You send a photo from your iPhone, and on the other side it won't open. Or you try to upload it to a form and the website says "unsupported file type." Look at the file name: it almost certainly ends in .heic. That one extension explains most of the trouble.
Here is what HEIC actually is, why it causes problems, and how to deal with it quickly.
What a HEIC file is
HEIC is the image format iPhones and iPads have used by default since iOS 11. It stores a photo using the HEVC (H.265) video-compression technology inside a container called HEIF. The practical benefit is size: a HEIC photo is typically noticeably smaller than a JPG of similar visual quality, which saves storage on your phone.
The format itself is not a problem. The problem is that it isn't understood everywhere.
Why it doesn't open on every device
JPG has been supported by practically every device, app and website for decades. HEIC is much newer, and the compression technology behind it is subject to licensing. As a result, support depends on the operating system, the app, and sometimes even the specific version you have installed. Many upload forms, older photo editors, print kiosks and content-management systems still accept only JPG or PNG.
Opening HEIC on Windows
Windows 10 and Windows 11 can display HEIC photos, but usually only after you install extensions from the Microsoft Store: HEIF Image Extensions, and often HEVC Video Extensions as well. Depending on your PC, the HEVC extension may be preinstalled by the manufacturer or may be a paid download. Even when the photo opens in the Photos app, older programs and many websites will still reject the file.
Opening HEIC on Android
Recent versions of Android can generally display HEIF/HEIC images, and Google Photos opens them. But older phones, some gallery apps, messaging apps and many upload forms may not. If a friend on Android says they can't see your picture, a format mismatch is a likely reason.
The simplest fix: convert it to JPG
Since JPG opens everywhere, converting is usually the fastest way out. With a browser-based converter you don't need to install anything:
- Open the HEIC to JPG converter.
- Drop in one or several .heic files.
- Adjust the quality slider if you like (the default is a good balance of size and sharpness).
- Download the JPG files.
Because the conversion happens inside your browser, your photos are not uploaded to a server. That matters for personal pictures you'd rather not hand to a stranger's website.
Two honest notes. First, converting creates a new file, and re-encoding to JPG can cost a tiny amount of detail, so keep the original HEIC if it's a photo you care about. Second, if you plan to edit the picture further and want to avoid adding another round of lossy compression, HEIC to PNG gives you a lossless result, at the cost of a larger file.
Preventing the problem on your iPhone
If you would rather your iPhone saved photos in a more compatible format from the start:
- Go to Settings → Camera → Formats and choose Most Compatible. New photos are saved as JPG, though they take more space.
- Or go to Settings → Photos and, under Transfer to Mac or PC, choose Automatic. The phone then converts photos to a compatible format when you copy them to a computer.
Neither option changes photos you already took.
Quick summary
- .heic is a modern, space-saving iPhone format with limited support elsewhere.
- Windows often needs Store extensions; Android is better but not universal.
- For sharing or uploading, convert to JPG and keep the original.
Ready to convert? Open the free HEIC to JPG converter →