The new iOS 11 image format may be trouble on the PC

Windows 10 has not yet fully supported HEIC image format - High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIC or HEIF).

Apple has just released the latest operating system iOS 11, which means millions of iPhone users are about to upgrade software on their devices. Every iOS update brings a lot of changes, but not all of them are clear and easily recognizable. Apple has upgraded the file system for millions of iOS devices earlier this year, and today, they began rolling out a new image format for iOS 11, but unfortunately it still has the ability to get errors on Windows.

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HEIF - New image format will take the throne?

High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIC or HEIF) is a new image format from MPEG developers, a popular video and audio compression standard. HEIC will be used by default for images on iOS 11 and created to help save storage space.

As a new format, there will always be incompatibility somewhere and Apple has tried to handle most of these issues very well.

iOS 11 automatically shares HEIC files in JEPG format when using applications so you will not recognize when sharing photos on Twitter or Instagram. iOS 11 also automatically sends photos and videos in a compatible format for Mac or PC users, very useful when you connect iPhone to laptop or PC.

Although it is a big improvement on iPhones for memory, it still has trouble with 3rd party photo apps with cloud backup. If you work with photos on Google Photos or Dropbox, you'll see pictures saved with HEIC instead of JPEG. Google Photos and Dropbox both support HEIC, but Microsoft is slow to support the new format.

Fortunately, the latest version of OneDrive will automatically transfer HEIC images to JEPG before uploading to the cloud. This means that even though Windows 10 does not support HEIC, you do not need other photo applications or convert image files to view them on your PC.

HEIC is a new image format introduced by Apple

Users can view photos on the OneDrive mobile app, on OneDrive.com online site or on Windows 10. If you want you can also turn off the feature by going to Settings > Advanced > Upload most compatible.

If you encounter this problem with other cloud services, you will need online file conversion tools. Another way is to turn off HEIC on iOS 11, forcing OS to save images in JPEG format by setting Settings > Camera > Formats.

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Instructions on how to turn off HEIF image format on iOS 11

But if there are no problems, it is still better to save high quality images and save storage space.