Photos refuses to import JPEGs

Hello everybody

I'm trying to import into Photos images shot with my iPhones over the years, which are not yet in the Photos library. The images I am trying to copy and the Photos library itself are stored on the same drive (the computer runs Monterey).

All are JPEGs and the vast majority import without issue. However, occasionally I get this error message.

The images that don't import were taken with various versions of Hipstamatic. The ones that give me trouble all have sidecar (AAE) files for the edits that the app makes. Strangely, however, many such Hipstamatic images do import without problem. All troublesome images open in Preview.

I have tried the various things suggested in similar threads:

Importing by drag and drop and by using Photos–File–Import...
Importing only very few images
Moving troublesome images to the user Pictures folder and import from there
Closing and opening Photos
Rebooting the computer
Selecting "Ignore ownership on this volume" (incl. all subfolders) on the drive holding all the images
Importing to a new Photos library

Has anyone got any idea what I could try next?

Thank you in advance

Philip

Posted on Jan 30, 2025 3:19 AM

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

200,537 points

Posted on Jan 30, 2025 7:52 AM

I am getting the same error when trying to import your sample image with the .AAE sidecar present. The image can be imported without error message, when I rename the sidecar file, so it does no longer match the original filename.

This suggests, that the problem is with the sidecar file - the image may have adjustments applied, that the current version of Photos cannot handle.

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Photos refuses to import JPEGs

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