How to Open HEIC Files on a Mac (and Convert to JPG)

Here's the short version: a Mac opens HEIC files with nothing to install. HEIC is Apple's own format, so macOS has read it natively since High Sierra (2017). If a HEIC won't open on your Mac, something specific is off — and the fix is usually one click.

The three built-in ways to open HEIC on a Mac

Quick Look — select the file in Finder and press the spacebar. The photo previews instantly without opening any app. Press it again to close, or use the arrow keys to flick through a whole folder without ever launching an app.
Preview — double-click the file (or right-click → Open With → Preview). You can crop, rotate, and annotate here too.
Photos — HEIC imported from your iPhone shows up normally in your library.

Make HEIC always open in the app you want

If double-clicking opens the wrong app, right-click any .heic file and choose Get Info. Under Open with, pick Preview (or whatever you prefer), then click Change All…to apply it to every HEIC on the Mac. That's the fix when some third-party app has claimed the format and then fails to display it.

When a HEIC still won't open on your Mac

A few things can trip it up:

Very old macOS (before High Sierra 10.13) — no native HEIC support. Update macOS, or use the browser HEIC viewer.
A corrupted or partial file— one that didn't finish transferring over AirDrop or email. Ask for it again, or try opening it in the browser viewer, which is more forgiving.
An app that doesn't support HEIC— some third-party editors can't read it even though Preview can. Convert to JPG first (below).

Finder shows blank thumbnails instead of your photos

The files open fine when you double-click them, but the icons in Finder stay generic. That usually means the Quick Look thumbnail cache is stale rather than anything being wrong with the photos. Open Terminal and run:

qlmanage -r cache

Then close and reopen the Finder window. macOS rebuilds previews as it re-scans the folder, which can take a minute on a big one.

Why a shared “photo” sometimes looks incomplete

A Live Photo is really two files: a .HEIC still plus a .MOV clip alongside it. When someone sends you only the HEIC, you get the frozen frame and no motion — expected, not a broken file. Bursts and image sequences can also arrive as .heics rather than .heic. Preview handles both; many other apps only know the single-image variant.

HEIC files that didn't come from an iPhone

HEIC is Apple's branding, but the underlying HEIF format isn't Apple-only. Several Samsung Galaxy phones offer a high-efficiency image option in the camera settings that saves HEIF as well, and some cameras and screenshot tools do the same. macOS treats those exactly like an iPhone HEIC — Quick Look, Preview and Photos all read them — so nothing on this page changes based on where the file came from.

Convert HEIC to JPG on your Mac

The reason most people search this isn't viewing — it's that they need to send the photo to someone on Windows or Android, upload it to a website, or attach it to a form that rejects HEIC. Two easy ways:

Preview — open the HEIC, then File → Export and choose JPEG. Good for one file.
Browser converter — drag your HEICs here and get JPGs back, up to 50 at once, without uploading anything. Faster for a batch, and it works the same on any Mac.

There are three more built-in routes, including a Finder Quick Action and a one-line Terminal command that converts an entire folder — how to convert HEIC to JPG on a Mac covers all five.

Prefer to keep photos as HEIC on your iPhone but have them arrive as JPG on your Mac? Turn on Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic on the iPhone. More background in why your iPhone saves photos as HEIC.

Opening vs converting: which do you actually need?

Just looking at it — Quick Look. Nothing to install, no second copy on disk.
Editing it on the Mac — Preview reads HEIC directly. Only convert if your editor refuses the format.
Sending or uploading it — convert to JPG. Note the JPG will usually be largerthan the HEIC, because HEIC compresses roughly twice as efficiently. If there's an upload limit, compress it afterwards.

On a different device?

The steps are different off the Mac. See opening HEIC on Windows, on Android, or the platform-agnostic how to open HEIC files guide.