Why won't Photos open my HEIC after I installed the extension?

Almost always because only half of what is needed is installed. HEIF Image Extensions handles the file's container; the picture inside is compressed with HEVC and needs Microsoft's separate HEVC package as well. With just the first one installed, Windows can recognise the file but not decode the image.

Which HEVC package do I need?

Microsoft publishes two listings: HEVC Video Extensions, and HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer. Both were live at the time of writing. Which applies to you depends on your PC, and pricing has varied, so open the Store on your own machine and see what it offers rather than trusting a number from an article.

What if I have no admin rights?

Then the Store route is closed and no article can reopen it — installing codecs is precisely what the policy blocks. Convert the file instead. A browser-based converter is just a web page, so it works on a managed machine exactly like any other website.

Why do thumbnails show but the photo won't open?

Thumbnails and full-size display are handled by different parts of Windows, and a small preview can be produced or cached without the full decoder being present. Practically it means the same thing either way: the component that decodes the actual image is missing.

Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?

A little, once. JPG is lossy, so re-encoding costs some detail, though at high quality it is rarely visible. What you will notice is the file getting larger, because HEIC compresses more efficiently than JPG in the first place.

Does converting strip the date and other photo details?

Yes. We tested this directly and the converted file contains no EXIF block, so the capture date, camera model, and any GPS coordinates do not come across. Good if you are sharing a photo publicly, bad if you are archiving — keep the originals and treat the JPGs as sharing copies.

Can I convert a whole folder at once?

Yes — drop them all in together. We ran a batch of eight while writing this with no failures. Allow a few seconds per photo; HEIC decoding is real work, and it happens on your device rather than a server.

How to Open HEIC Files on Windows

Updated August 30, 2026

The standard advice is one line: install HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store. For a lot of people that works. For a lot of others the photo still won't open afterwards, and almost nobody explains why. Here is the whole picture, including the case where the answer is that you can't.

The short answer, and who it won't work for

On a personal Windows PC where you can install from the Microsoft Store, install HEIF Image Extensions. That is usually enough, and Photos will open the file.

Two groups it does not help, and both are common:

People whose PC is managed by an employer or school. If Store installs are blocked, no extension can be installed at all, and no amount of retrying changes that.
People who installed it and still see an error. Displaying a HEIC needs more than the image extension — see the next section.

The built-in route, and the codec catch

The thing most articles miss is that two different pieces are involved, because a HEIC file is two different things at once. The container is HEIF, and the picture inside it is compressed with HEVC — the same video codec used for H.265 footage. Handling the container and decoding the picture are separate jobs.

So Microsoft ships them separately. HEIF Image Extensions handles the container. Decoding the image needs HEVC support, which Microsoft publishes as its own Store package — in fact as two listings, HEVC Video Extensions and HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer. Both are live listings from Microsoft as of writing.

That is the whole explanation for the most frustrating case: you followed the instructions exactly, installed the extension you were told to install, and the file still won't open — because the piece that actually decodes the picture was a separate install nobody mentioned.

We are deliberately not quoting a price for the HEVC packages. Availability and cost have varied by device and region, and the Store listings did not render a price when we checked them, so any figure we printed could be wrong for you. Open the listing on your own PC and see what it says there.

Why it fails on a work computer

On a machine managed by an IT department, the Microsoft Store is very often disabled or restricted by policy. There is no workaround from the user side: installing a codec is exactly the kind of thing the policy exists to prevent, and no sequence of clicks gets around it.

This is worth naming plainly because the usual advice quietly assumes you can install software. If you cannot, every article that ends at "install the extension" has no answer for you at all. You are not doing it wrong.

The same applies to a borrowed machine, a library or hotel PC, and a locked-down kiosk. In each case the file is fine — the computer simply cannot be taught to read it.

Options that don't involve the Store

If installing is off the table, the file has to change rather than the computer. Ranked by how likely they are to be available to you:

Convert the file. A browser-based converter is just a web page, so it works on a locked-down machine like any other website. HEIC to JPG does this without uploading anything.
Change what the iPhone produces. In iOS Settings → Camera → Formats, choosing Most Compatible makes the phone shoot JPG instead. This fixes every future photo and none of the ones you already have.
Email or message the photo to yourself. Some transfer paths convert to JPG on the way. It is inconsistent and it costs quality, but it needs no software at all.
Use an app that brings its own decoder. Some image viewers and editors decode HEIC themselves rather than relying on Windows — though on a managed PC, installing one of those runs into the same policy wall.

Converting instead — when that's the right call

Converting is usually framed as the consolation prize. On a machine where you cannot install a codec, it is not a fallback at all — it is the only route that leads anywhere, and it is worth choosing deliberately rather than settling for it.

It is also the right call whenever the photo has somewhere else to go. Upload forms, older software, print shops, and plenty of Android apps reject HEIC outright, and a codec on your PC does nothing about any of them. Converting fixes the file everywhere at once.

Our converter runs entirely in the browser, using a HEIC decoder compiled to WebAssembly and shipped inside the site's own code. That matters for two reasons on a work machine: nothing is installed, and nothing is uploaded — the photos are decoded on your own device. Browsers cannot read HEIC on their own, which we confirmed while testing this page: handing a HEIC straight to the browser's own image decoder fails outright. The decoder we ship is what makes it work.

Batch conversion works too. We converted eight HEIC files in one run while writing this, with no failures and no meaningful memory growth, so a folder of holiday photos is a reasonable thing to drop in. Expect a few seconds per photo rather than an instant result — HEIC decoding is genuinely expensive work, and real phone photos are much larger than test images.

What conversion costs you

Two real costs, and the second one surprises people.

The file gets bigger. HEIC compresses far more efficiently than JPG, so the same picture stored as JPG takes more space — often close to double. That is the price of a format everything can open.

The metadata is not carried over. Our tools redraw the image and re-encode it, and that process keeps pixels rather than the information attached to them. We verified this directly: a JPEG carrying EXIF data went in, and the converted file came out with no EXIF block at all. The capture date, camera model, and any GPS coordinates are not in the converted copy.

That cuts both ways, and which way depends on what you are doing. If you are posting a photo publicly or sending it to a stranger, silently dropping the GPS coordinates and timestamp is a privacy gain. If you are archiving family photos and expect them to sort by date taken, it is a real loss — keep the HEIC originals and treat the JPGs as copies for sharing.

Common questions

Why won't Photos open my HEIC after I installed the extension?: Almost always because only half of what is needed is installed. HEIF Image Extensions handles the file's container; the picture inside is compressed with HEVC and needs Microsoft's separate HEVC package as well. With just the first one installed, Windows can recognise the file but not decode the image.
Which HEVC package do I need?: Microsoft publishes two listings: HEVC Video Extensions, and HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer. Both were live at the time of writing. Which applies to you depends on your PC, and pricing has varied, so open the Store on your own machine and see what it offers rather than trusting a number from an article.
What if I have no admin rights?: Then the Store route is closed and no article can reopen it — installing codecs is precisely what the policy blocks. Convert the file instead. A browser-based converter is just a web page, so it works on a managed machine exactly like any other website.
Why do thumbnails show but the photo won't open?: Thumbnails and full-size display are handled by different parts of Windows, and a small preview can be produced or cached without the full decoder being present. Practically it means the same thing either way: the component that decodes the actual image is missing.
Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?: A little, once. JPG is lossy, so re-encoding costs some detail, though at high quality it is rarely visible. What you will notice is the file getting larger, because HEIC compresses more efficiently than JPG in the first place.
Does converting strip the date and other photo details?: Yes. We tested this directly and the converted file contains no EXIF block, so the capture date, camera model, and any GPS coordinates do not come across. Good if you are sharing a photo publicly, bad if you are archiving — keep the originals and treat the JPGs as sharing copies.
Can I convert a whole folder at once?: Yes — drop them all in together. We ran a batch of eight while writing this with no failures. Allow a few seconds per photo; HEIC decoding is real work, and it happens on your device rather than a server.