Different Picture/Video Sizes between Automatic and Keep Original Version

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Different Picture/Video Sizes between Automatic and Keep Original Version

I switch off my ICloud so I back up every pictures/videos to external hard drive via a laptop. If I choose the "Keep Original" in Photo Settings, the size appears in the laptop before copying to the external HD is the same or only few bytes different ie. Iphone pic size 50kb, laptop pic size 49.8kb, external HD pic size copied is 49.8kb

But if I choose "Automatic" in Photo Settings, the size appears in the laptop becomes double the original size ie. Iphone pic size 50kb, laptop pic size 106kb, external HD pic size copied is the same with the laptop 106kb

Why does this happen? Does it affect the quality of the pictures and videos? Would I still get the same quality in the laptop as in the Iphone even the size copied is the same as my laptop is more outdated than the Iphone?

My thought is my laptop is more outdated hence to get the exact same quality pictures, the size becomes doubled when choosing the setting 'Automatic' as it looks for compatibility.

Could someone please verify? Thank You

iPhone 14 Pro, iOS 16

Posted on Jul 28, 2023 10:43 PM

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Answer 1

markwmsn

Level 6

17,125 points

Jul 28, 2023 11:19 PM in response to Sakurabunny888

Your iPhone 14 takes photos/videos in HEIC/HEVC format, which can take advantage of better compression algorithms than older format. "Keep Original" keeps the HEIC/HEVC format for transfers, while "Automatic" translates to older formats like JPEG that use less efficient compression but are compatible across a wider variety of software.

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Answer 2

markwmsn

Level 6

17,125 points

Jul 29, 2023 9:22 PM in response to Sakurabunny888

The "HE" part of HEIF and HEVC stands for High Efficiency. Those formats can reduce the size of photos and videos without compromising the quality as much as JPEG compression would. (Both HEIF and JPEG imply some compression.)

You can revert to using JPEG at capture time in Settings > Camera > Formats > CAMERA CAPTURE. Choose Most Compatible for JPEG/H.264 or High Efficiency for HEIF/HEVC.

The full JPEG specification allows for various levels of tradeoff between reducing size and keeping image quality, but there is no setting in the Camera app to choose the level to be used. I don't know how it is selected. I have not done any tests to compare JPEG default compression quality with HEIF default compress quality.

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Answer 3

markwmsn

Level 6

17,125 points

Jul 29, 2023 8:24 AM in response to Sakurabunny888

Only if the "JPEG software" has been updated to understand how to open HEIC files. Some has, some hasn't, some may never be; I can't tell you which is which.

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Answer 4

Jul 29, 2023 11:34 AM in response to markwmsn

Thank You.

Now I have problem when I choose ‘Automatic’ during copying via laptop, some of the pictures could not be copied to the external Hard Disk. I could see they are in the JPEG format in the laptop. Is there any way to still copy them in ‘Automatic’ setting? Why does this happen?

Also I check on my Iphone, there are pictures that have JPEG format but mostly HEIF. Why is this? Could I set it to JPEG format during picture shots? Does JPEG have lower quality than HEIF?

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Answer 5

Jul 29, 2023 4:47 AM in response to markwmsn

Hi markwmsn

For the pics that have been copied with ‘Keep Original’ settings, could they be opened with JPEG software(s) then?

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Different Picture/Video Sizes between Automatic and Keep Original Version

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