However, for Windows 10 /11, it gets complicated. The TL;DR of this is only a half solution involving a couple of command line tools that should be able to extract depth maps from .heic files (but I have not tried them). Instead, I tried the easier and more obvious options, which unfortunately throw away the depth map information. Even after I tried installing the free HEIF Image Extension from the Microsoft Store, Photoshop would not open .heic files at all, although Lightroom will open .heic and then you can bring it into Photoshop via right clicking the image in (G) gallery view Edit In>Edit in Adobe Photoshop... but this throws the depth map channel away! Even in spite of Lightroom having access to the depth info for masking purposes (see below).
I took a hint from some of the reviews and bought the $1 HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store, hoping that would make the HEIF Image Extension work.
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| I can see why the ratings are low. It did not work until I paid $1 for the HEVC Video Extensions. |
After installing and rebooting, I can natively view .heic files, and Photoshop can open them BUT no depth map information is imported. It's nice to be able to play the new video codecs and see these .heic images via preview, but some of you may want to save your dollar and open via Lightroom into Photoshop if you don't need to export the depth map.
Lightroom has access to the depth information in Masking>Range>Depth Range which can be helpful for some edits, but it does not allow exporting of this map. Maybe you could cleverly screenshot it but that's about as mush as microwaving french fries.
Side note: if you're working with older .heic files, Affinity Photo 2 might work to a point. You can open older .heic files including the example image from the YouTube tutorial. However, it appears that Apple has updated the format with obscurity, as Affinity Photo cannot import .heic files from my iPhone 15 Pro Max. Wow, Apple. Why?!
Some people found they could open with The Gimp but this does NOT import the depth map channel.
If you're having trouble on Linux, it's likely because your distro / version of Linux does not have .HEIC support built in. Try the flatpak version of Gimp that includes it's own library for importing .heic, but remember that you're not going to get the depth map channel (as of The Gimp version 2.10.38). You may also want to try some command line tools to extract the depth map.
At this point, it's either some paid apps that might support extracting depth maps, using a free online tool, or possibly this method described by Brave's AI search:
To extract the depth map from a HEIC file on Windows 11, you can use the heif-convert tool from the libheif library. Here are the steps to follow:
Install Docker: Ensure Docker is installed on your Windows 11 system. You can download Docker Desktop from the official website.
Open Docker: Launch Docker Desktop and start a new terminal window from within Docker.
Navigate to Image Directory: Use the cd command to navigate to the directory containing your HEIC file.
Install libheif-examples: Run the following command to install the libheif-examples package, which includes the heif-convert tool:apt-get update && apt-get install libheif-examples -y
Convert HEIC to JPEG and Extract Depth Map: Use the heif-convert command with the --with-aux option to convert your HEIC file to JPEG and extract the depth map:heif-convert --with-aux IMG_1234.heic IMG_1234_out.jpg
Replace IMG_1234.heic with the name of your HEIC file. This command will generate multiple files, including the depth map.
Alternatively, you can use ImageMagick with the libheif library installed. However, as of the latest updates, ImageMagick might not fully support HEIC depth maps on Windows. If you encounter issues, you may need to compile ImageMagick from source with libheif support, which can be complex.
Adobe Photoshop does not currently support HEIC depth maps on Windows, but you can use Lightroom to access the depth map for editing purposes.
To extract the depth map from a HEIC file on Windows 11, you can use the heif-convert tool from the libheif library. Here are the steps to follow:
Install Docker: Ensure Docker is installed on your Windows 11 system. You can download Docker Desktop from the official website.
Open Docker: Launch Docker Desktop and start a new terminal window from within Docker.
Navigate to Image Directory: Use the cd command to navigate to the directory containing your HEIC file.
Install libheif-examples: Run the following command to install the libheif-examples package, which includes the heif-convert tool:apt-get update && apt-get install libheif-examples -y
Convert HEIC to JPEG and Extract Depth Map: Use the heif-convert command with the --with-aux option to convert your HEIC file to JPEG and extract the depth map:heif-convert --with-aux IMG_1234.heic IMG_1234_out.jpg
Replace IMG_1234.heic with the name of your HEIC file. This command will generate multiple files, including the depth map.
Alternatively, you can use ImageMagick with the libheif library installed. However, as of the latest updates, ImageMagick might not fully support HEIC depth maps on Windows. If you encounter issues, you may need to compile ImageMagick from source with libheif support, which can be complex.
Adobe Photoshop does not currently support HEIC depth maps on Windows, but you can use Lightroom to access the depth map for editing purposes.
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