HEIC Photos on Android: Will They Open, and How to Convert Them
Google lists HEIF decoding from Android 9.0, but support depends on the phone. What Google’s own pages say, and a fallback that runs in any browser.
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What Android’s documentation says
Google’s table of supported media formats lists HEIF, with the file types .heic and .heif, and gives Android 9.0+ for decoding. The same row adds:
“Device optional. Check ImageDecoder.isMimeTypeSupported("image/heif") for 8-bit support.”
“Where a specific Android platform is specified, the format is available on handsets and tablets running that version and all later versions. The format might also be available in earlier versions, but this is not guaranteed. On form factors other than handsets and tablets, media format support may vary.”
“Note that a particular mobile device might support additional formats or file types that are not listed in these tables.”
Put together: a phone on Android 9 or later may open HEIC photos, but Google doesn’t promise it, because HEIF decoding is optional for each device.
Backing up HEIC with Google Photos
Google Photos lists .heic and .heif among the photo types it backs up from an Android phone:
“Photos: .jpg, .heic, .heif, .png, .webp, .gif, .avif, and most RAW files.”
“Photos up to 200 MB or 200 MP.”
“The file type must be .jpg, .heic, .png, .webp, .gif, and most RAW files.”
The last sentence is from the page on adding photos from Google Drive, which lists .heic but not .heif. The backup page does not say how Google Photos displays or converts HEIC files.
HEIC files from an iPhone or OneDrive
Microsoft’s OneDrive help covers HEIF files on non-Apple devices, and its Windows help for the Photos app adds a note on transfers:
“If you're using a non-Apple device (such as Android devices, PCs, or other Windows devices), you can preview HEIF and HEVC files in OneDrive and store them on your device, but you may not be able to open them without additional apps.”
“Many devices will automatically convert HEIC photos and HEVC videos to a more common format when transferring or emailing the files.”
“You may need to change the Camera and Photo settings on your iPhone or Android for this to work.”
The second and third sentences are from the Windows Photos help. On the iPhone side, the sender can choose Most Compatible for one share: in Photos, tap the Share button, then Options, then Most Compatible, and Apple says files may then convert to JPEG or MOV. Our stop-HEIC guide has Apple’s wording.
If your phone can’t open it: convert in the browser
Our converter doesn’t depend on the phone’s own HEIF support. When the browser can’t decode HEIC itself, the page uses its own WebAssembly decoder. Open heic-to.io in Chrome or another browser on the phone, choose the photos, and save the JPGs. Nothing is uploaded. How many photos it can take at once depends on the phone’s memory.
For app developers
Android 9 is API level 28, the level at which the ImageDecoder class was added. Its reference page says:
“A class for converting encoded images (like PNG, JPEG, WEBP, GIF, or HEIF) into Drawable or Bitmap objects.”
“Return if the given MIME type is a supported file format that can be decoded by this class. This can be useful to determine if a file can be decoded directly, or if it needs to be converted into a more general format using an API like ContentResolver.openTypedAssetFile.”
“Writes one or more still images (of the same dimensions) into a heif file.”
“Add Exif data for the specified image. The data must be a valid Exif data block, starting with "Exif\0\0" followed by the TIFF header (See JEITA CP-3451C Section 4.5.2.)”
ImageDecoder.isMimeTypeSupported was added in API level 29; the formats table above says to call it with "image/heif" to check for 8-bit HEIF support. The last two sentences are from the AndroidX HeifWriter reference, which does not state a minimum Android version.
Sources
Official pages only. Each was read on the date shown and then read again independently before we used it.
- Supported media formats (Android Developers) (checked )
- Android 9 features and APIs (Android Developers) (checked )
- ImageDecoder API reference (Android Developers) (checked )
- HeifWriter API reference (Android Developers) (checked )
- Back up photos & videos, Android (Google Photos Help) (checked )
- Add photos & videos from Google Drive to Google Photos (Google Photos Help) (checked )
- Upload HEIF and HEVC photos and videos to OneDrive (Microsoft Support) (checked )
- Photos app Video Editor error: Can’t view this file type (Microsoft Support) (checked )
- Share photos and videos on iPhone (iPhone User Guide, iOS 27) (checked )
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Open HEIC to JPG converterFrequently asked questions
Can Android phones open HEIC photos?
It depends on the phone. Google’s documentation lists HEIF decoding from Android 9.0 and marks it device optional.
Does Google Photos back up HEIC files?
Yes. Google Photos’ backup help lists .heic and .heif, for photos up to 200 MB or 200 MP.
Why won’t a HEIC photo from an iPhone open on my Android phone?
Your phone may not include HEIF decoding, which Google lists as device optional. Convert the photo to JPG in your browser, or ask the sender to choose Most Compatible under Options when sharing from the iPhone.
Does the converter work on Android?
Yes. It runs in the browser and brings its own HEIC decoder, so it doesn’t rely on the phone’s HEIF support. How many photos it can take at once depends on the phone’s memory.