FunkyL Loc: MD

Software info: heic file from a friends iphone, windows 10 on laptop, PSE 2019. Pic is viewable in laptop pictures file, but would not import into PSE organizer. I assumed the heic format was the issue and saved as jpg using software provided in windows 10 pictures. Tried again to import to PSE, no luck, "file is damaged or in a format that cannot be included in PSE". I tried uploading it here, and got no picture, but saw a line that said it was a "non-photo" file. (I intended to delete the photo before sending anyway, as it's not mine, and shows people who are members and volunteers of a charitable organization - I'm not comfortable sharing it outside of it's intended use.) At this point, getting this pic into PSE is not important enough to spend hours trying to figure out, but I'm hoping someone here can provide a little education as to what may be going on. Thanks in advance for your help!

uhaas2009

Check for update on your PSE or there should be converter software. I googled HEIC to jpg

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

When you did this Windows conversion, what exactly happened? What was the file extension? Did Windows Pictures show / display the resulting image file? If other software, like this website and PSE don't think the file is a JPEG, it probably isn't. So, I'd go back to that supposed conversion to JPEG and see what went wrong there. Windows not handling an Apple file correctly, no surprises there. Maybe another 'free' conversion software is needed?

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

Apple was the first major adopter of the HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format) standard in 2017. In iOS 11, the format came as the default, since it consumes less space and improves image rendering. One can change that setting to JPEG ("most compatible") in iOS. I actually shoot in HEIC (HEIF) on my phone and then convert to JPEG using an HEIC Converter program on my Mac. There are two free such programs (for Apple, which is what I use) and I've had no problems using them in any of the photo editors I use.

Since you're working in a Windows environment, I suspect the conversion you did wasn't according to specification, and thus the internal file data wasn't properly updated.

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

1) why did you convert the file I first place? Doesn't PSE read HEIC
2) beware that there is a bunch of "jpeg formats" (JPEG 2000, JPEG XL, etc.) and some of them might not be supported by PSE

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I believe that they need to be converted in the iPhone to FPEG files on download. Go to Settings, Photos, and scroll down to the bottom to select Automatic. This will change the HEIC FILE to a JPEG when it’s copied to a PC.

JP6502 Loc: California

Get your friend to change the setting on the iPhone to take the picture with jpeg extension. Controls, Camera formats, most compatible

stangage

My iphone 11 seems to want to default to HEIC. In fact it doesn't allow any other format even though supposedly Apple adept people say it will. So I have ended up with some HEIC files that are trapped in iCloud. I spent hours trying to get the files into a format that could be edited in Light Room. Simply a waste of time and $60 on a converter that was useless too. Interestingly LR at one point did import some files with the HEIC suffix but it couldn't do anything with them.
Since what I needed was to zoom in on one part of the photos for a courtroom presentation I used the SNIP tool in Windows to grab the part of the photo I needed. Windows photo viewer would expand that and let me grab the part I needed and then annotated it in Powerpoint.
All in all a very clumsy and time consuming process.
Apple should think more carefully about allowing owners of their products to choose photo formats and provide useful translating apps to allow photos to be accessed in formats that are compatible with the rest of the world.
All in all, I'm ready to go back to a fruit free life. Wasting too much time trying to adapt to proprietary formats, hardware, and systems* that offer zero to minimal advantage.


*eg I can only get photos out of the phone and into my local files by going through an icloud account. I don't want to be beholden to Apple for anything and only able to do the work I want to do if I have access to cell phone or internet links. No - the coverage maps that cell service providers produce are mainly for bragging rights. Even though I live less than 7 miles from what I would call ground zero of Silicon Valley cell phone service is intermittent and internet access only works when PGE says its OK.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

On your phone, go to Settings, Photos, and scroll down to the bottom to select Automatic. This will change the HEIC FILE to a JPEG when it’s copied to a PC.

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

HEIC: better compression, 10 bit per piexel, less artifacts... why mess with OP's friend's phone settings just to avoid a simple conversion?

JPEG is long obsolete... there were many attemps to introduce better standars, but failed because of corporate practices. Just droping support JPEG XL in Chrome because it wasn't developed by Google.

JPEG XL compresses to about 1/10 of "regular" JPEG while retaining the same quality, and supports 12 bit depth... but will die and we'll be stuck with a standad that should be dead since 2000.

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

The free Paint.Net (https://www.getpaint.net/download.html) besides being my go to paint program, reads and writes HEIC, and avery other imaginable file format.

Affinity natively imports HEIC, so does Captrue One, ON1, and every every mayor photo software. Adobe is a bit more complicated and requires you to install the *free* Windows codecs for HEIC once. This is a nonsense complication, introduced by Adobe to anoy users only because they were not invited to the HEIC party...

So does XnView and many other great free software... why did you **pay**f or a useless converter? It's a scam, those "converters" just install the *free* codec and claim to convert files. Si Dire Starits once said "Money for Nothing..."

stangage

That's the theory. Automatic is "checked". System will not allow transfer directly from phone memory files to PC. Only path is via icloud.

stangage

That's why I use RAW whenever I can. Only use JPEG when trying to communicate with one of the other 8 billion people in the world.

New standards always have a hard time becoming "standard" in the absence of backward compatibility. Hopefully HEIC will suffer the same fate.

jcboy3

The current version of Lightroom handles HEIC files just fine.

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America