Using HEVC and HEIF media on Windows

Read on to know the system requirements, extensions, and other important information to enable HEVC and HEIF decoding on Windows.

System requirements

Your computer must meet the minimum technical specifications outlined below to work with HEIF or HEVC media files.

Operating system

Minimum requirement

Windows

Windows 10 version 1809 (x64bit) (build 10.0.17763) or higher. Windows 8.1 is not supported.

HEIF image extension

Install below mentioned extensions from Microsoft Store on your system:

HEVC video extension

Before installing the HEVC extension, check if it is already installed in your machine. To check,

1.     Go to Settings >Apps.

2.     Search for HEVC Video Extension.

If the extension is not installed, use the link provided below to install it.

Note:

Ensure not to install more than one HEVC video extension in your machine. If multiple HEVC extensions are installed, uninstall both the extensions and install only one.   

Delete Media Cache

After installation of the extensions, clear your Media Cache Files by following these steps:

  1. Close Elements 2020 (includes Premiere Elements 2020, Photoshop Elements 2020, or Elements Organizer 2020).

  2. Clean the Media Cache by deleting the files present at the location: %appdata%\Adobe\Common

  3.  Relaunch the application.

Recommended hardware

Intel

Requirement: Kaby Lake or later

Nvidia

Accelerated HEVC decoding is supported on GTX750SE, GTX950, GTX960, GTX980Ti, GTX Titan X, and all 10xx and 20xx cards and newer.

AMD

Arctic Islands or newer is required since they have Radeon 4xx series. Specifically UVD 6.3 or newer. 

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