How many times has it happened to you that you want to share a photo which you took with your iPhone but now you cannot view it on a PC or Android smartphone and tablet? The reason is simple: the photos taken by the most recent Apple smartphones have, by default, the new HEIC format, which is still not fully supported by the “competition”. However, there are ways to solve and today we will see the best ones to adopt.
What are HEIC files
As mentioned in the introduction, a HEIC file is basically an image formatted using a particular format, developed by Apple on the basis of HEIF. HEIF, an acronym of “High Efficiency Image File Format” , is based on some interesting features that make the image quality excellent, while having a decidedly lower weight (in terms of MB) than, for example, PNG.
At this point, the question might be: “But why not use JPEG then?”. In this case, the answer can be to the advantage of one format or the other. In terms of quality/weight ratio, the HEIC certainly wins with your eyes closed, as JPEG allows you to take up less space, but offering a decidedly less enjoyable quality. On the other hand, the support of the HEIC by the operating systems and by the editing programs turns out to be substantially nil when compared with the JPEG.
Obviously, this problem will gradually fade away (many programs, for example, support it without problems), but if you can’t wait, we still recommend that you follow our guide dedicated to converting the aforementioned format.
How to open HEIC files on iPhone or iPad
Let’s start with something simple and immediate. As already widely described, the HEIC file is generated by the most modern iPhones and, in particular, by all those who have iOS 11 or later. In this case, therefore, the operating system will be able to read the aforementioned format without any problem.
However, in the event that the application used does not yet support it, or you have a smartphone with versions prior to iOS 11, the only thing to do will be to perform a conversion as seen above.
How to open HEIC files on Mac
Also in this case the answer turns out to be rather trivial. Apple wasted no time in updating macOS in order to make it perfectly compatible with photos taken from iPhone. The reference version for the desktop operating system of the Cupertino company is macOS 10.13 High Sierra, available for free for all compatible Macs.
However, the hypotheses listed in the paragraph dedicated to iPhone and iPad remain. So if your photo editing app is not compatible with HEIC files, all that remains is to operate through a very simple conversion.
How to open HEIC files on PC
Let’s finally move on to something certainly more difficult. Opening a HEIC file on a PC (with Windows 10 or 7) is certainly not trivial and requires some extra care.
How to open HEIC files on Windows 10
Thanks to the Windows store included in version 10 of the aforementioned operating system, Microsoft was able to run for cover by releasing a simple extension to download and install for free on any PC.
These are “HEIF Image Extensions”, which offers no problem support for images with “.heic” or “.heif” format. It can download it simply by clicking on this link and then on the blue “Get” button. At this point, all you need to do is wait for the download (immediate) and let the installation start.
How to open HEIC files on Windows 7
In the event that you have an older version of Windows (in particular Windows 7), the only solution will be a third-party application downloadable from any web browser. Its name is “CopyTrans HEIC for Windows”, which offers several tools for converting, printing and, of course, supporting HEIC files. You can download it directly from the developer’s website by clicking on this link.
How to open HEIC files on Android
Even Google, just like Microsoft with Windows, has decided to immediately get to work to support the new format used by Apple. This means that, if you own the 9 Pie (or later) version of Android on your smartphone or tablet, you won’t need to do anything. In fact, starting from the aforementioned release, Android has no problem reading and viewing HEIC files.
Otherwise, the quickest response to the problem (in addition to the classic conversion) is based on downloading “gallery” applications with support for the aforementioned format. One of them is, for example, “Luma: heic to jpg converter and viewer offline”, which, in addition to allowing the display of images, offers a convenient quick conversion tool.
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