Last updated: August 29, 2026

Photoshop will not open my HEIC files

Photoshop shows one of two errors when it won't open a HEIC file: "Additional non Adobe software is needed to open .heic files." or "Could not open "imagename.heic" because Photoshop cannot recognize the file extension." Adobe's own documentation says the fix, on Windows, is installing two Microsoft Store codec extensions, one of which its own instructions say to "Buy" for $0.99.

The exact error you're seeing

HEIC files are a container: Apple's photos wrap image data compressed with HEVC, the same codec used for 4K video, inside a HEIF container built for storing images and their metadata efficiently. Photoshop can read the HEIF container structure on its own, that's how it recognizes the file as HEIC in the first place, but on Windows it has no built-in HEVC decoder. Recognizing a format and being able to decode it are two different jobs, and Photoshop's error messages are really just Photoshop reporting that it can do the first but not the second.

Adobe's own documentation for this problem lists two distinct error messages, word for word: "Additional non Adobe software is needed to open .heic files." and "Could not open "imagename.heic" because Photoshop cannot recognize the file extension." Both mean the same thing: Photoshop recognized the file as HEIC but has nowhere to send the actual decoding. Which message you get depends on how you tried to open the file, File, Open versus dragging it into the workspace, not on anything different about the file itself. It also isn't a Photoshop bug a future update quietly fixes: the missing piece is a licensed codec, not a feature Adobe forgot to build, so the message keeps appearing on every Windows machine until the codecs are installed.

Adobe's official answer, and what it costs

Adobe's fix is the same one every Windows app needs: install Windows' own HEIF and HEVC codec extensions from the Microsoft Store. Adobe's documentation doesn't soften the cost either, its own instructions literally say to "Buy the HEVC Video Extensions", a $0.99 one-time purchase confirmed on the Microsoft Store listing itself. The HEIF Image Extensions half is free, from the same store, but does nothing without the paid HEVC piece installed alongside it.

Installing both doesn't take effect until Photoshop itself is closed and reopened, a full reboot usually isn't necessary. If HEIC still won't open afterward, confirm both extensions actually finished installing rather than just started downloading: open the Microsoft Store's own Library tab and check that HEIF Image Extensions and HEVC Video Extensions both show as installed, not pending. For every other Windows app that hits this same wall, from photo viewers to File Explorer thumbnails, see how to open HEIC files on Windows; the fix is identical everywhere because the missing piece is the operating system, not any single application.

Canon HIF and HEIC are not supported at all

One Photoshop limitation almost no other guide mentions: Canon's own HIF and HEIC files, the high-efficiency format some Canon mirrorless cameras save alongside RAW, don't work in Photoshop at all, codecs or not. Adobe's documentation is direct about it: "Canon HIF or HEIC Files aren't supported. Use raw files from Canon cameras for best results." If you're a Canon shooter who ran into this trying to open a camera HEIC export, the fix isn't a codec, it's using the camera's CR2 raw files instead, which Photoshop, and this site, both handle natively.

Canon HIF, short for High Efficiency Image Format, is Canon's own name for a similar style of compressed still that several EOS mirrorless bodies save as an alternative to JPEG, distinct from Apple's HEIC even though both share the HEIF container concept. Whatever the internal differences, Adobe's position is unambiguous: neither opens in Photoshop, extensions or not. For background on how the HEIC container itself works, independent of Canon's version, see what HEIC actually is.

On a Mac it's different

None of this applies on macOS. Photoshop has opened HEIC natively since macOS High Sierra (10.13) or later, the same OS-level support that lets Preview and Photos open HEIC without extra software, consistent with Apple's own documentationof how HEIF and HEVC are handled system-wide on Apple devices. No Microsoft Store, no $0.99, no codec chase. Windows only gained this ability later, in Photoshop 22.1, and even then only by leaning on the two codec extensions above rather than decoding HEIC itself. If you're troubleshooting this on a work Mac and it still fails, the cause is almost always an outdated macOS version, not a missing Photoshop setting. Check it directly: Apple menu, About This Mac. Anything older than High Sierra needs a system update rather than a Photoshop reinstall, since the decoding lives in the operating system, not the application.

The conversion route, and when PNG beats JPG

Converting sidesteps the whole codec question: a JPG or PNG opens in every Photoshop install, on every OS, with zero extensions. For final delivery, HEIC to JPGis the obvious choice, universal and small. For anything you plan to keep editing, though, PNG is the better target: JPG's compression is lossy and compounds every time the file is re-saved, while HEIC to PNG keeps every pixel intact for retouching, layering, or printing later. Converting once in the browser, before the file ever reaches Photoshop, also means not waiting on a codec install just to find out whether the shot is even usable.

Once a HEIC file finally opens in Photoshop, converting a whole folder of them doesn't need this site at all: File, Scripts, Image Processor batch-converts to JPEG, PSD or TIFF in one pass. That still depends on the codec problem above being solved first, though, Image Processor works on files Photoshop can already read, not ones it's rejecting. For the full range of formats this site converts HEIC to and from, the HEIC converter hub covers PNG, WebP and PDF output from the same drop zone.

Converting first is the right call for anyone on deadline, a photographer delivering a shoot tonight, a freelancer submitting a headshot to a portal that only takes JPG, doesn't need to wait on a Microsoft Store purchase to finish the job. It's worth being honest about what converting doesn't solve, though: it produces a JPG or PNG copy of that one file, it doesn't give Photoshop the ability to open HEIC directly. If HEIC editing is a recurring part of the workflow rather than a one-off delivery problem, the codec extensions above are still the only real fix.

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