P: Support for HEIC file format (Windows)

[ebigmac]

Support for HEIC file format was included in Lightroom CC but still is needed in Lightroom Classic.  When will it be added?

[HEIC image support was added to LR 7.4 (for Mac OS 10.13 or later) and LR 7.5 (Windows 10).  (We're now at LR 8.2.1.) See https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/kb/heic-files-support.html.  

- John Ellis]

[johnrellis]

Interesting. In my configuration, photos sync to LR Classic retaining HEIC format regardless of whether Settings > Photos > Transfer To Mac or PC is set to Automatic or Keep Originals. (LR 7.4, LR Mobile 3.3. Macos 10.13.5, iOS 11.2.1).

I wonder what accounts for the difference in behavior.

[rubberry]

Your phone most likely had the setting that Jerry stated above. My iPhone under Transfer to Mac or PC was set on Automatic and I changed to Keep Originals. 

That worked, but in Lightroom it cannot read the codec for the "Live Photos" mov files. Still some features to enhance, but at least it is some progress. 

[johnrellis]

As I stated above, my phone has these settings:

Settings > Photos > Transfer To Mac or PC > Automatic
Camera > Formats > High Efficiency

On my phone, it's not necessary to select Keep Originals for photos to sync as HEIC into LR 7.

[Charlie.D]

I’m glad the advice shared above (https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/kb/heic-files-support.html) seems to be helping.

On the iOS side, if anyone is still getting JPGs when trying to import HEIC, please be sure to update the LR Mobile app for iOS to version 3.3 – this latest version will import the HEIC originals from the device camera roll. Previous releases would convert HEIC to JPG during import, regardless of iOS settings.

Regarding HEVC video, the LR Mobile iOS app can import HEVC videos that are recorded in the iOS Camera’s video mode.  HEVC videos that LR Mobile for iOS can import will playback on the same mobile app, and at lightroom.adobe.com, but won’t playback on the desktop LR apps as others have mentioned.

Regarding the small videos that are part of Live Photos, the LR Mobile iOS app ignores these when importing Live Photos from the camera roll.  And if you use Mac Image Capture to transfer Live Photos to your desktop for import into LR, the LR desktop apps won’t import those small videos due to HEVC incompatibility.  There is a work-around:
- use Mac Image Capture to transfer Live Photos to your desktop
- sign into your LR account at lightroom.adobe.com
- select the small videos on your desktop that came from the Image Capture transfer, and drag them in the LR Web app to import them.
...I stopped doing this though for my personal collection, because the desktop clients can’t playback the HEVC videos.  I also dislike that these videos and their parent images look like duplicates to my eyes.  Really, I learned I don’t care about most Live Photo’s motion frames.  Still, I thought I would mention this work-around in case it’s useful to anyone.  The LR team does continue to talk about Live Photos and what we can do to better support our users in the future.

[alexskunz]

I just had to set my iPhone 7+ to "most compatible" because LR CC Mobile syncs HEIC to my Windows computer (which runs LR Classic CC) now instead of JPEG - which is completely useless.

The syncing is really the main point for using LR CC, without it I might as well use Dropbox instead, and ditch LR Mobile altogether.

Is there a way to configure LR CC to NOT sync HEIC, but revert to JPEG like it used to?

Because I can't find that OPTION. An OPTION, Adobe. Give us an OPTION instead of leaving users out in the cold. AN OPTION! How hard can it be... 😕

[johnrellis]

Alexander, to test my understanding: You'd like your iPhone to store photos in HEIC format. But when LR CC syncs them from the camera roll, or when LR Classic syncs them from LR CC, you'd like them to get converted to JPEG, so they show up in LR Classic as JPEG.  Is my understanding correct?

[alexskunz]

Your understanding is exactly correct, John. (I can't do anything on Windows with HEIC image files; I'd like to keep using them on the phone for storage efficiency reasons.)

It used to work like that without having to switch the phone to JPG/MOV before the latest LR CC update.

[johnrellis]

I think that the prior version of LR Mobile interpreted the iOS setting:

Settings > Photos > Transfer To Mac or PC > Automatic

to do the conversion when photos were synced from the camera roll into LR CC. Now it's not doing that, because LR CC handles HEIC.

So an option specific to LR CC or LR Desktop does seem to make the most sense.

[alexskunz]

Thanks for the confirmation and yes, I had that set to "Automatic" already.

Apple could just provide a HEIC codec for Windows, of course... 😉

[Charlie.D]

Hi Alexander

I like options too.  Can you elaborate on why you'd want to capture as HEIC but import into LR as JPG, vs just capturing as JPG?  I am happy to take your suggestion to the team, but am curious to know more about your workflow needs.  Is it a matter of storage space on the device?

[johnrellis]

Support for the HEIF container format is already in Windows preview releases:
https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/16/microsoft-releases-two-new-windows-10-previews-with-high-efficien...

Couldn't find any news on when that might released, nor whether the release would contain an HEVC codec. 

Apple doesn't own the patents, so it's very unlikely they would release them for Windows.

[alexskunz]

Charlie - yes, storage space. One photo where I compared was 800kb as HEIC, and 1.5MB as a JPG. On the phone, where storage space is limited and precious, that makes a big difference.

What format is used internally on the phone doesn't matter - as soon as it leaves the phone, it should result in a useful file though. Apple made sure of that, with the Export/Sync options. Dropbox has its own option on how to handle HEIC for Camera Uploads (keep or convert to JPEG). If my computer supported HEIC I'd turn that setting on the phone off.

I see no reason why Adobe stopped respecting Apple's setting on the phone with the latest LR CC update. How LR CC behaved in the past was completely logical. Now it's broken.

[gapk]

Suggestions to capture in DNG are classic redirection.  There are reasons to capture and use HEIF.  I have hundreds or thousands of these files on my wife's iPhone that I'd like to move off and into LR.  I want to preserve the live video (which she loves in some of her pics) as an integral part of the image.  I don't want to manage them a separate objects and tag them separately (at least not by default).  HEIF files are a fact and LR Classic needs to get off the pot and support them well.

[johnrellis]

Gary, are you on Windows?  HEIC is now supported on Mac.

[_Edouard_]

It's too late and the partial support is not enough. I've moved over to Photos for my daily photos, keeping only Lightroom for select shootings. It came too late, with a deafening silence while we had to wait, and a bad attitude from the fan boys in the forum, that asked why didn't have other needs than ours or wouldn't just accept their workarounds and keep it shut.

[Adam D H]

Charlie, why don’t you guys just implement HEIC in the Windows version and all these debates would be meaningless? Now I have heic files in the cloud imported thru the iOS app but I can’t use them in Lightoom...

[arbell15]

I just upgraded from standlone lightroom classic to the new lightroom classic cc for the sole purpose of getting HEIC support for my iphones on my PC, but even after upgrading, it's not supported.  Time for a refund I guess.

[johnrellis]

Right, LR 7 supports HEIC on Macos but not Windows.  Windows doesn't yet support HEIC, though Microsoft has been testing it in its "preview builds" for many months.  As soon as Windows supports it officially, I'd expect LR to support it soon after.

[arbell15]

I keep seeing people from Adobe saying windows doesn't support it by my vanilla windows 10 install movies & TV app plays the videos that lightroom can't recognize just fine.

[johnrellis]

I just searched and it appears sometime between March, when Microsoft released a preview build targeted for final release in the fall, and now Microsoft has released free add-on codecs for HEIC images and HEVC video, which you need to download from the Microsoft Store:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-open-heic-and-hevc-files-windows-10s-photos-app

I didn't see any article indicating that these codecs were built-in to Windows releases yet.  (I don't work for Adobe.)

[Adam D H]

Yes these codecs are available, but to view HEIC files you need the HEVC codec as well and that sells for $0.99. With that paid, my Lightroom still refuses to work with HEIC. Microsoft did the homework and asks for a small fee, but Adobe still didn't manage to include this, although Windows now officially supports the formats.

[johnrellis]

A very minor correction: If you follow the links from the article posted above, the codecs are free, not $0.99.  

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I am on Lightroom 6.14 / Camera raw 10.1 and its about time that Lightroom supported these types. Does anyone know of a way to work on these files without the conversions?

[joeg88617122]

Lightroom Classic is importing HEIC files that already exist in my catalog as jpg files.  The issue stems from the fact that iOS 12 converted my jpg's to HEIC before I realized this was happening and I had 20,000 photos converted on my phone to HEIC. They are all being imported to my hard drive. Since adobe will not acknowledge that this is an issue I don't know if they will offer an update to address. Nevertheless, my hard drive is full now from these double files. Can anyone recommend a plug-in that will find the HEIC duplicates of jpg files based on metadata? I am open to any suggestions on this.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Ah, I hadn’t figured out what was going on yet, but I believe I’m having the same issue. My wife keeps tons of photos on her phone, and I was puzzled last time I imported her phone into LR (which I do periodically), why it was re-downloading photos from years ago. This explains it. As a software engineer, I can understand why LR doesn’t realize these are duplicates, but I agree the end result is wasteful and annoying. +1 for any suggestions to solve this!