videos format got change.

Question

I transferred few video files from my phone to my laptop and now they are in Jpeg format. What to do now if I have to gain my videos back?

Answer 1

Transferring files form a phone to a Windows device should never change a video file to a JPG image file, are you sure that is not just a thumbnail file of the video that is on your phone.

Are you able to access the drive on your phone in File Explorer and try to transfer the video to your PC from inside there to test if the video file is copied to your PC correctly.

Answer 2

When videos appear as JPEG after transfer, it usually means either:

• Only still photo frames (thumbnails) were imported instead of the actual video files, or
• The phone automatically converted HEVC/HEIF media and only saved images, not the original videos.

To get the real videos back, work from the original source and import again as videos, not photos:

1. Check the phone for the original videos
   • Open the phone’s gallery app and confirm the videos still play there.
   • If they were recently deleted, check the phone’s Recently Deleted or similar folder.
2. Re‑import correctly to the PC
   Use the Windows Photos/Photos Legacy import flow so videos come over as video files (MP4/MOV), not JPEG:
   • Connect the phone to the PC with a USB cable.
   • Make sure the media is stored locally on the phone, not only in iCloud/other cloud. For iPhone with iCloud Photos, use iCloud for Windows if needed, as described in the import article.
   • Open Photos or Photos Legacy on Windows.
   • Select Import > From a connected device, then select the items to import. Videos should arrive as video formats (for example, MP4, MOV), not JPEG.
3. If the videos are HEVC/HEIF and won’t play
   If the phone records in HEVC/HEIF, Windows might show errors or thumbnails only. In that case:
   • Install HEIF Image Extensions and HEVC Video Extensions from Microsoft Store as described in the Photos app error article so the video files can be viewed and edited normally.
4. If the originals are gone from the phone
   If the original video files no longer exist on the phone or in its cloud backup, they cannot be reconstructed from JPEG images. In that case, check:
   • Phone cloud services (iCloud, Google Photos, Samsung Cloud/OneDrive, etc.) for a copy of the original videos.

Once the proper video files are on the PC (MP4/MOV/HEVC, not JPEG), they can be viewed and managed in the Photos or Photos Legacy app and backed up to OneDrive.

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References:

• Import photos and videos from phone to PC
• Photos app Video Editor error: Can’t view this file type
• Upload HEIF and HEVC photos and videos to OneDrive
• Manage photos and videos with Microsoft Photos app
• What is Photos Legacy?