Forum Discussion
HEIC image extension not working on Windows 11, are there any heic extension alternatives?
I had the same issue—my HEIC photos suddenly stopped opening on Windows 11, showing "Unable to open this file." Reinstalling HEIF Image Extensions didn’t help, and paying for HEVC Video Extensions is just absurd!
I found a better solution—TuneBro HEIC Converter. It opens HEIC files without extra extensions and allows batch conversion to JPG/PNG with no quality loss. No more Windows HEIC headaches—highly recommend!
I followed this tutorial: https://www.reddiite.com/bulk-heic-to-jpg
It is common to see HEIC Image Extension not working as earlier versions of Windows 11 (e.g. 21H2 or lower) does not support opening HEIC images properly due to not integrating the latest codec support. Microsoft has gradually optimized compatibility with HEIC format in subsequent updates, especially version 22H2 after 2022, which fixes several codec-related system vulnerabilities. If users do not install the system update in time, HEIC Image Extensions may fail due to missing dependencies, which may be manifested as “This format is not supported” or only thumbnails are displayed in the Photos app.
Some third-party image tools can bypass the system's default decoder and call their own libraries to parse the HEIC format directly, which may lead to failure if the version of the tool is too old or does not integrate HEVC support.
In addition, some software may modify the file association settings to force HEIC to be bound to incompatible programs. For example, users mistakenly associate HEIC by default to a lightweight viewer that only supports JPEG, which triggers a compatibility error.
Fix 1: Update your system to the latest version:
Go to Settings > Windows Update, click “Check for Updates” and install all optional updates (especially Cumulative Updates and . “NET Framework updates).
Confirm that your system version is 22H2 or higher: Press Win + R, type winver, and check the version number.
Fix 2: Reset the default image viewer:
Right-click HEIC file > Open as > Select other apps, check “Photos” and click “Always open with this app”.
Or via Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Select Default Apps by File Type, find .heic and associate it to “Photos”.
Fix 3: Uninstall conflicting third-party software:
Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features and remove old incompatible versions of photo tools.
Install alternative software that supports HEIC (e.g. newer versions of XcnView MP or Adobe Photoshop 2021+).
If the above tricks didn't work, then try with heic image extension alternatives instead.