Support for iPhone's HEIC image format coming soon to Windows 10

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple introduced a new image format with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X. HEIC or High Efficiency Image Format creates smaller file sizes that use smarter compression so they are not as lossy as jpegs.Another advantage of HEIC is flexible data container that can accommodate live photos, bursts of photos, 3D scene data useful for special effects and audio

The problem is that they are not a standard format. As an iPhone X user who works on Windows 10, this means I need to add an extra step to convert my iPhone X photos to something I can work with (usually through an online image conversion service like HeictoJpg.

The good news is that Microsoft is coming around and upcoming builds of Windows 10 will support HEIC (or HEIF) in the Photos app. There's a caveat however, Windows Insider maven Donna Sarkar said ,"This release we are delivering essential viewing support," they said. "You cannot edit HEIF images in this release." Baby steps, right?

Hopefully HEIC is adopted sooner rather than later. I hear Google is going to use it for its upcoming Android P OS, which means a lot more devices will be speaking HEIC.

Source: CNet