

The extensions are available in the Windows store that would cost $1. The feature is not enabled by default, and the Windows Photos app provides a link to a paid extension in the Microsoft store. However, things are now different after the April Update as Windows has finally allowed native support for HEIF files on Windows Photos. Users could also convert.HEIC files to JPEG by making use of a cloud provider like Google drive, which can automatically convert all the HEIF/HEIC files stored in cloud storage into.JPEG extensions. However, users could make use of third-party free apps or an online converter to convert HEIC files to JPG or PNG files to view the HEIC files in Windows PC. It also supports 16-bit color, unlike JPG which supports 8-bit color.Įarlier in Windows, it was not possible to open and view a HEIC file directly on Windows PC as the Windows photo editor did not support or recognize them. In addition to that, the HEIC files are excellent to store the edited images and undo the edits whenever required. HEIC files provide a user the benefit of storing multiple photos in a single file, supports transparency, and has half the size of JPEG files for almost the same quality.

Using HEIC files has a wide range of benefits unlike the older formats like PNG or JPEG. HEIF is an image and video file container that uses the HEVC codec to improve image quality and file compression. HEIC extension is a default high-efficiency camera capture format for iOS 11 image content. In other words, HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding) is a default high-efficiency camera capture format for iOS11 video content and HEIF. Apple has chosen HEIC as a file format for the new HEIF standard and HEIC is essentially a file extension that keeps HEIF images intact. Basically, HEIF (High-Efficiency Image Format) is a file type for photos used by iPads and iPhones having iOS 11, and the iOS device that supports A9 processor or newer versions. If you ever tried transferring pictures and video files from an iPhone or iPad to a Windows PC, you would see a lot of peculiar files with a HEIC and HEVC file format.

IOS devices use a high-efficiency camera capture format for image and video content.
