Official Packages to View HEIC Images on Linux

HEIC_Official_Packages.md

heif-gdk-pixbuf and heif-thumbnailer are two different tools that can be used to work with HEIF images on Linux.

heif-gdk-pixbuf

heif-gdk-pixbuf is a GDK-Pixbuf plugin that allows applications that use GDK-Pixbuf to display and manipulate HEIF images. GDK-Pixbuf is a library that is used by many applications to display images, so heif-gdk-pixbuf can be used to make a wide variety of applications able to display HEIF images.

Install heif-gdk-pixbuf:

sudo apt install heif-gdk-pixbuf

heif-thumbnailer

heif-thumbnailer is a command-line tool that can be used to create thumbnails for HEIF images. Thumbnails are small images that are used to represent larger images in file browsers and other applications. heif-thumbnailer can be used to create thumbnails for HEIF images that are compatible with a variety of file browsers.

Install heif-thumbnailer:

sudo apt install heif-thumbnailer

Both heif-gdk-pixbuf and heif-thumbnailer are open source tools that are available for free. They can be installed using the package manager for your Linux distribution.

Setting Image Viewer as the Default Application for HEIC Files

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Find an HEIC file in the file manager.
2. Right-click on the file and select Properties.
3. Click the Open With tab.
4. Select Image Viewer from the list of applications.
5. If there are two Image Viewer applications listed, select the one with the more colorful icon.
6. Click Set as default (or Add if that's the only option).
7. Close the Properties window.
8. You can now double-click HEIF files to view them.

Additional Notes:

• The Image Viewer application may be called something different on your system.
• If you don't have an Image Viewer application installed, you can install one from your distribution's software repository.
• Once you have set Image Viewer as the default application for HEIC files, you will be able to double-click them to view them in Image Viewer.

Summary tables

The distinctions between heif-gdk-pixbuf and heif-thumbnailer are listed in the following table:

Feature	heif-gdk-pixbuf	heif-thumbnailer
What it does	Allows applications to display and manipulate HEIF images.	Creates thumbnails for HEIF images.
Supported applications	Applications that use GDK-Pixbuf.	File browsers and other applications.
How to install	Package manager.	Package manager.
Open source	Yes.	Yes.
Free	Yes.	Yes.

The minimum Ubuntu versions needed for heif-gdk-pixbuf and heif-thumbnailer are listed in the following table:

Package	Minimum Ubuntu version
heif-gdk-pixbuf	Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
heif-thumbnailer	Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

I sincerely hope this documentation is useful. Please let me know if you have any other questions.