If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can easily open photos taken from them on your Apple device. But when it comes to Windows OS devices, you may not be able to open photos taken from iPhone or iPad. Why? Well, Apple makes use of a different image format when it comes to photos. Apple makes use of the HEIC file format which is not supported on Windows PC by default. After this guide, you will know how to open HEIC Files on Windows 11 PC.
There are multiple ways that you can follow to open and view HEIC files easily on your Windows 11 PC. We will list the different ways and you can easily pick out the best method that you like. Let’s take a look at the different ways to open HEIC images on a Windows 11 PC.
Note: First three methods in the guide requires HEIF Extension and HEVC Extension. You will know how to get them below.
Open HEIC Files on Windows Photos App
Windows 10 and Windows 11 come with the Photos app preinstalled. This is a free-to-use Photos app that you can use to view and edit your images easily on your Windows PC. Did you know that you can use this very same app to open up HEIC images? Here are the steps.
- First, open the File Manager and navigate to where you have the HEIC image file saved.
- Once you have found the file, right-click on the file.
- From the context menu, select the Open With option.
- Now, choose the Photos App.
- When the Photos app opens, it will display a link stating that there is a HEIF Image extension or HEVC Extension (whichever is missing) on the Microsoft Store that you need to download and install.
- Click on the link in the Photos app to open the Microsoft Store.
- The Microsoft Store will now open, and you will see the button that says Get, below the HEIF Image Extension. Click on it to download and install the extension to your Windows 11 PC.
- Also, you will have to download the HEVC Video Extension for your Windows PC. You can click on this link to install it from the Store. This is a free download.
- Once you have both the extensions downloaded, simply right-click on the HEIC image file and open it with the Photos app.
- The image is now viewable on the Photos app for your Windows 11 PC.
Open HEIC Files With the Paint App
The Microsoft Paint app has been a staple since the early Windows OS days. This is a free app that you can use to open and view images as well as create your own with the numerous drawing tools available to use for free. Here is how you can do that easily.
- Open the folder where you have the HEIC image saved.
- Right-click on the image file.
- From the context menu, choose the Open With option.
- Now, choose the Paint app.
- Within a few seconds, the Paint app should open up and you will be able to view the image right away. You will get an error if you haven’t installed the required extensions.
- If you want, you can choose to save them in different formats like JPEG or even in a PNG file format.
Open HEIC Files using Adobe Photoshop
If you are someone that works with images and edits them on a regular basis, you might be making use of Photoshop on a regular basis. Thankfully, Adobe’s Photoshop app lets you open and view, and even edit HEIC images easily on your Windows 11 PC. Here are the steps to open HEIC images in Photoshop on your Windows 11 PC.
- First off, launch the Adobe Photoshop app on your Windows 11 PC.
- Once launched, click on the File that you see in the menu toolbar at the top left corner of the app.
- From there, choose the Open option.
- Now, browse and select the HEIC image file.
- Once selected, the HEIC image will now open right away within Adobe Photoshop. You can choose to edit or simply save it in another file format of your choice.
Convert HEIC to JPEG on Windows
Other methods in the guide require HEIF extension and HEVC extension, so if you don’t have them, you can use this guide. If you are simply not interested in using any other programs to view the HEIC image, you can make use of the image converter services that are available on the web for you to freely use. You can use any of them that you like.
- First, launch your favorite web browser on your Windows 11 PC.
- Search for ‘HEIC Image converter‘ and open a trustworthy site.
- Now, click on the Image Convertor block on the web page.
- Here, you will now be seeing a list of different image formats that you can convert your image to. Simply choose the type of file format you wish to convert your HEIC image.
- Once selected, click on the Choose File option. Browse and select your HEIC image file.
- Finally, click on the green Start button.
- The image conversion will take place. Once it’s done, you can easily download the converted HEIC file to your PC right away.
Closing Thoughts
This concludes the guide on how you can easily open HEIC images on your Windows 11 PC. You can easily choose any of the methods that we have mentioned above. Personally, choosing the first method where you have to install the HEIC extensions is a better option. If you have questions or queries, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
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