Cannot edit or export heic files in lightroom classic 11.5

[PaulLundgren]

Lightroom Classic 11.5

IMacOS 10.15.7

Just downloaded more than 600 HEIC images from my wife's iPhone. They seemed to import ok. However as soon as I open the Develope module I get the error massage "The file appears to be unsupported or damaged". I can edit it but I cannot export it or save it anywhere without an error. If I try to export it to Photoshop, it opens in Camera Raw and freezes. Only way out is to force quit Photoshop.

I have read several Adobe articles but none seem to address this issue. There does not appear to be any Lightroom Preference that mentiones HEIC files. Please do not tell me to reinstall Lightroom, move the files to another location, etc.,etc., or any of that nonsence. My version of Lightroom works just fine with JPG or RAW files. If HEIC files are not compatible with Lightroom then just say so.

I just need a way to convert 600+ files to JPG.

[johnrellis]

Lightroom Classic has supported .heic since version 7.4. I was able to import, edit, and export sample iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 11 Pro .heics in LR 11.5 / Mac OS 13.4.

You're on an older version of LR and a three-year-old version of Mac OS, and we may need to do "some of that nonsense" to troubleshoot this. 

As a first step, upload a sample problem .heic to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here. I can see if it imports into other LR 11.5 installations or if the photo is corrupt.

[PaulLundgren]

Ok, here is the Google Drive link to one of the files (IMG_0726.HEIC).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MnUQDHlhmUEOfipcsFMl67xcwue4TjiM/view?usp=share_link

I experiance the same issue with all 600 or so images. I was able to use a batch process in Photoshop to convert them all to .jpg. It seems odd to me that if Lightroom could work with HEIC files 5 years ago (High Sierra), why does my 3 year old system/app not work? In the meantime, I have changed the camera settings on my wife's iPhone to "most compatible" (meaning .jpg) to prevent further issues. But it would be nice to know why I am having the .heic issue.

Thanks for helping,

Paul

[johnrellis]

That Iphone 8 photo imports and opens in Develop in my LR 12.4 and LR 11.5 / Mac OS 13.4 and LR 12.4 / Windows 11.  Given that you opened those photos in Photoshop suggests one of two possibilities: 1) There is some incompatibility between LR 11.5 and Mac OS 10.15.7, or 2) there is something wrong with your installation of LR.

If there was general HEIC incompatibility between LR 11.5 and Mac OS 10.15.7, we'd surely have seen many, many reports here when 11.5 was released last year. So that points the finger at some issue with your LR installation, and that would indicate entering the realm of "nonsense" in trying remedies that sometimes fix such mystery problems, e.g. doing a clean uninstall of Creative Cloud apps using the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner tool.  Something to consider if you run into more issues down the road you'd like to fix...

[PaulLundgren · Accepted solution]

John,

Before trying your uninstall/reinstall process I decided to call Adobe tech support. I spent 2 hours in the chat. The tech tried everything he could think of, suggesting that reinstalling should be a "last resort". He wanted to install a newer LR version but my OS would not allow it, which is what I expected. He then said he would do some research and would it be ok if he called me back the next morning. When he called back, we could not repeate the error - everything seemed to work as intended. He was surprised but could not explain what or how the problem had been "fixed". The only possibility was that he had temporarily moved the catalog files out of their normal location into a desktop folder while he was attempting to upgrade Lr. Who knows? No matter what happened,  I has happy that the HEIC issue was no longer an issue and now working as it should.

Thanks for your help.

[johnrellis]

Glad it's working now. Must have been the phase of the moon.

[Keith Reeder]

"If HEIC files are not compatible with Lightroom then just say so."

Adobe has been perfectly clear about this:

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-cc/kb/heic-files-support.html

[JayStreetShooter]

Adobe has been perfectly clear that you can import HEIC/HEIF files, and modify them.

Adobe has avoided any explanation of why files can't be exported, saved or mailed as HEIC file.

Apple has a billion devices already shipped making HEIC, not counting other features, that format saves 25% to 40% of storage space.   Androids have supported HEIC for the last three OS versions.

At least get some developer to build a plug-in.   We stay in Lightroom Classic because it allows plug-ins.

[johnrellis]

"At least get some developer to build a plug-in."

You could use the Run Any Command plugin to invoke ImageMagick's "magick" command during export to convert to HEIC/HEIF. If you're skilled at command line scripting, you could forgo Run Any Command.

[JayStreetShooter]

Correction for the second sentence.

Adobe has avoided any explanation of why files can't be exported, saved or mailed as HEIC files after the files have been edited in the Develop Mode.  Files that have not been modified can be exported.