HEIC Issue

Question

Level 1

19 points

HEIC Issue

I returned from a holiday to Europe to find that some of my images were in the new HEIC format around 900 images. I have the latest Mojave and iPhone 8 iOS systems installed and went about my usual business of importing the images into Photos and then auto deleting them from the phone when complete.

Everything went as planed and the images and few videos look fine when viewed within the Photos app however I typically like to export some of my images from trips and add them to Lightroom so I just export the unaltered originals and then import to Lightroom

The issue I'm having is that the HEIC images when exported are corrupted. The show green pixel boxes either on the lower half or in some cases the side of the exported images.

I decided to try to convert the images to JPG and the result was the same except the pixel corruption shows up a purple instead of green. I have the images as proof and would be happy to send them along with screen shots if you like. I have posted a couple here.

I need to know what the issue is and the fix or that a fix is on the way ASAP.

Thanks

Above is the image in Photos

Above is the exported JPG

Above is a screenshot of the exported HEIC as this forum would not allow the actual .HEIC image to be added to this message.

Clearly there is an issue with HEIC.

iPhone 8, macOS Mojave (10.14), Latest iTunes and iPhone updates.

Posted on Oct 11, 2018 4:56 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Digita1one Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 12, 2018 6:15 PM in response to Marco Klobas

Here is your, imported into photos then, exported .HEIC on my computer. Bare in mind that I have a iMac with 32GB ram, 4GB graphic card, 1 TB hard drive and a 3.5 GHz intel i7. I thought it might be related to the APFS on hard drive but I have an SSD in my MacBook and I get the same results.

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Answer 2

Oct 12, 2018 11:24 PM in response to Digita1one

I can assure you that I don't have the green blocks.

I have a Mac mini, 16 GB RAM, Intel Iris 1536 MB Graphic Card, 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5, SSD (APFS).

There's definitely something wrong. Not with the transfer (as our experiments showed) – something else is involved. Maybe something with the graphic card: not hardware related, rather software that Apple could fix with an update.

The fact that you get the same issue on an iMac and on a MacBook is puzzling. Having a Mac mini I use an external monitor, of course (EIZO). This is the only big difference, plus obviously the different graphic cards/drivers used.

I tried a silly test switching to Dark Mode (you use it, me no). Nothing changed.

I ask you again: do you use iCloud with Photos?

Another naive question: do you get the same results opening HEIC with Preview?

One more thing: if anybody else want to test and give a feedback, the files are still available in the shared folder mentioned here Re: HEIC Issue(remember to provide some infos of your machine).

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Answer 3

Oct 13, 2018 12:04 AM in response to Rohirm

Good point that you mentioned where is the Photos library located: mine is on an external drive (HFS+) as well.

Maybe léonie is right (Re: HEIC Issue), the type of transfer used to import the photos could be the culprit and not the graphic card/drivers thing I supposed.

I use iCloud (can't test a wired import) and my files are OK. You (Rohirm and Digita1one) both don't use iCloud, import the photos "traditionally" via USB and have corrupted photos.

Thanks for your feedback.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

197,089 points

Oct 13, 2018 12:51 AM in response to Rohirm

You may want to report this problem to Apple. It may well be a bug. I am frequently seeing bright, emerald green spots randomly on my HEIC photos (if they are HDR photos), and usually in areas with specular reflections, like glittering water. But I have never seen this regular pattern. You can use the feedback form. https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

Include a link to this discussion, so you can refer to the sample photos posted here.

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Answer 5

Oct 12, 2018 9:22 AM in response to Digita1one

I tried to export a photo from Photos with File -> Export -> Export Unmodified Original Photo For 1 Photo...

I opened the exported HEIC file in Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 and it was fine. Did you do the same steps (except using Lightroom instead of Photoshop)?

I don't have Lightroom installed. I found this Adobe page: HEIC and HEVC media files support in Lightroom and Camera Raw

If you don't mind you can upload somewhere an HEIC photo and I'll try to open it in Photoshop to see if I get the same glitches.

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

197,089 points

Oct 12, 2018 9:47 AM in response to Digita1one

It may be a transmission error when downloading the photos from the iPhone.

How did you transfer the photos from the iPhone to the Mac?

Can you download them using a different method? Downloading using a different USB port, different cable, or Air Drop them again?

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Answer 7

Digita1one Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 12, 2018 11:48 AM in response to Marco Klobas

Thanks for the reply. I tried both export methods from Photos and with Export 1 Photo, I tried JPEG, TIFF, and PNG all same results. I would never use PNG for an image however thought it was worth a shot.

The exported HEIC opened in Photoshop CC (latest version) shows the same blocky pixels.

I also tried directly opting to edit a HEIC image from the Photos app and the image was automatically converted to .tiff with the same Blocky results along the bottom quarter of the images. So Apple converts the image on export to .tiff before it loads in Photoshop weird.

I would upload a HEIC however this forum's text editor will not allow .HEIC files only jpg, gif or png. If you have another suggestion for uploading I can see if I can accommodate.

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Answer 8

Digita1one Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 12, 2018 11:52 AM in response to léonie

It may be a transmission error when downloading the photos from the iPhone.

How did you transfer the photos from the iPhone to the Mac?

-I use the same method I always use. USB from iPhone to iMac using Photos app.

Can you download them using a different method? Downloading using a different USB port, different cable, or Air Drop them again?

- as I mentioned above I used the same method I always use and as a result all the images imported from the iPhone 8 were deleted from the phone on import. I will try to reproduce using a different cable, port or Air Drop and report back. Note however that the images look fine in the Photos app. The corruption point lies in the exporting of the image from the Photos app.

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Answer 9

Oct 12, 2018 11:57 AM in response to Digita1one

If you don't mind I prepared a temporary folder on my server:

https://www.marcoklobas.net/cloud/index.php/s/MPXwdNEjCtPJNfP

Just drop a HEIC file. I'll try to open it and will give a feedback. I'll delete the file and the folder when we'll be done.

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Answer 10

Rohirm

Level 1

4 points

Oct 12, 2018 12:41 PM in response to Digita1one

I have the exact same problem. Photos looks just fine on the Phone and when send from phone to FaceBook or WhatsApp etc.

The error appears only when importing to the Mojave Photos. On the first pass when image is shown with lesser detail it is OK, but after the second pass the image gets corrupted.

I think it might be some problem with the Mojave's HEIC codec. Apple, fix this ASAP!

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Answer 11

Digita1one Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 12, 2018 12:37 PM in response to léonie

This .heic just keeps getting more and more confusing. So here are the results of my tests.

Airdrop: HEIC image is converted during the airdrop process to a .jpg with no issues with the image. Tried multiple HEIC images to confirm.

USB: changed port from my USB hub to direct connect to the back of my iMac results as follows. Export unmodified original for 1 photo....same results HEIC is corrupted along the bottom of the image as shown in the my original post screen shot above. Export 1 Photo option to jpeg and the image shows corruption same as before.

USB: Swapped cables with the same results as above.

Also tried the old drag and drop from the Photos App to desktop with the same results. The HEIC is converted to a .jpeg before it hits the Desktop and the corruption is visible. All be it not green.

So conclusion. AirDrop seems to work but there is obviously issues with both the HEIC format and the interaction between Photos and the new HEIC format that needs to be fixed with an update.

Until then I will be reverting back to the "Most Compatible" setting in the camera on my iPhone.

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Answer 12

Oct 12, 2018 12:48 PM in response to Digita1one

Do you use iCloud?

If you shoot a photo with your iPhone, wait the uploading in iCloud, synchronize your Photos library on your Mac and export the photo from Photos, then is the HEIC file still corrupted?

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Answer 13

Rohirm

Level 1

4 points

Oct 12, 2018 11:52 PM in response to Marco Klobas

I imported your HEIC files to my Photos and they were fine, no corruption.

And for my own HEIC files, I see the corruption also in macOS Preview and in Photoshop too.

I don't use iCloud with Photos, I import the photos from the iPhone X via USB.

I have macOS Mojave 10.14, using Dark Mode.

Photos library is located on RAID which is in HFS+ format.

Mac Pro (Mid 2010) with NVIDIA GTX 680 2GB Mac Edition, 43" 4K 10bit IPS display connected with DP cable.

I imported some photos from my iPhone which were taken with iOS 11 and iOS 12, there was no difference, both gets the same corruption.

Have you submitted ticket to Apple feedback/bugreport?

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Answer 14

Rohirm

Level 1

4 points

Oct 13, 2018 12:33 AM in response to Marco Klobas

Just noticed that all of my HEIC photos in Photos library has the corruption. Those were taken and transferred before Mojave and iOS 12, so definitely there is some problem with the HEIC codec how it renders the image to the screen. I started to see this problem after updating to Mojave.

If I export one of those HEIC files to JPEG the problem is gone.

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Answer 15

Digita1one Author

Level 1

19 points

Oct 13, 2018 11:53 AM in response to Marco Klobas

Thanks for all the great feedback. As for iCloud, I don't use it. All my images reside on 1TB USB hard drive and are then backed up to various NAS Drives.

Not sure what the difference the iCloud would make with the issue of the corruption.

I'm beginning to think that it may be some hardware bug perhaps with he Graphics card.

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