How to Open HEIC Files in Windows

Open this newer format easily

by
Jennifer Allen
Jennifer Allen
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Jennifer Allen has been writing about technology since 2010. Her work has appeared in Mashable, TechRadar, and many more publications.
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Jennifer Allen
Updated on December 11, 2020

Modern iOS devices save images in the HEIC/HEIF format. The format is common to Apple, but Windows 10 now works with this format naturally.

This guide includes details on opening HEIC files on Windows. The instructions work for Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7. MacOS opens such files without any extra tweaking. 

How to Open a HEIC File in Windows 10

If you send image files from your iOS device, such as through email or Dropbox, your iOS device should automatically convert the file to JPG, meaning you don't have to worry about HEIC/HEIF compatibility issues. 

Assuming your PC is up to date, you don't actually have to do much to open a HEIC file. Here's what's involved.

  1. Find the file on your PC.

    A Windows file explorer window highlighting a HEIC file to be opened

  2. Double-click the file.

    Through this method, it's not possible to see a preview of the image like with some other files.

  3. It should now open in a Photo Preview window just like any other image file.

    A Windows Photo Preview window displaying a HEIC image file

    File won't open? Download the HEIF Image Extensions add-on from the Microsoft Store.

How to Open a HEIC File in Windows 7 and 8

Opening a HEIC/HEIF file is a little trickier on Windows 7 and 8 since there's no direct support for the file extension. The best solution is to download a tool called CopyTrans HEIC for Windows. It's a plugin that opens HEIC files just as easily as any other files, with no further interaction required once you've installed the tool.

You can also use CopyTrans HEIC for Windows on a Windows 10 PC. It shows thumbnail previews of your images and offers easy conversion tools too.

  1. Visit https://www.copytrans.net/copytransheic.

  2. Select Download, then install the software.

    A browser window displaying the CopyTrans HEIC for Windows software package

  3. Double-click a HEIC file to open it. 

What Are HEIC Files Anyway?

The HEIC format was adopted by Apple in 2017 as a replacement for the JPEG format. More efficient in terms of size and quality, the HEIC file extension is also known as a HEIF file. It's been used in the past for Apple's iPhone Portrait Mode, enabling much higher quality images than a regular JPEG, among other advantages.

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