Drop a HEIC and actually look at it: every image inside the file, zoomable, with the full metadata read out beside it including camera, settings and GPS location. Works on Windows and Android, where nothing else will open one. Nothing is uploaded.
Drop or click to open
Drag & drop, or pick from your photos
HEIC, HEIF, HIF, AVIF — 40MB max
Nothing uploadedWorks on Windows & AndroidNo sign-up
HEIC is the format iPhones have used for photos since iOS 11. It is genuinely good: about half the file size of JPG at the same visible quality, with support for 10-bit colour and several images inside one file. The problem is that support for it is almost entirely an Apple affair.
On a Mac or iPhone a HEIC opens instantly, so nobody notices. Send the same file to somebody on Windows and they get a grey box, no thumbnail in File Explorer, and an error from Photos telling them the format is not supported. Android is inconsistent. And no desktop browser will render one: Chrome, Firefox and Edge have no HEIC decoder at all, which is why a page that wants to show you one has to carry its own.
That is what this page does. It decodes the file locally with a WebAssembly build of libheif and draws it to a canvas, so you can look at the picture without installing a codec, converting anything, or sending the file to a server.
What a viewer should tell you that a converter does not
Converting answers one question: give me a JPG. Opening a file usually means you have different questions, so the panel on the right answers those instead:
How many images are actually in here. A HEIC container is not limited to one picture. Burst shots, Live Photo stills and some editing apps store several. Most converters silently take the first and discard the rest, which is why people sometimes get back a photo that is not the one they were looking at. Every image in the file appears in the strip below the viewer.
Where and when it was taken. The metadata panel reads the EXIF block out of the container: camera make and model, lens, exposure settings, capture date and, when location services were on, the GPS coordinates with a map link.
What the file really is. The container brand tells you whether this is a still HEIC, an image sequence, or an AVIF wearing a similar wrapper. Dimensions and frame count come from the decoder rather than the filename.
The privacy point, stated plainly
Most online HEIC viewers upload your photo. Their own descriptions say so, in phrases like "upload your image to our secure servers" and "photos are automatically deleted after processing". That is a promise about what happens to your file after it arrives on somebody else's machine.
This page makes no such promise, because it does not need one. The decoder runs inside your browser tab and the file is read straight from disk into memory. Nothing is transmitted, so there is no retention policy to trust, no queue, and no upload limit. A holiday photo with GPS coordinates in it stays on your device, which matters more for HEIC than for most formats precisely because iPhone photos so often carry location.
Where HEIC works and where it does not
Where
What happens
iPhone, iPad, Mac
Opens natively. The problem is invisible until you send the file elsewhere.
Windows 10 / 11
Needs HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store. Without it: no thumbnail, and Photos refuses the file.
Android
Varies. Many phones display HEIC in the gallery but fail to attach or upload it.
Chrome, Firefox, Edge
No HEIC decoding whatsoever.
Safari
Decodes natively, inheriting the system codec.
Upload forms, print shops
Usually reject it. JPG stays the safe answer when someone else has to accept the file.
If you want the file permanently in a format everything opens, the HEIC converter handles that with quality options and batch frame selection. To stop the problem at source on the phone: Settings, Camera, Formats, then choose Most Compatible.
HEIC Viewer Questions
Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
No. The decoder is a WebAssembly build of libheif that runs inside your browser tab, and the file is read straight from your device into memory. Nothing is transmitted, which is why there is no upload limit and no account. Many other online HEIC viewers do upload your file to their servers; their own descriptions say so.
Why can't I open HEIC files on Windows?
Windows ships without the HEIF codec, so File Explorer shows no thumbnail and Photos refuses the file. You can install HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store, or just view the file here, which needs nothing installed.
Can I see the GPS location a photo was taken at?
Yes, when the photo carries one. The metadata panel reads the EXIF block out of the container and shows the coordinates with a map link, alongside camera, lens, exposure settings and capture date. If location services were off for the camera, there will be no coordinates to show.
My HEIC holds several photos. Can I see them all?
Yes. Every image in the container appears in the filmstrip below the viewer and you can click between them. Burst shots and Live Photo stills are the usual reason a file has more than one, and most converters silently discard all but the first.
Does viewing change or re-save my file?
No. Viewing, zooming and rotating are all display-only and your original file is untouched on disk. Rotation here turns the view, not the pixels. Only the explicit save button produces a new file, and it writes a fresh JPG rather than modifying the HEIC.
Does it open AVIF and HEIF too?
Yes. HEIF is the underlying container standard, HEIC is Apple's naming for HEIF images, some cameras (notably Canon) write .HIF, and AVIF uses a closely related wrapper. All are accepted, and the panel reports which container brand the file actually declares.
Should I use the viewer or the converter?
Use the viewer when you want to look at a file, check what is in it, or read its metadata. Use the converter when you need a permanent JPG, PNG or WebP with quality control. You can save the frame you are looking at straight from here as a quick JPG.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. On an iPhone or iPad it is faster still, because Safari decodes HEIC with the system codec so the WebAssembly decoder is never downloaded.
Continue crafting
Keep going without re-uploading — your image carries over to the next tool automatically.