HEIF Files on Win11

Topic

New Reply

My new Sony A7RV can save files as HEIC (4:2:0 and 4:2:2) – using .hif was a file extension.  My Apple devices (Mac, etc.) have no trouble viewing these file formats, and I have apps that can edit them, but I understand special extensions are required for Windows.  I searched for these extensions, and they are in the Windows store, but they want 99 cents for them and they have a rating of 1.7 – and others have told me they simply don’t work.  Are there any working options to view these files on Win11?

David

Reply | Quote

Replies

There are free version but not easy  to find them,

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-open-heic-file/4efd294e-8992-4fbd-a15d-6478def05b1d

Reply | Quote

Hi David,

I just downloaded an .heic file here: https://filesamples.com/formats/heic
(That site has file samples in many formats.)

My understanding is that .heic is Apple’s extension for files that use the HEIF standard.
(See, for example, Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/file-types/image/raster/heif-file.html#:~:text=What's%20the%20difference%20between%20HEIC,is%20the%20base%20for%20both.)

I then tried several of my graphics programs to open the file. The downloaded .heic file opened without any problem, and without any special extension in Windows 11, in the following graphics programs:

FastStone Image Viewer 7.7 (freeware).
XNView MP 1.4.0 (freeware).
Microsoft Photos (Win 11).
Microsoft Paint (Win 11).

The .heic file would not open in:
Corel PaintShop Pro 2019.
PhoXo 8.4.

My computer: Dell XPS17 running Windows 11 Home 22H2

 

 

Dell XPS17, 11th Gen Intel I7, 64gb RAM, Windows 11 Home 24H2

Reply | Quote

HEIC files are wha the iPhones create. The Sony A7RV proceeds “.hif” files.

David

Reply | Quote

Try copytrans free for home use.

1 user thanked author for this post.

steeviebops

Reply | Quote

Just be careful. The HEVC video and HEIF image extensions available from the Microsoft Store appear to be from 2018 (or MS are just poor at updating the Store):

HEVC (99c) – https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/hevc-video-extensions/9NMZLZ57R3T7

HEIF (free) – https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/heif-image-extensions/9PMMSR1CGPWG?hl=en-us&gl=us

Much newer HEVC video and HEIF image extensions are available (for free) from free-codecs.com.

HEVC Video Extension 2.0.53348 (updated 10th December 2022)

(Note that the link on the page to a download for this version from the Microsoft Store shows Page Not Found. It looks like Microsoft may have pulled the special link for getting the HEVC video extension for free instead of having to pay.)

HEIF Image Extensions 1.0.50272 (updated 3rd February 2022)

(Note that the link on the page to a download for this version from the Microsoft Store shows the same ‘Release year: 2018. Note also the comments about the Store version not working.)

Note: I’ve used the HEVC video and HEIF image extensions downloaded from free-codecs.com for the last 2 years but have only used them for Windows 10, where they work fine with media from my iPhone.

Note also that using Firefox, downloading them in Appx format automatically invokes the App installer, which is handy:

I prefer to save them as .Appx files initially as I use the files on multiple devices.

Hope this helps…

Reply | Quote

I installed the HEIF Image Extensions and I still can’t open the .hif files from the Sony Camera.  Windows 11 can open the image from my iPhone (with .HEIC), but not the Sony A7RV .hif files.

It’s really disappointing that MS doesn’t support these image types natively.  macOS supports all these file types:  HEIF, HEIC, and HIF.

I down’t use Windows for these images – I was just curious.

David

Reply | Quote

David Redfearn wrote:

I installed the HEIF Image Extensions and I still can’t open the .hif files from the Sony Camera.

As far as I have read, only the Microsoft Photos app will view .HIF files… but only after both the HEVC video and HEIF image extensions are installed.

Note that you need *both* extensions installed, not just the HEIF image extension. See here for more info.

Sorry… can’t help any further.

Reply | Quote

Try this:

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/copytrans_heic_for_windows.html

 

Reply | Quote