it's the same problem that the Ventura system had, but this solution (No icon preview for eps-files in Ventura - Apple Community) for Sonoma doesn't work . What can be done? I use my Mac for work and not seeing EPS icon previews wastes a lot of my time. it's a real problem
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.0
With Sonoma, Apple has removed all means to convert .ps/.eps files to PDF, or display them in the Finder. All Apple frameworks that once offered this capability to developers were also removed. The free Skim PDF reader v1.16.13 and later that worked in Ventura to convert .ps/.eps to PDF, no will not do this on Sonoma because it depends on those Apple frameworks and will refuse to open these file types now.
TexShop v5.18 still opens .ps/.eps as PDF and I expect that will end shortly too. GraphicConverter, any of the Affinity product line, or the free GIMP image editor can open these files, but the days of seeing them in the Finder is gone.
Another free option is the XnView MP graphics tool that if you click on a folder containing .ps/.eps files it will open a light table effect in a window with details of each file beneath it. Double-clicking on any image will open it in a separate viewer. However, it won't load all .eps files for some reason and that may be Apple's framework issue again.
I was looking for complex .eps files and ran across this one. It contains an .eps, .ai and .svg version of the same art. I opened all three versions in Affinity Designer.
The .svg is kind of ugly as it's never been a great vector format. Especially not for complex art. The .eps is really ugly since a lot of unsupported transparency is lost. The .ai file is, of course, perfect.
But here's the odd part. PDF/X-4 isn't all that old, but it does not export the .ai file very well. A lot of the transparency areas do not convert well, despite the fact this format supports transparency. I tried changing a lot of the preset choices, but nothing helped.
If I use the first choice, PDF (for print), it's a perfect match to the .ai file. But then, that isn't really all that surprising since all Designer has to do is export the .ai file out as is and give it a .pdf extension. You can copy the .ai file and just change the extension to .pdf yourself and get the same result.
PDF/X-4 export:
PDF (for print) export:
Apple please fix this!!!! It is a huge problem in the creative industry. It's extremely frustating and a huge waste of time. If you're not going to fix it at least come up with a work around for people who need to easily see EPS files. Hugely disappointed in how product quality and user experience has gone.
Have you read any of this topic? At all? Because it sure seems like all you read was the initial post and then added a "me too!".
EPS is basically dead. Read the topic to see why.
Also see this topic. Much more information (and some of the same):
How to fix .Ai.EPS files preview issue on… - Apple Community
I want to se the icon of the file, I don't want a program to see the file, it's very difficult to work in this way
the problem is not of my mac but of the new system. I hate when apple change system there is always problem
FWIW, Apple is not alone. Microsoft stopped supporting EPS in Office documents 6 years ago. Even Adobe suggests using AI files over EPS. Some companies are slow to change.
Has anyone reached out to Shutterstock or Getty about this?
LJJX wrote:
Has anyone reached out to Shutterstock or Getty about this?
I'm sure it's possible. That is not an Apple support question.
Here is the link in the Shutterstock's customer support portal stating eps is their format. For what it's worth.
https://support.shutterstock.com/s/article/What-s-a-Vector-EPS-file?language=en_US
There is a quicklook hack that allows you to bring the functionality to Ventura, they seem to have killed that avenue in Sonoma.
Oh, duh! Of course transparency is lost. Not because of Affinity Designer or the PDF/X-4 format. But because EPS itself doesn't support transparency to begin with.
No icon preview for eps-files in Sonoma
