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Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

22,596 points

Random thumbnails of pictures have suddenly become pixelated.

Not a direct FCP question but many of the pictures are used in FCP.

I have thousands of photos in various folders and many of their thumbnails have suddenly become pixelated. (This is nothing to do with the Photos app which I do not use).

This has occurred a couple of times in the last 15 years and I cured it simply by deleting something (maybe a thumbnail cache?) but I can't remember what. It was certainly a quick and easy solution.

Can anyone remind my ailing memory how to do it?

The screenshot demonstrates the problem as the first thumbnail is crystal clear whilst the second is badly pixelated.

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.5

Posted on May 23, 2022 11:41 AM

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

68,038 points

Posted on May 23, 2022 11:54 AM

You may try resetting the icon services cache.

Open Terminal and paste the following line:

     sudo rm -rfv /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store

Type your password when requested (nothing will appear on screen as you type - that is normal), and press enter.

Restart your mac.

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3 replies

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

68,038 points

May 23, 2022 11:54 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

You may try resetting the icon services cache.

Open Terminal and paste the following line:

     sudo rm -rfv /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store

Type your password when requested (nothing will appear on screen as you type - that is normal), and press enter.

Restart your mac.

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

22,596 points

May 23, 2022 11:28 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks Luis.

You may have noticed that I have a slight aversion to Terminal so I first tried a non-Terminal suggestion made by elcpu in the Lounge . . . and it worked!

"Try this to see if it helps. On Finder select a photo folder and from the View menu on top select Show View Options. Then uncheck "Show Icon Preview". I would wait a bit and then reboot the Mac and re-check Show Icon Preview."

I still can't remember how I cured it on previous occasions. I am sure it was even simpler and may have been suggested by Alchroma.

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

22,596 points

May 24, 2022 6:47 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Although I did not use your method I am giving it a "Solved" as I am sure it will work and anyone with a similar problem will have a choice of 2 solutions.

Random thumbnails of pictures have suddenly become pixelated.