How Do I Open a File Extension HEIC?

Comments: One Response to “How Do I Open a File Extension HEIC?”

Gary Rosenzweig

5 years ago

HEIC, High Efficiency Image File Format, is the default format for images taken with iOS devices. It stores images that are about the same quality as jpeg files, but at a much smaller file size. This means that you can store a lot more photos on an iPhone (or Mac) than you could previously.

However, the file format was introduced in High Sierra and older versions of macOS can't use them. For those of us with recent Macs that can use Mojave, this is no problem as the solution is to simply keep your Mac up-to-date. But if you have an older Mac that can't go to High Sierra or above, then you can't really use HEIC images.

If this is just one photo and you don't expect to have the problem again, then you can always search online for "convert heic to jpeg" and there are some online services that will convert that one file for you. Not a good option if this happens often, such as a flow of images you may be getting as part of work.

If you have a new iPhone and an old Mac, then you probably want to change the setting for your Camera app so it continues to use jpeg instead of HEIC for the file format.

Other solutions include getting an app that will convert files. Photoshop will do it (since 2017) and others like Lightroom, GIMP, Pixelmator and GraphicConverter will do it.

Another option is to simply inform the person who sent the photo to send you a jpeg instead of an HEIC. Anything that uses HEIC, like the Photos app, has the option to export as jpeg.