Incorrect HEIC colors on other devices- SIMPLE FIX for Mac OS

Problem:

Photos from any iPhone which saves images with an HEIC profile, render with incorrect colors seemingly everywhere when outputting to print. The problem is the color profile. The HEIC file lists Display P3 as the profile.


Question:

How do I get the HEIC displayed in the correct colors and/or convert the format to .JPEG, .TIFF or .PNG


Simple Fix is the following:

  1. Open the image in iPhoto.
  2. At the top of your screen go to "FILE"> "EXPORT".
  3. In the export window first change the COLOR PROFILE to AdobeRGB(1998). This is generally the most accepted color profile for all devices.
  4. Then if you want to change the file format, choose which file format you want.
  5. Then hit the "EXPORT" button at the bottom of the window.


Violá!


Keep in mind a few differences between file formats.

.TIFF- Lossless and large file sizes.

.JPG or .JPEG- Lossy, (meaning every time you open and close the file you add artifacts AKA: loss of quality).

.PNG- Flexible and great for digital applications like posting on IG, FB, etc.. but take up a lot of space on Websites.


Hope this is helpful,

Amrita

iPhone 14

Posted on Apr 24, 2023 6:15 PM

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2 replies

Apr 25, 2023 12:48 AM in response to AKosh

All my various iPhone .heic images have Display P3 and they work OK for me although I have not printed them.


It is possible to change them to other profiles via GraphicConverter > Edit > Replace Profile w/o matching (Legacy)... (or with more options via > Convert to Profile...). I guess this is lossless (unless color profiles are changed to grayscale via Convert to Profile... etc) but I am not quite sure because the .heic file size slightly changes when fiddling back to the original profile.


exiftool -a -G1 -s -ProfileDescription image.heic
[ICC_Profile]   ProfileDescription              : Display P3

exiftool -a -G1 -s -ProfileDescription image.heic
[ICC_Profile]   ProfileDescription              : Adobe RGB (1998)


BTW, completely deleting ICC profiles seems to corrupt .heic (not .jpg) but GraphicConverter does not allow doing that anyway (I tested this with exiftool).



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Incorrect HEIC colors on other devices- SIMPLE FIX for Mac OS

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