How to access Media in iPhoto Libraries on macOS 10.15 or later
Apple stopped selling iPhoto in 2015, when it released the last compatibility update iPhoto 9.6.1. Since then we could access iPhoto Libraries with the Photos.app.
- iPhoto 9.6.1 can run on any Mac with OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite to macOS 10.14 Mojave. On this system versions it is relatively easy to create Photos Libraries from iPhoto Libraries (but only iPhoto 8.x.x or later), as we can open the libraries in iPhoto and fix problem or compare the original library to the new Photos Library. The new Photos Library will include the original image files, the current previews of the edited versions, the album, and the events and smart albums saved as albums, some of the metadata. try to get the migration done while still running Mojave:
- iPhoto Libraries created with iPhoto 7.x.x. or earlier need to be prepared with the iPhoto Library upgrader tool. iPhoto '11: About the Library Upgrader
- iPhoto can no longer run on macOS 10.15 Catalina or later. But Photos for Mac can still convert iPhoto Libraries to Photos Libraries on macOS 10.15 Catalina to macOS 12 Monterey. But we can no longer prepare the iPhoto Library for the migration and save the descriptions of albums or events or compare the results to fix problem. An additional problem ist, that macOS Catalina does no longer support all older video codec or image codecs. All items using legacy codecs should have been converted to a compatible format while still running macOS 10.14 Mojave. Also all older iPhoto Libraries from iPhoto 7.xx or earlier. The iPhoto Library Upgrader cannot be used on macOS 10.15 Catalina or later.
- Since macOS 13 Ventura Photos can no longer convert iPhoto Libraries to Photos Libraries. All we can do is import original image files from an iPhoto Library into a Photos Library.
- Migrating an Aperture Library to Photos as a Library is no longer supported on macOS13 Ventura - Apple Community,
- Links to User tips re migrating from iPhoto to Photos The third party app Power Photos can create Photos Libraries from Aperture Libraries on Ventura, a very handy new feature os PowerPhotos.
If possible, try to migrate your iPhoto Libraries to Photos on a system version that still supports iPhoto, before the upgrade to macOS 10.15 Catalina. Otherwise you can only access the photos and videos, but the structure of the library will be lost.