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How to Open & Edit HEIC Files in GIMP (Fix Import Errors)

GIMP's HEIC support depends on how your copy was built. Convert above and the file opens in any version, on any platform.

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Add your HEIC files

Drop your HEIC photos here

or pick them from your device — output is lossless PNG

Supports .heic and .heif from iPhone, iPad and modern Android cameras

Nothing queued yet. Added files will appear here with their own progress bar and PNG download button.

Why this happens

Worth being precise, because most advice on this is out of date: GIMP has read HEIF since 2.10.2, provided the build was compiled against libheif. Recent official Windows and macOS installers include it, so on a current GIMP the file often just opens.

Where it fails is everywhere else: older releases, Linux distribution packages built without the optional dependency, some Flatpak and Snap builds, and any system missing the HEVC libraries libheif itself needs. That is when you get Unknown file type — and building libheif from source to fix one photo is a poor trade.

The fix

  1. STEP 1

    Convert your HEIC file to PNG or JPG using the converter above. For editing work, PNG is the better choice — it is lossless, so repeated saves do not degrade it.

  2. STEP 2

    Open the converted file in GIMP as normal. Pixel dimensions are unchanged, so a 12 MP photo arrives as a full 4032 × 3024 canvas.

  3. STEP 3

    For a whole folder, use the batch converter, which keeps filenames intact and returns everything as one ZIP.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a special GIMP plugin for HEIC?

Not if your GIMP was built with libheif — 2.10.2 and later can open HEIF directly, and current official installers include it. If yours cannot, the fix is either rebuilding GIMP against libheif or installing a different package, both of which are more work than converting the file. Converting first sidesteps the question entirely and works on every version.

PNG or JPG for editing in GIMP?

PNG for anything you will edit and re-save repeatedly, or that needs transparency: it is lossless, so the tenth save is identical to the first. JPG for photographs you are simply retouching once, where PNG would cost three to five times the file size for no visible benefit.

Is anything uploaded when I convert?

No. The decoder is a WebAssembly module running inside your browser tab, so the file is read from your disk into memory and converted there. You can verify it in your browser's Network tab, or disconnect from the internet after the page loads and convert anyway.