How to view HEIF images in windows 11 folders?

[sharam]

I would like to view and edit HEIF images (taken on Canon R5) on Windows 11. I have installed Microsoft HEIF image Extensions. It doesn't seem to work. I can't see the images with Microsoft Photos or Irfanview. I also can't open the HEIF images in Adobe Photoshop.

I understand HEIF images are higher quality than jpg images. But what's the use of them if you can't see them or edit them?

Is this issue unique to me?

Thank you in advanced for your help.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

@Sharam

The HEVC App available from the MS Store is a paid app.  I haven't tried it.

Canon offers the codec for free.  It works in DPP.  You have to enter your camera's serial number.

Although I use DxO for post processing, DPP is a valuable tool and certainly something I recommend you install.

[FloridaDrafter]

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@sharam wrote:

I would like to view and edit HEIF images (taken on Canon R5) on Windows 11. I have installed Microsoft HEIF image Extensions. It doesn't seem to work. I can't see the images with Microsoft Photos or Irfanview. I also can't open the HEIF images in Adobe Photoshop.

I understand HEIF images are higher quality than jpg images. But what's the use of them if you can't see them or edit them?

Is this issue unique to me?

Thank you in advanced for your help.

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Although HEIF has been around for several years, primarily on Apple products (especially iPhones) it's still not widely used outside of that OS for stills. IIRC, it began life at Apple **[EDIT: It was developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)]** as a cinema container, High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), a.k.a. H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2. I suspect Canon is betting HEIF (HIF) will replace JPeG in the future.

As for better quality, it will depend on if your hardware will reproduce High Dynamic Range  (HDR) images, both GPU and monitor. The onboard GPU's on most of the newer motherboards will, as well as most modern video cards, but the weak link may be the monitor. This will also include your audience as most folks aren't willing to fork out the cash for an HDR monitor. HEIF files still use "Lossy" compression, just like jpg, they just hold a higher dynamic range. I have played with this format and also the Raw files (HDR PQ) using HDR hardware (card and monitor) and although they do look very good and noticeably better on my 27" HDR monitor, it's just for my enjoyment, for now, because HEIF and HDR aren't ready for prime time viewing in this format. At this point, I can only share my files with my sister, who has Apple equipment (I use Windows 10 Pro).

I process what few Raw HDR files I shoot in Canons Digital Photo Professional 4 (DPP 4), but be forewarned, DPP 4 disables some Raw editing features when HDR PQ is enabled in camera, like "clarity". There are other Raw editing tools that are unusable, but that is the one off the top of my head. Since I only shoot Raw in our R5 and R6, I convert to HEIF in DPP 4 when using HDR PQ. You can edit HEIF in DPP 4, just like you would a jpg. I also own several other raster editors and one that opens HEIF for editing is Corel's Paint Shop Pro 2022, either from camera or converted from Raw, however, PSP '22 will not save to HEIF, which is puzzling.

EDIT: Please do not confuse my use of HDR shot using 3 or more shots with varying EV with HDR shot in a single Raw or HEIF using HDR PQ. They are not the same 🙂

Newton

[endian]

I bought the HEVC extension from Microsoft but it does not seem to change the behavior for .HIF files. 

I tried renaming them to .HEIF but no change. 

That the Windows 11 standard image viewer should support HIF files is a minimum requirement I think. Only being able to show them in the Canon software is not good enough in my view, since I already have thousands of images that I want to use together with the new images.