How to View HEVC or HEIC Files for Free on Windows 10
Windows: This week’s Windows app isn’t really an app in itself, but it’s an incredibly useful extension you’ll want to get from the Windows Store if you have any device (cough, Apple, cough) that takes and saves .HEIC pictures.
While you can certainly use the free third-party HEIC file conversion apps your new iPhone creates – if you drag and drop them onto your Windows computer for editing or storage – you can’t view those files naturally on Windows (using the Photos app. “, For example). This is an annoying problem for which Microsoft has an equally annoying solution.
While the company offers an extension in the Windows Store that you can download and install to view .HEIF files, and it’s free , it won’t work for .HEIC files, the fancy container Apple started using in iOS 11.
As Microsoft says:
“Images stored in HEIF files with the .heic extension are compressed using the HEVC format. Such files also require the installation of the HEVC Video Extension Pack. If the HEVC video extension pack is not installed, the HEIF image extension will not be able to read or write .heic files. “
The mentioned ” HEVC Video Extensions ” are also available in the Windows Store, but it will cost you $ 1. I’m not sure why Microsoft needs this money, especially when it sounds like it should be just a free, tiny Windows update, but there you go. Fortunately, there is a workaround you can use to save your Washington.
Instead of buying the HEVC Video Extensions item from the Windows Store, grab this: Device Manufacturer HEVC Video Extensions.
It was also developed by Microsoft Corporation, but it looks like an extension that comes preinstalled on the device, not something Microsoft really wants you to find and download. Ouch.
However, installing a freeware extension with an inconvenient name will do the same thing as a $ 1 extension – you’ll be able to view HEIC files directly in Photos (or HEVC files in Media Player, presumably). You still won’t be able to edit them in, say, Photoshop, but that’s something. What to do with more than $ 1 …
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