Microsoft Photos 2026.11050

The 2026 version bundles AI editing tools that used to cost real money, and it comes free with Windows 10 and 11 - nothing to buy, nothing extra to install.

Whether you want to tidy up holiday photos, sort through thousands of images, or quickly fix a picture before posting it, Photos handles the everyday stuff without reaching for a single third-party app.

If you also edit video, Microsoft pairs Photos with Clipchamp, its built-in video editor for Windows 11, which picks up where Photos stops for timeline editing and social clips.

The AI Tools That Do the Heavy Lifting

The headline feature is Generative Erase.

You paint over something you don't want in a photo - a stranger in the background, a stray bin, a power line - and the app fills the gap back in with matching detail.

The result usually looks like the object was never there, and it runs right inside the free app on Windows 11 23H2 and later. This is the kind of edit that used to mean paying for Photoshop.

Background Blur is the other one worth trying. It finds the subject of your photo on its own and softly blurs everything behind them, giving you that professional "portrait mode" look without an expensive camera lens.

Add one-click Auto Enhance, which fixes brightness, contrast, and color in a single tap, and casual users get sharp-looking results in seconds.

If you outgrow these and want full manual control - layers, masks, the works - GIMP is a free, open-source editor in the same league as Photoshop.

The Format Problem - and the Extensions That Fix It

Here's where most people get stuck. Microsoft Photos opens the everyday formats - JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, and TIFF - with no fuss. But newer image types need a small Windows add-on first, and if it's missing, your photo simply won't open.

That blank or greyed-out thumbnail is almost always a missing extension, not a broken file.

The most common case is iPhone photos. Copy pictures off an iPhone or iPad and they usually arrive as HEIC files, which Windows can't read on its own.

You need two pieces working together: the HEIF Image Extensions for the file wrapper, and the HEVC Video Extension - or the free HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer - to read the actual image. Install both and your iPhone photos show up properly in Photos and in File Explorer thumbnails.

The rest of the format gaps follow the same pattern. The Raw Image Extension adds support for camera RAW files from Canon, Nikon, Sony, and others, so you get thumbnails and previews straight in File Explorer - a must if you shoot RAW.

The WebP Image Extensions unlocks Google's web format, the JPEG XL Image Extension handles the efficient .jxl format Apple adopted on the iPhone 16, and the AV1 Video Extension adds AVIF image support. Install the set and Photos becomes a near-universal viewer.

One heads-up on JPEG XL: that extension only installs on Windows 11 version 24H2 or newer. On older Windows, a standalone viewer like IrfanView or PicView opens .jxl files without any system add-on at all.

Sorting, Searching, and Cloud Sync

The organization side is smarter than it looks. Photos tags your library automatically by date, location, and even the faces it recognizes. The search box understands plain language too - type "beach sunset" or "birthday party" and it pulls up matching shots without you ever having labelled them.

OneDrive sync keeps your whole library mirrored across your devices, so an edit on your PC shows up on your phone and tablet tied to the same Microsoft account.

If you live in Apple's world, you can install iCloud for Windows from the Microsoft Store to browse your iPhone photos right alongside your Windows ones.

For anyone who needs to dig into the data behind a photo - the exact camera settings, location tags, copyright fields - ExifTool with ExifToolGUI reads and edits far more metadata than Photos ever shows you.

When You'll Want Something Else

Photos is great for everyday viewing and quick edits, but some jobs call for a proper tool. If you shoot RAW and want non-destructive editing with serious color grading, darktable and RapidRAW give you Lightroom-style processing with no subscription.

If you just want a fast, no-nonsense viewer that opens almost anything, a few lightweight options beat Photos on speed. XnView reads over 700 formats and converts in batches, FastStone Image Viewer has a slick full-screen mode with hidden toolbars, and ImageGlass launches instantly with built-in HEIC, AVIF, and WebP support.

Need to convert or resize a pile of images at once? XnConvert and Converseen both batch-process HEIC, RAW, and a hundred-plus other formats in one pass.

And if you mostly capture your screen, ShareX covers screenshots, annotation, and sharing in one free tool.

Getting It Installed

Microsoft Photos already ships with Windows 10 and Windows 11. If you've removed it or want to refresh to the newest build, grab it from the download link above.

It takes up roughly 1.1 GB and updates itself through Windows Update or the Microsoft Store.

The AI tools - Generative Erase and Background Blur - work best on Windows 11 23H2 or later, and run fastest on Copilot+ PCs, though cloud processing keeps them working on older hardware too.