Microsoft Photos recently received a major overhaul with the Windows 11 transition. Although the Photos app works fine most of the time, you may encounter problems opening certain types of pictures. In some cases, the Photos app may not open in the first place. Read on to find out how to fix Photos can’t open this picture issue.
The problem mainly occurs with HEIC files. By default, iPhone uses HEIC type to reduce the size of photos. It can also be in JPG or PNG files if the image size is too big for your budget PC to handle. Let’s go through the steps below, fix the problem, and open the photos in the Photos app.
1. Download HEVC Video Extension
For some reason, Microsoft treats HEIC files like videos. First we synced the iPhone camera folder with OneDrive and tried to open these photos in Microsoft Photos.
Instead of an image preview we got the error shown in the screenshots below. The app will prompt you to download and install the corresponding HEVC video extensions from the Microsoft Store.
Click the link and it will ask you to open Microsoft Store. Buy the video extension for about $0.99 and open the file without any problems.
We think Microsoft shouldn’t put a price tag on necessary extensions like this in the first place.
2. Reduce Image File Size
If you are working with large RAW image files with double digits in photo size, you may encounter problems opening such large files in Microsoft Photos.
You can use specialized image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop or Affinity Photo to resize and reduce image size, or you can opt for free web applications to reduce image size and quality.
Here are a few web apps that do the job without installing any software on a PC.
3. Convert Images to JPG or PNG
We transferred such HEIC photos from iPhone to Windows and opened them from File Manager.
Read our post on how to convert HEIC to JPG on Windows and you are ready to open such files in Windows.
4. Repair Photos App
If you have followed all the steps above and you are still facing photos cannot open problem, then it is time to repair the Microsoft Photos app. Here’s how.
Stage 1: In Windows 11, open the Settings app (use Windows + I keys).
Step 2: Go to the Applications menu.
Stage 3: Select Apps & features.
Step 4: Scroll down to Microsoft Photos.
Step 5: Click on the three-dot menu and go to Advanced options.
Step 6: Use the Repair button under the Reset menu and let Windows fix the problems with the Photos app.
5. Reset Microsoft Photos
Be careful when using this option because it will sign you out of Microsoft Photos. All data of the app will be deleted and you have to set it up from scratch.
Stage 1: In Windows 11, open Settings (use Windows + I keys).
Step 2: Go to Apps and select Apps & features.
Stage 3: Select the more menus and click Advanced options.
Step 4: Use the Reset button from the menu below.
Open Microsoft Photos, sign in with your OneDrive account, and try opening the pictures again.
6. Update Microsoft Photos
Microsoft no longer integrates the Photos app into the Windows operating system. The company distributes and maintains the app through the Microsoft Store.
Open Microsoft Store, go to the Library menu and download the latest version of Microsoft Photos.
Use the Photos App in Windows
With the design overhaul, the Photos app also got new editing features. But if you can’t open an image in the first place, they’re irrelevant. The above steps should help you fix the problem. Let us know which trick worked for you in the comments below.