HEIC in Photoshop, Lightroom and GIMP: what works

Does Photoshop support HEIC?

Yes, through the operating system's codecs. Adobe's page on image formats says HEIF/HEIC is supported on macOS High Sierra (10.13) or later, and that on Windows it requires installing both the HEIF and HEVC codecs from Microsoft. It also says Canon HIF and HEIC files are not supported and recommends raw files from Canon cameras instead.

Photoshop 27.11, released in September 2026, is the newest version in Adobe's release notes. We found no HEIC item in that entry. For version 27 and later on Windows, Adobe's technical requirements list Windows 11 (v24H2 or v23H2) or Windows 10 v22H2. The Adobe pages we read do not say which Photoshop version first read HEIC. Forum posts give a number, but we could not confirm one from Adobe, so we do not repeat it.

Can Photoshop save HEIC? Not documented. Adobe's list of supported formats puts HEIF/HEIC under 'Graphic file formats supported for import and export', but the section describing HEIC only covers opening, and we found no Adobe page describing a HEIC save option. Treat Photoshop as a place to read HEIC and write something else.

Why is HEIC not opening in Photoshop?

On Windows the usual cause is the missing codecs. Adobe says Photoshop may show one of two messages: 'Additional non Adobe software is needed to open .heic files', or 'Could not open "imagename.heic" because Photoshop cannot recognize the file extension'. The fix on Adobe's page has four steps.

1. 01

   Quit Photoshop

   Adobe lists this first, before installing anything.

2. 02

   Install the HEIF Image Extensions

   From the Microsoft Store. Adobe's page says it lets Windows read and write HEIF files.

3. 03

   Install the HEVC Video Extensions

   Also from the Microsoft Store. Our Windows guide has the prices and the free device-manufacturer variant.

4. 04

   Restart Photoshop and open the file again

   If the extensions are installed and it still fails, see HEIF extension installed but not working.

Is there a Photoshop HEIC plugin? Not from Adobe. The 'plugin' in Adobe's own instructions is Microsoft's pair of extensions. We have not tested third-party Photoshop plugins and do not rely on them.

HEIC and Camera Raw

Camera Raw is documented as supporting HEIF/.heic on the same systems as Lightroom (below). On macOS, Adobe says you can send JPEGs and HEICs through Camera Raw by opening its preferences, going to File Handling, and choosing either 'Automatically open JPEGs and HEICs with settings' or 'Automatically open all supported JPEGs and HEICs'. Adobe's page gives no equivalent Windows steps, so for Windows, how Camera Raw receives HEIC is not documented.

Does Lightroom support HEIC?

Yes. Adobe's HEIC support page (updated 10 August 2026) says Lightroom Classic, Lightroom and Camera Raw support HEIF/.heic on macOS High Sierra 10.13 or later and on Windows 10. Lightroom for iOS supports it from iOS 11, and Lightroom for Android supports HEIF/.heic. Current Lightroom Classic (version 15.0 and later) itself requires Windows 10 22H2 or Windows 11 23H2 or later, or macOS Sonoma 14 or later.

Does Lightroom Classic need the Windows HEIF and HEVC codecs? Adobe's Lightroom page names none for photos. It names one hardware requirement, for video: from Lightroom Classic 15.5 on Windows, HEVC video needs a PC that can decode it in hardware. Whether photo import on Windows uses the same extensions as Photoshop is not documented, so if an import fails, install them anyway or convert a copy.

Lightroom says HEIC is not supported, or gives an unknown error

Adobe's page does not list either message, so we cannot map an error to a cause. It documents two workarounds for versions or systems that cannot read HEIC, both on the iPhone: set Settings > Camera > Formats to Most Compatible, which makes new photos JPEG, or set Settings > Photos > Transfer To Mac Or PC to Automatic, which converts HEIC to JPEG while copying to a Mac or PC. Adobe adds that if the phone was already connected, you should disconnect it and reconnect after setting the option. Our iPhone guide explains both.

Can Lightroom export HEIC?

No. Lightroom Classic's export page names JPEG, PSD, PSB, TIFF, PNG, DNG or the original format. With HDR output on it adds AVIF and JPEG XL. In a long-running feature-request thread, an Adobe staff member wrote that adding JXL and AVIF export 'largely mitigat[ed] the need for this request' and that 'HEIC exports remain not planned'. The reply was about two years old when we read it, so check Adobe's current export page before relying on it.

What happens to colour and HDR when you edit a HEIC?

iPhones tag their photos with the Display P3 colour profile. When you open a file whose embedded profile differs from your working space, Photoshop's Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog gives three choices: use the embedded profile, convert the document's colours to the working space, or discard the embedded profile. Adobe's page does not mention HEIC specifically. Using the embedded profile keeps the file's own colour space; for web work Adobe suggests sRGB as the working space and converting to it.

HDR is where the editors diverge. Lightroom Classic can edit and export HDR. With the 'Enable HDR editing by default for HDR photos' preference on, Apple HEIC and JPEG files from iPhone 12 or later, and Canon and Sony HDR HEIF files, open in HDR. It offers HDR sRGB, HDR P3 and HDR Rec. 2020 colour spaces, needs a supported HDR display and GPU, and shows HDR only in some views (not the Library grid). With HDR output on, AVIF, JPEG XL, JPEG and TIFF exports can include a gain map when you tick Maximize Compatibility.

Photoshop is behind on this. Adobe's Photoshop HDR page describes 32-bit floating-point images and does not mention gain maps. In an Adobe Community thread, a user reported that opening an HDR JPEG or HEIC directly silently loses the gain map, and an Adobe Photoshop product manager replied that 'Ps does not support 8bit HDR.. but it is coming'. The thread was about a year old when we read it and we found no Adobe page saying it has shipped. The user's workaround, opening via Camera Raw in HDR mode, produced a 32-bit file. If the brightness of an iPhone HDR photo matters, treat a Photoshop round trip as a loss until Adobe documents otherwise.

Our converters make ordinary SDR files. By default they convert Display P3 to sRGB so the picture looks the same everywhere, and Keep wide colour embeds the profile in JPG and PNG output for colour-managed editors. We do not claim to carry an HDR gain map into JPG or PNG, and our HEIC to AVIF page says HDR is not kept.

Can GIMP open HEIC files?

Yes, if the libheif that GIMP uses can decode HEVC. GIMP's developer pages list HEIC as import and export, through libheif, and add: 'HEVC has patent issues... This is why many Free Software distributors do not wish to package HEIC support, hence why our file-heif plug-in has runtime tests to determine support for AVIF or HEIC.' The current stable release is GIMP 3.2.6 (10 September 2026).

The source shows how the test works. In GIMP's file-heif plug-in, the HEIC load procedure is registered only if libheif reports an HEVC decoder, and the export procedure only if it reports an HEVC encoder. No decoder means no loader, and GIMP then cannot recognise the file. Two Fedora bug reports show the symptom: 'Unknown file type' on GIMP 2.10.22 (Fedora 33), and 'Opening image1.heic failed: Unknown file type' on GIMP 2.10.34 (Fedora 37), where libde265 was packaged as a separate libheif plugin and downgrading to libheif 1.13.0, which has it built in, made the file open. Neither page shows a maintainer reply, so treat the cause as the reporter's.

• GIMP HEIC plugin: the loader is part of GIMP's own source (plug-ins/common/file-heif.c). There is nothing separate to download for GIMP 3; what you may need is an HEVC-capable libheif. On Linux, see HEIC on Linux.
• Windows and macOS builds: GIMP offers a Windows installer and Microsoft Store listing, and macOS DMGs for Big Sur or newer. Its downloads page does not mention HEIC, and we found no page saying which builds include an HEVC decoder. Not documented: open a HEIC and see.
• Converting in GIMP: open the HEIC, then export. The 3.2 manual's HEIF/HEIC export options are Lossless, Quality (0 to 100), pixel format (YUV420, YUV444, RGB), 8, 10 or 12 bits, encoder speed, and whether to save the colour profile, Exif and XMP.
• Depth and bit depth: since GIMP 2.10.22 (October 2020) HEIF files can be imported and exported at 10 and 12 bits per channel and NCLX colour profiles are read. GIMP 3.2 also imports AVCI, a HEIF variant holding H.264 images.

What about Affinity, Capture One, darktable, Paint.NET, XnView and DaVinci Resolve?

Capture One is the clearest about limits: 8-bit HEIF/HEIC only, nothing from the newer 10-bit cameras, no HEIC export, and the Lens Correction tool is greyed out on these files. If you shoot 10-bit HEIF on a Sony or Canon body, check this before you pick an editor.

How do I get HEIC into an editor that does not read it?

Convert a copy. A JPG opens everywhere. A PNG avoids a second round of lossy compression, at the cost of a bigger file, and is a better base for repeated editing. Both run in your browser with WebAssembly, so nothing is uploaded.

1. 01

   Choose the format

   HEIC to JPG for sharing and most editors, HEIC to PNG when you will edit and re-save repeatedly. For a folder, use the batch converter.

2. 02

   Decide on metadata and GPS

   The date, camera and settings are kept by default so catalogues sort the photos correctly. GPS is dropped unless you switch on Include location (GPS).

3. 03

   Decide on colour

   Leave Keep wide colour off for files you will share. Turn it on only if the editor reads embedded profiles, so Photoshop's dialog sees Display P3 rather than assuming sRGB.

4. 04

   Keep the HEIC

   Converting is always a copy. The HEIC is the full-quality original, and none of the Adobe editors write one back.

If you need a HEIC at the end of the chain, say for Apple Photos, edit in your editor, export a lossless TIFF or a high-quality JPG, and use JPG to HEIC as the last step.

Which fix should I use?

For the wider picture of why Windows needs extensions at all, see Open HEIC on Windows. For what is inside the file, see what HEIC is, and for how it relates to raw files, HEIC vs RAW.