Why Android Screenshots cannot be opened by Windows Photo Viewer?

[Android Central Question]

Since the last update to my Android 10 system, the screenshot jpeg files which I email to my office computer cannot be opened by Windows Photo Viewer. This has only happened since the last update as far as I can tell. If I email an older screenshot as an email attachment it opens as usual. But when I attach a screenshot taken since the latest update to an email to my office computer I cannot get Windows Photo Viewer to open it. Jpeg files taken by my phone's camera and emailed to my office computer still open as usual . Can anyone tell me why this has happened with Android 10 screenshots?
Note - I can open these screenshots with Microsoft Picture Manager but not windows photo viewer.

 

[mustang7757]

Might have something to do with windows photo or version it's on?
I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here as a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply

https://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/409154-join-android-central-community.html

 

[Roann13]

Thanks for that.
Nothing has changed on my office desktop pc. I can open older screenshots emailed from my android 10 phone but not ones I have emailed since the last update. Does Android inbed something in screenshots?? I can still open photos taken on my phone since the update but not screen shots. I have tried attaching them by the sharing link and I have tried attaching them from within gmail just in case the method of attaching them made the difference but either way windows photo viewer cannot open them. What could have changed? It is very annoying! I often email screenshots to my pc and want to be able to open them with photo viewer!

 

[mustang7757]

Thanks for that.
Nothing has changed on my office desktop pc. I can open older screenshots emailed from my android 10 phone but not ones I have emailed since the last update. Does Android inbed something in screenshots?? I can still open photos taken on my phone since the update but not screen shots. I have tried attaching them by the sharing link and I have tried attaching them from within gmail just in case the method of attaching them made the difference but either way windows photo viewer cannot open them. What could have changed? It is very annoying! I often email screenshots to my pc and want to be able to open them with photo viewer!

Hi, welcome to AC!

Let me see if @B. Diddy can help out here

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! What's the file extension for the images? Is it ".jpg" or ".jpeg"? I've seen situations before (which I can't really explain) where one or the other doesn't get recognized for some reason, so if you rename it to the other extension, it can be viewed.

 

[Roann13]

Thanks to both of you.
It was .jpg so I changed it to .jpeg but still cannot open it.
I noticed I have jpeg & jpg photos forwarded from my phone and they both open. It is just these newer screen shots.
When I try to open them I get a message "Windows Photo Viewer can't display this picture because there might not be enough memory available on your computer.." but the file is only 402 kb and I have oodles of space on my desktop computer. (over 300 GB) I am opening photos which are several MB no problems!

 

[ManiacJoe]

Can you transfer the screen shots without using email?
(Looking to remove a layer of complexity for debugging purposes.)

 

[B. Diddy]

Can you transfer the screen shots without using email?
(Looking to remove a layer of complexity for debugging purposes.)

Good idea! Try uploading the screenshot to your Google Photos or Google Drive instead, and then download the image to your PC using the web interface for either of those services on your computer browser.

 

[Roann13]

Might have something to do with windows photo or version it's on?
I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here as a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply

https://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/409154-join-android-central-community.html

Hi Guys,
I've finally found a solution to this annoying problem.
I stumbled across a discussion on a Microsoft forum where others were having the exact same problem as I am. Seems that Android has changed something in the format of the jpeg screenshots which is not compatible with Windows Photo Viewer.
It was suggested that you could changed the format of the screenshots your phone is taking. I followed their instructions by going to Settings and searching for "screenshot" and selecting "Screenshop Format" from the search results on my phone and changed the format to PNG. I can now view my screenshots in Windows Photo Viewer again! I wish Android would alert Android users to the changes they make which means the screenshots may not be compatible with windows! There may be other solutions but this one works for me!

 

[mustang7757]

Hi Guys,
I've finally found a solution to this annoying problem.
I stumbled across a discussion on a Microsoft forum where others were having the exact same problem as I am. Seems that Android has changed something in the format of the jpeg screenshots which is not compatible with Windows Photo Viewer.
It was suggested that you could changed the format of the screenshots your phone is taking. I followed their instructions by going to Settings and searching for "screenshot" and selecting "Screenshop Format" from the search results on my phone and changed the format to PNG. I can now view my screenshots in Windows Photo Viewer again! I wish Android would alert Android users to the changes they make which means the screenshots may not be compatible with windows! There may be other solutions but this one works for me!

Thats great, thanks for posting back with solution