Opening Apple iPhone HEIC/HEIF files in Windows with Microsoft Photos

Problem

Windows Photos shows an error "The HEVC Video Extension is required to display this file" and shows a link to a Microsoft Store where you can purchase an extension for $1. Do NOT do that.

Microsoft Photos unable to open HEIF image

Instead install the following two free of charge extensions

HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer

HEIF Image Extensions

Should you be missing the Microsoft Photos you can install that as well

What the HEIC is HEIF?

HEIF was adopted by Apple in 2017 with the introduction of iOS 11 as a replacement format for multimedia files such as mages and video/sequences.

HEIF - High Efficiency Image File

HEIC - HEIF files containing HEVC-encoded images

HEVC - High Efficiency Video Coding