How To Open Heic File On Chromebook

June 10, 2022 By Gabriel Brangers

And so, y'all've got a Chromebook and your friend with the iPhone just sent you a photograph they snapped via a chat app. You download the file only to observe that your ChromeOS device tin can't open this peradventure unfamiliar file format called .HEIC. Now, you may exist thinking "I've never encountered this problem nor do I know what .HEIC is." If not, great just my research revealed that more than than 200,000 users per calendar month are searching the web for information about .HEIC files. How to open up them. How to convert them and more than broadly, "what are they?"

What are HEIC/HEIF epitome files?

If you're an Apple tree user, y'all may be familiar with the .HEIC file format. So? What is HEIC/HEIF? HEIF stands for High Efficiency Image Format and the files are saved as .HEIC. It is a much newer format than the standard JPG/JPEG format but offers higher prototype quality with a smaller file size Past default, this is the epitome format used when you take pictures with an iPhone or an iPad. When you lot send one of these images from your Apple device via email or other select applications, iOS automatically converts the file to the more commonly used JPEG format. The reason for that is that despite being a superior file format, many applications take withal to add support for HEIF/HEIC.

If you're an Android user, the HEIF epitome format is bachelor to you in your camera settings but information technology is disabled past default. Much similar the H.265 video format, using HEIF images will relieve y'all some storage space but you lot're going to run into compatibility issues when yous attempt to open up them on your Chromebook. Thankfully, you don't have to jump through a lot of hoops or install any extra applications to view HEIF images. As a affair of fact, y'all can view the photo and catechumen it to a more-versatile JPG format all in one fell swoop.

How to view your HEIF image

For our example, our resident AV good AndyCam has sent me this wonderful photo of our office mascot, Paul the Plantypus. He sent it to me via Discord which, dissimilar Gmail, does non convert the image to the JPG format. I downloaded the file to my Chromebook and when I try to open information technology, I'yard greeted with the bulletin in the to a higher place image informing me that "This file type is not supported." Now, there are plenty of "gratuitous" image and video converters out there on the web and many of them piece of work merely fine. Still, some take file size limits and others have a daily max of files that yous are allowed to convert. If you've always used one of these services you're likely aware that many are also riddled with popups, redirects, and all-around unsavory, NSFW ads. Not good. No worries. You've got a Google account so you already have all the tools needed to view your freshly received photo.

Start, head on over to your Google Photos account. On the spider web, simply bespeak your browser to photos.google.com and yous're set for the next step. At the top right, click "Upload," select "Reckoner," and find your HEIF/HIEC file in your Downloads folder(or wherever you saved it.) Upload the file and that'south it. You should now meet your full-resolution HEIC photo in Google Photos. If you click on the information button (lower case "i" with a circle around it), yous will meet that the paradigm is all the same in the .HEIC format.

That'south all fine and well for viewing the photo but now you need to convert it to a more usable format in order for your Chromebook to actually open it. Never fright. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3.

If you aren't still in that location, caput back over to Google Photos and click the image y'all wish to convert. Hover the image and you lot'll see a toolbar at the tiptop-right. In the three-dot menu, click the "Download" button or you tin can just printing Shift+D on your keyboard and you lot'll exist prompted to relieve the photo to your Files App or whatsoever your default download location may be. When you do, take note that the file extension has at present changed to .jpg. You can rename the image if you like or just hit Enter and your .HEIC file volition be automatically converted and saved as a JPG while leaving the original paradigm unchanged. See? I told you information technology was easy. No extra apps or extensions are needed and no seedy websites to visit that could effect in a visit from the It department manager or Hr.

HEIF/HEIC files are awesome and they are way more than versatile than the industry standard JPG format. Hopefully, the old volition find its manner to the mainstream along with the H.265 video format. Until and then, you now have this handy fox in your toolbox for speedily viewing and converting .HEIC files for employ on your Chromebook or other unsupported platforms. Hope that helps. Stay tuned for more tips on how to go the most out of your ChromeOS device.

Source: https://chromeunboxed.com/how-to-open-heic-images-on-your-chromebook/#:~:text=At%20the%20top%20right%2C%20click,HEIC%20photo%20in%20Google%20Photos.