Cache HEIC Thumbnails in Windows 11

I started using HEIC images to save storage space. I'm really happy with the format as the quality is good and the compression is great. However, one thing I'm struggling with is how long the thumbnails take to load when I open a folder with HEIC images.

I can understand if it takes a while to load the first time, but each time I open a folder, HEIC folders reload entirely to show thumbnails:



Is there a way to configure Windows 11 to save HEIC thumbnails in cache so after loading them once, I can quickly re-open the folder to see the contents?

The images I'm trying to view are on my hard drive, thus the expectation is they should load quickly.

According to my Windows settings, image thumbnails should be cached, but it's not working:

PC Specs​

• Device: HP Envy 17 2023
• Processor: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1355U, 1.70 GHz
• RAM: 32.0 GB
• OS: Windows 11 Pro 22H2
• Storage: 1TB SSD

Thank you for any help.

You're not alone. I believe you will find a solution in both these threads, Read the entire threads.They're not that long.
HERE
and here

Java Joe said:

The images I'm trying to view are on my hard drive, thus the expectation is they should load quickly.

Click to expand...

Do you mean a HDD? Try with a SSD.

I don´t experience this problem when I read heic files from a phone connected to the PC via USB, especially if the USB-C port in the phone supports USB 5G (USB 3.0) data transmission. Neither when reading heic files from an internal SSD.

glasskuter said:

You're not alone. I believe you will find a solution in both these threads, Read the entire threads.They're not that long.
HERE
and here

How can Windows load .heic thumbnails faster?

I have a bunch of .heic photos from my iphone on my Windows 11 desktop. Unfortunately, the Windows File Explorer loads the .heic thumbnails terribly slow. How can I improve this?

superuser.com

Click to expand...

I tried the suggestion and installed WinThumbsPreloader. However, when I run it, nothing happens. Is it not compatible with Windows 11 or is there something else I need to do?

I do not use it myself. I do not use .heci files as all my iOS devices are set to take photos as .jpg. But from both those threads if you install the right fork of the app , that app is compatible with 11.
To run it, you have to right click on the folder that contains heci files and select Winthumbs from the right click menu.