Work with HEIF files on Windows

View and work with HEIF/.heic files in Illustrator on Windows by downloading and installing HEIF and HEVC codecs from the Microsoft Store.

When opening HEIF/.heic files into Illustrator, you may see one of the following messages:

  • Additional non Adobe software is needed to open .heic/.heif files. Install the required software so Illustrator can open this file.
  • Could not open "imagename.heic" because Illustrator cannot recognize the file extension.

Note: Canon HIF / HEIC Files are not supported. 

Install HEIC/HEVC codecs

To successfully import HEIF/.heic files, download, and install both of the HEIF and HEVC Extensions directly from Microsoft.

  1. Quit Illustrator. 

  2. Get the HEIF Image Extensions - The HEIF Image Extension enables Windows 10 devices to read and write files that use the High Efficiency Image File (HEIF) format.

  3. Buy the HEVC Video Extensions - Play High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) videos in any video app on your Windows 10 device.

  4. Restart Illustrator and try importing your HEIF/.heic file.

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