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Level 1

0 points

iTunes keeps re-optimizing photos for iPhone and iPad

Hi all,

I'm not sure when this started, but for a while now, every time I make any sort of change on my iPad or iPhone (adding a podcast, changing a contact, etc.) iTunes decides to re-optimize 78 photos (I don't know why 78, I have hundreds of photos saved), delete them, and then sync them again. This only seems to happen when I change any kind of content to sync to the iPad or iPhone, though I'm not sure if that's really the case and it may be more random than that. It does happen a lot and it is such a waste of time.

I tried deleting the iPod Photo Cache from iPhoto (using Clean My Mac) and it didn't help... In fact I'm wondering if using Clean My Mac is what started this. However I'm also not sure if this started when I got my 3GS and started adding videos on iPhoto, which I do sync to my devices. But the number is always 78 and I have less videos than that, so this doesn't make sense.

Please help if you have any ideas at all... It's a big nuisance and I don't understand why it's happening. Thanks.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Apr 15, 2010 12:09 PM

89 replies

Feb 13, 2011 9:52 AM in response to tzohar

this worked for me, removing DV videos + .MOV files that were shot at 1080p (H.264). iPhones/iPads don't support those movie formats for now.

strange fact is that although iTunes will say "optimizing photos for iPhone", when the sync is done, you'll notice that iTunes didn't even copy these videos down to the iOS device! what a waste of sync time.

FYI, iTunes seem to optimize media files the first time it syncs them down to an iOS device. but afterward that step is not supposed to recur. Only with the files mentioned above did iTunes do this step on every sync.

the only way I figured this out is through process of elimination.

here is how I did it: (note, this only works on a Mac, iTunes on Mac gives you album/event level photo synching - see Photos tab in iTunes. This isn't the case with iTunes on Windows)

so, I kept unchecking albums from iTunes sync until i noticed iTunes stopped doing this step when I removed the albums with the problem files!

so in your case, it might be a different type of media file that iTunes has an issue with. go through one album at a time and check it off in iTunes and see if it makes a difference and then repeat.

Feb 14, 2011 12:29 AM in response to tzohar

I have the same problem - 205 photos. It optimizes them twice during single sync. It heats up my MBP and looses lots of time. What a stupid problem. I sync with iPhone 3gs, iPhone 4 and iPad.

Feb 25, 2011 12:51 AM in response to adni18

adni18 wrote:
Delete the *iPod Photo Cache* folder which is included in your computer folder where you keep your photos that you want to synchronize with iPhone.
iTunes will create in the next synchronization a new *iPod Photo Cache* and the problem will be solved.

It worked for me (Windows 7)

I did this and it worked!

Btw, I have an iPhone 3GS.
iTunes version 10.2
PC

Message was edited by: vipergts281

Dewlally

Level 1

10 points

Feb 25, 2011 1:56 AM in response to vipergts281

Worked for me on my ipod touch with iMac too.

Mac users can access the "iPod Photo Cache" folder by command clicking the "iPhoto Library" file and selecting "show package contents" from the pop-up menu.

Photo library can be found here: (hard disk)/users/(your user name)/pictures/iPhoto Library

Thanks adni18!

Mar 7, 2011 5:54 PM in response to tzohar

I have this problem too. My iPhoto library has more than 15,000 photos. No problem until I bought the wife an iPad. Now iTunes wants to optimize each time I synch the iPad and my iPod. Definitely a bug in Apples approach here.

Mar 9, 2011 5:49 PM in response to adni18

Deleting the iPod Photo Cache did nothing to fix the problem.

2,800 photos optimized during every sync. Hours.

Mar 10, 2011 10:38 AM in response to John Moreci

Ditto. I had a 3G iPod touch, iPhone 4, and iPad – 3 different native resolutions, so 3 different optimizations. My “solution” is to sync photos once on each device, and then disable syncing until I know there are new pictures in the folder.

Time to fix this, Apple.

Ted5612

Level 1

0 points

Mar 18, 2011 7:21 AM in response to tzohar

I'm not certain if this will help, but after upgrading to iTunes 10.2, my photo radio button was set to "All Folders" and I kept getting the "Optimizing" message, even though after the inital load/sync there were no additional photos.

Then I remembered I had previously set the radio button within the Photo tab to "Selected folders" and had selected each folder on my computer I wanted synced to my iPhone. The iTunes upgrade must have reset my previous selections. Once I selected the "Selected folders" and desired computer folders everything went back to normal, with no extra "optimization" going taking place. (The numbers associated with each folder once checked apparently equals the total number of photos synced, by the way.)

Now, only newly added photos to any of my computer folders get "optimized" when I sync, which is far better than going through that process for every photo each time I do a synchronization!

Mar 18, 2011 11:15 AM in response to Aandroid

New update and I still have to go through that optimizing process (painful). I uncheck videos in iTunes and of course the optimization of 300+ photos stops, too. Strange there's no fix.

Sach160

Level 1

13 points

Apr 11, 2011 4:11 AM in response to Meg Warren

+1 very annoying

Apr 17, 2011 4:06 PM in response to tzohar

My 2 cents: there are 85 posts in this thread, which started A YEAR ago.

All range and variations of configurations, all w/the same problem. (There are additional threads in additional forums).

Many of us wasting hours trying to solve the problem.

People from Apple don't read those threads.

In my humble opinion, the ONLY way to solve this problem is if EVERYBODY contacted Apple. (I think they'll find it hard to ignore).

Apple support charges $ after the first 90 days period if you don't have Apple Care.

Here

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Apple say (quote)

"Product feedback

Apple strives to bring the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings. Apple welcomes your feedback on its products. Begin by selecting a product below."

Why don't we let them know and test how much "Apple strives to bring the ........"

I think we deserve it. We have paid enough for it! Don't YOU??!!

Sep 29, 2011 7:16 AM in response to tzohar

Wow! It's good to know that I'm not the only one frustrated with this. This started a week ago. My iPad starts to sync, and when it gets to the photos, it says "Optimizing Photos For iPad" (1 of 24 photos), then it says "iTunes has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close program & notify you if a solution is available." Then iTunes shuts down and of course my iPad don't complete the sync. So I started iTunes back up and clicked on my iPad, then on the photo tab, uncheck "sync photos", clicked on "apply" and then my iPad synced properly. Apple...please hear us and fix the problem.

Mar 6, 2013 1:33 PM in response to janicefromoak ridge

Is this problem supposed to be fixed, as of March 1, 2013?

Thanks

Mar 6, 2013 2:53 PM in response to robertfromsaline

It was supposed to be fixed Friday Dec 21 2012, but.....apparently the Mayans were wrong.

🙂

iTunes keeps re-optimizing photos for iPhone and iPad