Can’t Open JPG Files in Windows 10? Fixed!

Can’t open JPG files in Windows 10 computers!

Many users prefer to save images in JPG format because of its portability, compatibility, and variable compression, especially for photographers, editors, and bloggers.

But some users complain that they can’t open JPG files in Windows 10 PCs. Let’s look at one case.

If you’re also suffering from this problem, this article is right for you to solve this issue.

Why JPG files are not opening?

Without a doubt, a system malfunction or bugs can prevent users from opening pictures. When your photo program fails to open JPG or JPEG files or displays an error message, it might be caused by app bugs.

Please get an overview of other possible reasons below.  

• Software conflict on your PC
• Outdated Windows 10 update version
• Outdated Windows Photo Viewer
• Damaged Windows image viewer program
• Corrupted JPG files

How to open JPG files on Windows 10 computers?

Since you’ve figured out why JPG files are not opening, let’s scroll down to get feasible fixes. To select a more accurate fix, please speculate the solution according to the above causes and the following titles.

Fix 1. Change the file extension

Microsoft recommends the Photos app as the default image viewer on Windows 10 PC. Wrong file extensions definitely cannot open JPG files using the Microsoft Photos app. If it happens to be your case, please change its file extension to JPEG because both .jpg and .jpeg are extensions of JPEG images. Maybe you’re allowed to open your JPG files.

Fix 2. Update Windows Photo Viewer

The outdated Windows Photo Viewer or bugs that can prevent you from accessing your JPG files. So you’re supposed to update your image viewer program to the latest version because updating Windows is a practical method to fix application bugs and glitches.   

Notes:✎...

If you desire to delete Windows Update files on Windows 10 PC, please get more details on another page.

Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Window Settings and click the “Update & Security” button.

Step 2. On the Windows Update tab, click Check for updates.

Step 3. Please check in the box against the Photos App icon > Install Updates. After the update process, restart your PC.

Fix 3. Reset the default Photos app

Can’t open JPG files on Windows 10 PCs? Sometimes, it might be caused by a software conflict. Precisely, a third-party image viewer or a nonworking Windows Photo Viewer is blamed for this problem.

Please reset your default Microsoft Photos if your Windows Photo Viewer can’t open this picture.

Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings > Apps.

Step 2. Click Apps & features > Microsoft Photos.

Step 3. After clicking the “Advanced options” button, “Reset” your Microsoft Photos.

Fix 4. Change the default image viewer app

If your installed third-party image viewer is incompatible with the default app and stops you from opening JPG files, you can change the default image viewer app to address it.

Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings > Apps.

Step 2. On the Default apps tab, select “Photos” from the list.

Fix 5. Repair your Microsoft Photos program

Those users who use Microsoft Photos can make good use of its preparation features to repair their Microsoft Photos programs. Because this feature is also can solve computers won’t open Excel files. Let’s show how it works.

Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings > Apps.

Step 2. Click Apps & features > Microsoft Photos.

Step 3. Clicking Advanced options > Repair your Microsoft Photos app.

Fix 6. Run an SFC Scan

If the file system of your desired JPG files is damaged/corrupted, it’s not surprising that you can’t open them. At the moment, this powerful System File Checker tool (SFC.exe) is ready for you to check and repair missing or corrupted system files.   

Notes:✎...

Windows 10 and Windows 8 computer users need to run the inbox Development Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool before running the System File Checker. Windows 7 and Vista users don’t have to run the DISM tool.

Step 1. Type “cmd” in the search bar and select “Run as administrator” to open the elevated command prompt window.

Step 2. Enter the following command prompts one by one and hit “Enter” to begin the process.

• DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
• sfc /scannow  

Please wait to check if the file system of your corrupted JPG files has been fixed or not.

Further reading: How to recover deleted JPG files?

Since you’ve learned how to open JPG files on Windows 10, this part aims to assist you in recovering deleted JPG files because deletion is the most common data loss scenario.

For accidentally deleted JPG files, you can press Undo Delete them by pressing the Ctrl + Z keys to recover them.

For recently deleted JPG files, your desktop Recycle Bin will automatically store them before emptying this temporary storage place. So you can easily restore recently deleted JPG files from Recycle Bin.

But can you retrieve pictures after emptying Recycle Bin? In this case, regular backups or another photo recovery software for Windows is a good helper for you.

Since ordinary users are not willing to learn more about Windows backup features, not to mention make good use of them to prevent data loss. So you may have no choice but to seek help from professional data recovery software like MyRecover.

Step 1. After running MyRecover on your Windows PC, hover the mouse over the hard drive that saves your desired JPG files and click Scan.

Step 2. Filter your needed files according to Name, Date, Document Type, or Path.

• Name: Type the filenames of your desired files to narrow the search area.
• Date modified: Set the date (today, yesterday, last 7/30 days, and so on) according to your situation.
• Size: Filter the file size (<128KB, 128KB~1MB, 1MB~ 512MB, etc) based on your needs.

Step 3. Go to the Deleted Files/Recycle Bin/Other Missing Files folder and select the JPG files you want. Then click “Recover x files” to begin the photo recovery process.

• After recovery, please choose a new location to save your recovered JPG images.
• To recover a large number of deleted/missing JPG, JPEG, or PNG files from your hard drives with ease, please consider upgrading MyRecover to the Professional or Technician edition.

Relevant Q&A about the photo recovery

If you can’t open JPG files in Windows 10 PCs, please get feasible fixes from the first part. If you’re wondering how to recover deleted JPG files, please go to the second part. And there’re related photo recovery tips for you.