12/12/25 for time wizards

Help! My computer won't read my iPhone photos

Has this ever happened to you? You transfer a bunch of your photos from your iPhone to your PC (this is already a pain in the neck). They look fine when you open them in Preview or Windows Photos, but if you try to open them in professional software or upload them to the Internet, all of a sudden the format isn't recognized. This is caused by the HEIC format.

Cartoon: someone frustrated because their file won't open on their computer

First, a tiny explanation The iPhone’s “Live Photos” feature stores a sequence of images and looks a lot like a super-short video clip.They bring you back intimately into the moment when you took the photo.

HEIC stands for High Efficiency Image Container. It captures a little bit of motion partly because it was developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group (the group that brought us the MPEG format for movies). It’s used to store photos on the iPhone because a HEIC image takes up about half the space of a JPEG or a PNG the formats you’re probably most used to using on a computer. The “Live Photos” feature is an enchanting bonus.

What the HEIC? The problem comes when you try to share the photo outside of iOS. Not all phones or computers will read HEIC format. In particular:

  • Some older Android phones won’t recognize HEIC format.
  • Adobe software like Photoshop does not have a built-in HEIC converter.
  • Websites won’t display HEIC images. It seems especially strange for software that runs on a Macintosh to not be able to read HEIC images, and this can make you think there’s something wrong with the file itself. There isn’t! There are two main ways to deal with this dilemma: Use an HEIC converter Use software that converts HEIC images to JPG or PNG, the two most universally recognized file formats for photos. As of this writing:
  • Convert.io is the best free online file converter. You can drag and drop your images. The site makes money by licensing their APIs(application programming interfaces) to developers and other websites, so they don’t muck up your experience with pop-up ads and fake download buttons.
  • Preview on the Macintosh will open one or multiple HEIC images and allow you to export them.
  • Windows Photos will open HEIC images and allow you to export them. You may need to install the HEIC and HEVC extensions first from the [Microsoft store](https://apps.microsoft.com/search?query=heic+extension&hl=en-US&gl=US. They have several, so pick your favorite.
  • With apologies to any self-respecting designer, Canva also has an online HEIC converter. Obviously they’re hoping you decide to start using Canva, but you don’t have to do that. Stop your phone from using the HEIC format Here are instructions for the iPhone 17, which also ought to work for other models of iPhone.
  • Go to Settings
  • Choose Camera (use the Search bar at the top to type ‘Camera’ if you can’t immediately find it)
  • Choose Formats
  • Under Camera Capture, select Most Compatible instead of High Efficiency.

Pros and Cons Stopping the phone from using the HEIC format will save a lot of time if you frequently take photos for websites or if your Aunt Hilda is still using a Samsung Galaxy 9. But it will make the photos take up about twice as much space.