Because of a security vulnerability in EPS files, Office 2024, Office 2021, Office 2019, Office 2016, Office 2013, Office 2010, and Microsoft 365 have turned off the ability to insert EPS files into Office documents. This change is effective as of the April 11, 2017, security update.
The security update is described in technical detail in this security bulletin.
All Windows-based versions of Office are affected. (This change had already been in place in Office 2007 since 2015.)
Office for Mac 2011 and Office 2016 for Mac are unaffected by this change.
Changes beginning in May 2018
Beginning with the April 2017 security update, support for inserting EPS files was turned off, by default. But it has been possible to turn back on the ability to insert EPS files with changes to a registry key. Beginning in May 2018, the registry-key method was turned off for Microsoft 365 subscribers and Office 2019 customers. This change will roll out gradually to everyone during May and June. It will no longer be possible for subscribers to insert EPS files in Office documents by any means.
It looks like a product bug, but it's intentional
If you attempt to insert an EPS file into a Office document, you'll only get an image placeholder with a message that says the picture can't be displayed:
In the case of EPS files, this message means that Office has turned off the ability to insert EPS files, because we think the vulnerability to malicious attacks is too great.
Beginning with Office 2010, the vulnerability was addressed by automatically converting EPS files to a more secure metafile format (EMF) upon insertion into an Office document. Files containing these converted EMF files continue to behave normally—the metafiles are retained and remain visible in the document.
Why this change was made
This change was done in response to active security incidents involving files. EPS files allow embedded scripts, which makes them a means of malicious attack for anyone who inserts an EPS file or opens a document that has an EPS file in it. In spite of previous efforts to mitigate the problem in Office documents, the EPS format continues to be a source of malicious attacks. To completely eliminate the risk of EPS files containing malicious code, Office decided to entirely turn off the ability to insert them.
Can I still use EPS files in Office?
Substitutes for EPS files
EMF and SVG are other graphics metafile formats that can be substituted for the EPS file format:
|
File Type |
Supported by this version of Office |
|---|---|
|
EMF |
Office 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Microsoft 365 |
|
Office 2019, 2021, 2024, and Microsoft 365 |
Export or convert from EPS to a different format
If you have a graphics application such as Adobe Illustrator, you can open an EPS file in it and save or export the file to EMF or SVG.
Similarly, you can use an online conversion tool such as CloudConvert.com or Convertio.co to convert an EPS file to EMF or SVG.
Once you've converted the file to a compatible format for Office and saved it to your computer, you simply insert it in your document as usual.
Avoiding the use of EPS files makes your Office documents more secure in general.
Supported image-file formats in Office
|
File name extension |
Name of image type |
Raster or Vector? |
|---|---|---|
|
svg |
Scalable Vector Graphic |
Vector |
|
emf |
Windows Enhanced Metafile |
Can contain both |
|
wmf |
Windows Metafile |
Can contain both |
|
jpeg, jpg, jfif, jpe |
JPEG File Interchange Format |
Raster |
|
png |
Portable Network Graphics |
Raster |
|
bmp, dib, rle |
Windows Bitmap |
Raster |
|
gif |
Graphics Interchange Format |
Raster |
|
emz |
Compressed Windows Enhanced Metafile |
Can contain both |
|
wmz |
Compressed Windows Metafile |
Can contain both |
|
pcz |
Compressed Macintosh PICT |
Raster |
|
tif, tiff |
Tagged Image File Format |
Raster |
