Copy images from Photos app as .heic file

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Level 1

4 points

Copy images from Photos app as .heic file

So I copying images from the Photos app to a separate folder in Finder. On any macbook the default image format is .heic

I then tried to insert the .heic image into a document on Google Docs, but this did not work (unsupported file type). So I searched for a solution to convert .heic to jpg or png, and I found this article: https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-convert-images-mac-quick-action/

While this worked and successfully converted my .heic image to .jpeg, I'm now facing the issue that every single image I copy and paste from the Photos app automatically gets converted to .jpeg and no longer .heic

This is really annoying, furthermore, the .jpeg is in terrible image quality. So I no longer have to option to copy the original file form the Photos app.

Has anyone faced the same problem and has found a solution to undo this "automatic file type conversion", when copy pasting images from the Photos app?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.4

Posted on Nov 14, 2022 8:54 AM

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Answer 1

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Richard.Taylor

Level 5

6,978 points

Nov 14, 2022 11:23 AM in response to JiiB

When you say "copying images from the Photos app" it's not clear what you mean. Are you using Export? If you want the original image file, choose File>Export>Export Unmodified Original. It will be HEIC if the original was. If you want the edited version, choose File>Export>Export Photo. You can choose among file types, and for jpg you can choose the quality of the compression. Really, at Maximum quality, blowups don't show much if any difference between the original and the jpg.

Other methods of copying images out of Photos aren't really supported and are not dependable. I do sometimes drag pictures out of Photos, for instance, but I always check them and don't expect the best results.

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Answer 2

JiiB Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 14, 2022 1:28 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

I simply select an image in the Photos app, press cmd+c and paste it in a new folder. On my personal macbook, the image is in .heic format. On my macbook from work, it the image is in .jpeg format (but only after I justed the "quick action" to convert heic to jpg.

So this must have changed some default settings in macOS, but I can't find them anywhere...

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Answer 3

Nov 15, 2022 2:35 PM in response to JiiB

There is just no guarantee about exporting images from Photos using copy and paste. That's why there's no info. It's an unsupported "good luck if it works" feature. Export is what does what you want.

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Copy images from Photos app as .heic file

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