Your friend AirDropped you a photo. You opened it on Windows 11 and got: “This app can't open .HEIC files” — or the file just showed a blank thumbnail. Or you plugged your iPhone in, dragged the photos across, and Windows Photos refuses to display them.
HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is Apple's default photo format since iOS 11 (2017). It's ~50% smaller than JPG at the same quality, which is great on the iPhone side and annoying on every non-Apple device that doesn't natively understand it. Windows 11 can open HEIC, but only if you install a codec, and Microsoft charges $0.99 for it in the Store.
Here is how to open HEIC on Windows 11 without paying, and — if you actually just want a normal JPG so you can send it to a printer, upload it to a form, or edit it in something old — how to convert it in seconds.
Why Windows 11 can't open HEIC out of the box
HEIC files are HEIF containers with HEVC-compressed images inside. HEVC (H.265) is a video codec covered by patents held by multiple licensors. Microsoft has to pay per-device royalties to distribute the decoder, so they don't ship it in the base Windows install. Instead they sell it in the Microsoft Store:
- HEIF Image Extensions — free (needed for the container).
- HEVC Video Extensions — $0.99 (needed for the actual image data).
Both must be installed. There's a rumor that a “HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer” free version exists — technically true, but Microsoft removed it from the Store search results in 2020 to push people to the paid version. It still exists on the Store as a hidden URL, but it's not officially supported.
Option 1 — Convert HEIC to JPG in your browser (free, no install)
If you just want to view or send the photo as JPG, this is the fastest fix:
- Open scanpdfonline.com/heic-to-jpg in Chrome, Edge or Firefox on Windows 11.
- Drag the .HEIC file (or a whole folder of them) onto the drop zone.
- Click Convert. The tool uses
heic2any(libheif compiled to WebAssembly) to decode HEIC entirely inside your browser. - Download the JPG — either one at a time or click “Download all” for a batch.
No install, no Store account, no codec purchase. Batch mode handles a whole iPhone camera roll dump — dozens of HEIC files at once. And because it's all client-side, your photos never leave your PC — important because iPhone HEICs contain GPS coordinates in EXIF metadata, so uploading them to a random online converter tells that service where the photo was taken.
Option 2 — Buy the HEVC codec ($0.99) so Windows Photos opens HEIC natively
If you get HEIC files often and want Windows to just deal with them:
- Open the Microsoft Store → search for HEIF Image Extensions → install (free).
- Search for HEVC Video Extensions → click Get → pay $0.99 → install.
- Restart Photos. HEIC files now show thumbnails in File Explorer and open in Windows Photos and Paint.
Trade-offs: it's a one-time $0.99 per Microsoft account (not per PC). Some system integrations still don't work — Word won't insert an HEIC as an image, PowerPoint choke on it, many web-upload forms reject HEIC even after your PC can see it. So even with the codec, you often still need to convert to JPG. Which brings us back to option 1.
Option 3 — Stop iPhone from making HEICs in the first place
If you AirDrop photos to Windows a lot, tell the iPhone to use JPG:
- On the iPhone: Settings → Camera → Formats.
- Choose Most Compatible instead of the default High Efficiency.
- New photos are now saved as JPG. Existing HEIC photos in your library stay HEIC.
Cost: your iPhone photos take ~2x more storage. If you have 128 GB and shoot a lot, you'll fill the phone faster. For occasional photographers this is fine and saves the constant “can you re-send it as JPG” back-and-forth.
There's also a nice compromise: leave HEIC on for shooting, but when you AirDrop or Share, iOS asks whether to convert to JPG on-the-fly. Toggle Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic and the phone automatically converts HEIC → JPG whenever it detects the receiving device won't understand HEIC.
Batch converting a whole folder of HEIC to JPG
Windows Explorer can't bulk-convert HEIC without a paid app. The browser tool does it cleanly:
- Select every .HEIC file in Explorer (Ctrl+A inside the folder).
- Drag the selection onto scanpdfonline.com/heic-to-jpg.
- Each file is converted one at a time (a progress bar shows count).
- Click “Download all as JPG” to save all outputs to your Downloads folder.
A hundred iPhone photos takes about 2–4 minutes in the browser depending on your PC. All handled locally in JavaScript — no upload, no server queue.
Common problems
“My HEIC has a black screen when I open it”
Usually means the HEIF extension is installed but the HEVC codec isn't. Install both from the Store, or convert to JPG in the browser.
“My photos are HEIC but shot on Android”
Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel can also save as HEIC now. Same solutions apply — convert in the browser or change the phone's camera setting to JPG.
“The HEIC is a Live Photo — do I lose the video?”
Yes. Converting to JPG keeps only the still frame; the accompanying MOV video is discarded. If you need the video too, share it separately from Photos on the iPhone (Long-press → Save as Video).
Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?
Slightly. HEIC uses HEVC compression which is more efficient than JPG — going HEIC → JPG at 90% quality is visually indistinguishable but the file is larger. For photos you plan to print or archive, keep the original HEIC too.
Can I convert HEIC to PNG instead of JPG?
Yes. On the converter page, change the output format from JPG to PNG. PNG is lossless but the file is 3-5x larger than JPG. Only worth it if you're going to edit the photo repeatedly and can't afford compression loss.
Does the converter work offline?
Once the page has loaded once (fetches ~2 MB of WASM), yes. All the decoding happens locally. If you install the page as a PWA (Chrome / Edge → three-dot menu → Install), it works fully offline afterwards.