codecs, convert when sharing
You import from the phone by cable	Set transfer to Automatic
You never want HEIC again and have storage to spare	Switch the camera to Most Compatible

For most people, converting is the least fuss. It’s free, it doesn’t change anything on your PC, and the result works with every app and website.

Common problems after converting

The JPG is bigger than the HEIC. That’s expected. JPG compression is older and less efficient, so the same picture needs more bytes. If you need smaller files, lower the quality to 75–80% in Options, or run the JPGs through Compress image.

A photo comes out sideways. iPhones often save photos with a rotation flag rather than rotating the pixels. A good converter applies that flag; ours does, so this shouldn’t happen. If another app shows it sideways, the problem is that app reading an old copy, so re-open the converted file.

Live Photos only give me one image. A Live Photo HEIC holds several frames. The converter keeps the main still image, which is the one shown in your Photos library. The motion part is a separate video file.

Some photos fail to convert. Very rarely, a HEIC file is damaged during transfer or uses an unusual variant. Try copying it from the phone again. If one file in a batch fails, the rest still convert.

The short version

HEIC photos don’t open on Windows because Windows needs paid or optional codecs to read them, and many apps and websites don’t support the format at all. The quickest, most reliable fix is to convert them to JPG. You can do that in a few seconds in your browser, privately, with OneDropConvert’s HEIC to JPG converter.