Since upgrading to Mojave, air drop of photos from my iPhone X running iOS 12 to my MBP end up as HEIC instead of the usual JPEG.
This is a nuisance, because HEIC is not recognized by other sites (e.g. MailChimp). So I have to convert them to JPEG before uploading them elsewhere.
Is there a way I can get air drop to work with JPEG again?
Thanks,
doug
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), i5, 512 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM
HEIF/HEIC or High-efficiency image format is a more modern file format for images. It provides more quality at the same or less file size. Think H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and H.265 (HEVC) for video. Without these compression standards high quality 1080p and especially 4k would not be possible especially for those with slow internet connections. HEVC will makes it possible to get reasonable sizes for 10-bit 4K HDR all the way up to 8K and also use the much wider Rec. 2020. The best TVs today can only show about 75-80% of the 2020 color space. Rec 2020 is also much wider than the P3 displays on iPhone 7 and newer and MacBook Pro 2016 and newer.
Well this new HEIF format was launched with iOS 11 and High Sierra. Now if your phone was set to “High efficiency” under the camera settings, the iPhone 7/7 Plus or newer will use HEIF. If you set it to “Most compatible” it will use JPEG.
Now here’s the story. Under photos settings in iOS, when transfer photos is set to automatic if will send HEIF if you’re using macOS High Sierra or newer and JPEG if you’re using anything else. If the other phone is on iOS 11 or newer then it will also get HEIF.
If you want to save in JPEG and always JPEG do this:
Open “camera settings” and choose Camera settings/Formats/MOST COMPATIBLE and then go to Photos settings and choose “KEEP ORIGINALS.” That’s it.
Now, it’s possible that photos saved originally in HEIF will not be able to be transferred as a JPEG on Mojave.
If this is the case then you have to convert these images back to JPEG using whatever software you want for that purpose.
Please keep in mind that sooner or later we will start seeing more and more support for HEIF. It is an official standard and not just some crazy format that Apple is backing. The reason why many places on the web don’t support it is because not everyone has it. JPEG is still the most common standard. Think USB-C vs. USB Type A. USB-C will completely replace type A but it takes a while.
Once most dSLRs and other camera support HEIF, JPEG will be history. People will either shoot RAW or HEIF. The thing is changes have to be forced otherwise people will stick to using what they know.
Hope this post is useful!
Dakor50Dec 1, 2018 2:32 PM in response to Doug Lerner2
Level 1 (0 points)Dec 1, 2018 2:32 PM Re: How to air drop with JPG instead of HEIC?in response to Doug Lerner2
Doug, I'm experiencing the exact same issue now. I agree that the issue started with the Mojave upgrade. Prior to that my air drops from my iPhone 8 to my MacBook pro were jpg files. Now they are HEIC files. I got the this discussion when I searched in google for a question similar to yours .
Yes, although not all the time! sometimes images go over as JPG and sometimes as HEIC and I cannot fathom out why, for instance, always sent from same iPhone to same MBP and. Ive changed no settings.
the two workaround solutions i know of are:
disable HEIC at the phone level. your photos will take up more space on the phone's storage
batch convert with preview/etc. extra time spent
Allow me to clarify one thing:
If you want to take photos only in JPEG and not HEIF, change the setting in Camera (NOT Photos):
How to air drop with JPG instead of HEIC?
