Weird (very long) file names in Photos (iPhone, iCloud, as well as Mac OS)

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Level 1

26 points

Weird (very long) file names in Photos (iPhone, iCloud, as well as Mac OS)

Community,

I know this question has been asked before, and people 'philosophize' that other apps are screwing up the file names. I say no, this is likely glitch in the Apple ecosystem. Most likely on the iOS side.

Example: I start with a brand new iPhone, taking photos 'from scratch'. The photo files will be named IMG_0001.HEIC, IMG_0002.HEIC, IMG_0003.HEIC, etc. This will continue all the way to IMG_9999.HEIC.

But sometimes during the year, the photo (or video) - taken WITH the iPhone photo app (no 3rd party applications) will get a 'wonky' file name in the midst of a series. File names can be as follows:

IMG_1453.HEIC

IMG_1454.HEIC

IMG_1455.HEIC

7176211850_7888EEFC-4DF8-4B71-8C24-C9AA0B7FFD92.HEIC

IMG_1457.HEIC

IMG_1458.HEIC

IMG_1459.HEIC

etc...

It is a photo in a series, nothing odd with it, does not need to be taken at same time/location, apart from that it is getting an odd name. Notice also that the 'normal' sequence number (in this case IMG_1456.HEIC) is missing.

The 'odd' photo is taken with the iPhone, using the camera app directly (not via Messages, FB, or any 3rd party apps outside of iOS). It is not received, shared, AirDropped, edited, or anything. If you export [all] photos and rename the oddly named files, they fall right in to (chronological) 'order' (when sorting on file name).

Out of a few thousand photos during a year, I'd say this happens to 20-40 photos (and/or videos). Sometimes more.

While photos are originating from the iPhone, of course this 'odd file name' will tag along over to iCloud Photos and MacOS Photos as well. Even to Windows if one happen to be be using iCloud for Windows to export photo files.

This is NOT specific to my iPhone 13 Pro (running iOS 17.3.1), but has been consistent across the devices from (at least) iPhone 5 and forward (hence even when photos were created as jpeg files). I have a hunch it started with me beginning using iCloud Photos, but it's just a hunch (and I cannot got back and verify as I have renamed those stored files long time ago).

Can SOMEONE at APPLE please solve this mystery - or better patch iOS so this will not happen at all?

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Feb 15, 2024 5:04 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

201,369 points

Feb 16, 2024 1:34 AM in response to Wellcraft192

As Matti explained, Photos is replacing the filenames internally by long, unique filenames, when it is storing and syncing the files, but showing us the original filenames in the Info.

I am also seeing occasionally the long filenames in Photos. This seems to happen for recovered files, after the library has been repaired or rebuild after a system upgrade or after a crash.

When Photos is repairing a Photos Library, it is collecting stray files, that have lost the connection to the thumbnails and are no longer bound to a version of the image. For these recovered files Photos can no longer show the original filename the photo had, when it has been saved to Photos, because the connection to the version is lost. So Photos will show the internal filename assigned by Photos. Sometimes these recovered versions are duplicates, that can be deleted. I am also seeing this for Live Photos I have created from short video clips. Live Photos created with third-party apps like Into Live tend to get broken after a major system upgrade.

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Answer 2

Feb 15, 2024 10:30 PM in response to Wellcraft192

Newer Photos.app uses that long filename behind the scenes for local files. I guess this relates to iCloud Photos syncing.

I do not use iCloud Photos and have not experienced this. Can you reproduce this at will if you deliberately let a photo go to iCloud and back etc?

You could rename such photos based on the internal metadata as something like 2024-0216-0829-08.jpg etc with 3rd party tools.

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Answer 3

Wellcraft192 Author

Level 1

26 points

Feb 20, 2024 5:38 PM in response to Matti Haveri

No, cannot reproduce. It happens at random. And it happened long before I starting using Photo on a Mac. Seems to stem from iCloud.
I know there are funky ways to potentially rename a file in iCloud Photos (3rd party app on iOS) or exporting file and reimporting it (with all the hassles and messes that comes with that) but even that has some serious challenges as highlighted here: Change filename of photo in Mac Photos - Apple Community
I generally - once a file is outside of Apple/iCloud - try to rename based on EXIF data (when available) to YYYYMMDD-hhmmss.HEIC (or .mov, .mp4, .jpeg, .jpg, etc)
Really would love to learn what 'triggers' the long file names (at random) and then try to avoid at all cost.

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Answer 4

Wellcraft192 Author

Level 1

26 points

Feb 20, 2024 5:42 PM in response to léonie

I hear you, but this happened long before Photos on Macs were involved (and I assume there were no rebuilding of my library taking place inside iCloud). Noticed it first when dump down (one way, not syncing) photos and videos to Windows File Explorer (this was 'download' was fully supported, long before syncing, making iCloud for Windows fantastic to use for backups.

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

201,369 points

Feb 20, 2024 11:42 PM in response to Wellcraft192

Even iCloud needs to rebuild your library occasionally after a major system upgrade or a crash that left the library in an inconsistent state.

If you ever have used third-party apps to work with your Photos Library, that are modifying the library directly, these may also have caused lost items in the library that are no longer linked properly to the versions.

Sometimes the files with wonky names have been downloads from Shared albums or edited versions of photos I had synced manually from my computer to the iPhone or iPod touch, long before I switched to using iCloud Photos.

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Weird (very long) file names in Photos (iPhone, iCloud, as well as Mac OS)

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