HEIC Issue

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Level 1

20 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

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Digita1one Author

Level 1

20 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 2

Digita1one Author

Level 1

20 points

Nov 4, 2018 2:23 PM in response to airics900

Seems that this may be a rendering issue with Mojave as I just tested HEIC's in Lightroom without an issue. Assuming that Lightroom has its own rendering engine.

How I did it.

Firstly I exported a test HEIC to jpg with the same results as before.

Secondly I exported an image in its original HEIC format to my desktop as about from iPhoto. This image also showed the pixel issues as before with one exception. I then imported the HEIC into Lightroom, which recognized the image as a HEIC and rendered it without issue. Yah

Thirdly I exported the image out of Lightroom to TIFF and JPG with no issues.

Not sure why I haven't tried this earlier, busy I guess. anyway seems that Mojave, preview or iPhoto has issues rendering the HEIC without the pixelation.

Dave.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,531 points

Dec 28, 2018 12:04 AM in response to Acetm

For me, the macOS10.14.2 update fixed the problem with HEIC. New HEIC photos downloaded from the iPhone X are fine now, and older HEIc photos, still showing the corruption, can be fixed now by opening them in Edit mode.

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Answer 4

Digita1one Author

Level 1

20 points

Nov 13, 2018 12:26 PM in response to lec0rsaire

lec0rsaire & flatout23, You should read the rest of the posts starting backwards from your posts. For example

"Hi Digita1one - I was having a similar issue, except my HEIC images were becoming corrupt when I used the auto enhance feature within the Photos app. I stepped through many levels of Mac support, and finally a ticket was created for the developers. It sounds like it will be resolved through an update to OSX 10.14 Mojave."

Looks like the issue is known and will be (hopefully) fixed in another update. in the mean time just turn off the HEIC option on your device and use jpgs instead.

Cheers.

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Answer 5

Nov 13, 2018 12:34 PM in response to jtnoonan90

This is fixed in 10.14.2.

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Answer 6

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 7

léonie

Level 10

200,531 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 8

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 9

Jan 11, 2019 11:11 AM in response to Digita1one

I have this same problem. If I airdrop them, or move them to dropbox they do that.

If I email them to myself, it converts them to jpg on sending, and they don't have the red lines.

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Answer 10

léonie

Level 10

200,531 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 11

pfriedel

Level 1

21 points

Oct 31, 2018 9:41 AM in response to Digita1one

Same problem here - exports from Photos have weird JPG corruption along one edge in Mojave. I checked the photo in the library bundle directly and Preview also _intermittently_ shows the corruption in the source HEIC file. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't, it feels like something in the display / decoding chain is missing a step. The image also acquires corruption in Photos if I rotate it, or any other action that forces the image through the decoding chain.

I dug back into an archive of the photo library I made to my NAS last December and checked the images there and they also appear corrupt in Mojave. But they're all fine in Windows 10, so I'm fairly confident that the data on disk is OK.

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Answer 12

Oct 12, 2018 2:41 PM in response to Digita1one

Let's make an inverse test.

I've just uploaded an HEIC photo I made this summer. You find it in the same shared folder. It's named IMG_0040.HEIC

Do you see any unwanted artifacts?

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Answer 13

Oct 17, 2018 10:48 PM in response to Rohirm

Opening the Heic Photos in Preview app will not exhibit the problem. Most likely a Metal related rendering issue.

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Answer 14

léonie

Level 10

200,531 points

Oct 31, 2018 10:14 AM in response to pfriedel

Did you already update to Mojave macOS 10.14.1? Did yesterday's update not fix the problem?

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Answer 15

Digita1one Author

Level 1

20 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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