AICKO IRIS is a free image viewer for Windows 10 and 11 that opens all common picture formats quickly, including HEIC and AVIF. It was built so that a photo opens on any computer, without installing extensions.
It is only a viewer, and that is its strength: you open a picture and look at it, with no editing tools in the way. It runs on Windows 10 and 11 and needs no account or connection.
Get AICKO IRIS
At a glance
- Platform: Windows 10 and 11, through the Microsoft Store
- Price: free
- Formats: common formats, HEIC, AVIF, TIFF, JXR, RAW
- Role: viewer, without editing tools
- Interface: French or English
Getting started in four steps
- Install AICKO IRIS on Windows 10 or 11, using the Microsoft Store.
- Open a picture from a folder, or drop it onto the window.
- Look at the picture, then open the next one.
- Choose French or English and the colour of the interface in the settings.
What the free image viewer offers
- Fast display of the usual formats, such as JPEG and PNG.
- HEIC and AVIF pictures, opened with a decoder included in the program itself.
- TIFF, JXR and RAW files, read through the decoders built into Windows.
- A light, simple interface with the same settings and colours as the other AICKO programs.
Why HEIC and AVIF matter
Many phones now save photos in HEIC, and modern websites often deliver pictures in AVIF. These formats compress images efficiently, but not every computer can open them without extra downloads. AICKO IRIS includes its own decoder, so a photo taken on a phone opens on your Windows PC as it is.
HEIC pictures come mainly from phones, and AVIF pictures from the web, so you meet them without looking for them. A school computer may not allow you to install extra codecs, but the decoder travels with the program. The files are read locally, so your photos are not sent to a conversion website.
Who it is for
Anyone who receives photos in different formats, from pupils sharing pictures of an experiment to teachers collecting scans from a class. Science work often involves TIFF images from microscopes or cameras, and a viewer that opens them directly saves a detour through a converter. Because the program only displays images, it is quick and has little to learn.
How it fits with our site and other tools
Use AICKO IRIS to check the quality of a photo first. If you need to crop, label or retouch it, open it next in AICKO PIXELIA, the photo editor of the same family. For lessons that use pictures, visit our science books to see how figures are presented.
A viewer and an editor serve different jobs. Use IRIS when you only want to look, and switch to an editor when you want to change something. That separation keeps the viewer fast and prevents accidental changes to an original photo.
The program follows the same visual style as the other AICKO programs, with an orange colour scheme and the same language and colour settings. If you already use one of them, the settings will feel familiar, and you will not need to learn another interface to look at your pictures.
Before sending photos to a teacher, check that they open correctly on a computer other than yours. HEIC files from a phone are a frequent cause of failed attachments, and a viewer that reads them lets you verify the result yourself.
Tips
- Open the photos of an experiment one after another to spot blurred ones before writing the report.
- Keep the originals untouched and make edits on copies.
- Check that a scale bar or a label is legible before you submit an image.
Frequently asked questions
How can I open HEIC photos on Windows?
Install AICKO IRIS. It is a free image viewer for Windows 10 and 11 that includes its own decoder for HEIC pictures, so photos from a phone open directly, without paid extensions.
Does AICKO IRIS open AVIF images?
Yes. AVIF pictures are decoded by a component included in the program. It also opens the common formats, and reads TIFF, JXR and RAW files through the decoders already present in Windows.
Can AICKO IRIS edit pictures?
No. AICKO IRIS is a viewer, designed for fast and simple display. If you want to crop, apply filters or add text to a photo, use AICKO PIXELIA, the photo editor of the same family.
Is AICKO IRIS available in English?
Yes. The interface can be set to French or English in the settings, and you can choose its colour. Like the other AICKO programs, it needs no account. Changing the language does not affect your pictures.
