Complete Guide to Opening iPhone HEIC Photos and Converting to JPG on Windows

For Windows 10 version 1809 and later, and all official versions of Windows 11, native viewing support for HEIC format is available, but you need to install the HEIF Image Extension provided by the Microsoft Store to activate the native support.

The HEIF Image Extension can be obtained from the Microsoft App Store. Some devices require a paid purchase, and the specific price is subject to the current price published by the Microsoft Store. After installation, you can preview HEIC files in File Explorer and open them with the Photos app.

iPhone stores photos in the efficient HEIC format by default. You can enable automatic transcoding before transfer to avoid the problem of being unable to open files on Windows.

The setting path is: open the iOS Settings app, scroll down to find the Photos option, enter the menu and find the 'Transfer to Mac or PC' option, then check the 'Automatic' option. This will automatically convert HEIC to JPG format when transferring to a Windows PC via wired transfer or AirDrop.

When the 'Keep Originals' option is checked, HEIC files will be transferred in their original format, which is suitable for scenarios that require retaining original image quality.

For HEIC files that have already been transferred to local Windows storage, you can use an online format conversion tool to complete batch processing. The HEIC to JPG converter supports uploading multiple HEIC files and outputs a unified ZIP compressed package.

Local image processing software for desktops also supports batch conversion. Some software requires paid unlocking for the batch function, and the specific authorization rules are subject to the current public notice from the software developer.

When converting HEIC files, you can choose three common output formats JPG, PNG, and WebP according to your usage requirements. Different format characteristics are suitable for different usage scenarios.

Below is the scenario description for the three formats:

Compliant HEIC conversion tools completely retain the EXIF shooting parameters from the original HEIC file when converting to JPG or other formats, including information such as shooting time, device model, aperture, and shutter parameters.

For Live Photos shot on iPhone, the original HEIC file contains both a static photo portion and a short video portion. When converting to JPG format, only the static cover portion is retained, and the video portion is not preserved in the output file.

If you need to retain the video portion of a Live Photo, you can export the video file separately and store it elsewhere.