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]

[msp_guy]

P.S. don't know why it is double posting and can't seem to fix it

[_Edouard_]

Probably a bug of the website that Adobe « is currently working on »... 😄

[john beardsworth]

With respect, comments to the effect of "they said they are working on it" are irrelevant. No paying customer needs to be quiet about pain points they are encountering. People who hate the new Macbook keyboards are very vocal and they voice their opinion daily and continually. If D850 shooters (or name your camera) didn't have file format support for *10 months* post the release of that camera, I'm sure they wouldn't just ask once and then sit silently and wait. I can't even imagine the outcry. I have heard there is a decent-sized LR update coming this month. We'll see if Abode deigned to make this part of the cut.

What's relevant and what I said is that it's not "Ignoring" and "lying" (both?) when this very thread contains a clear, recent statement of intent. It's perfectly reasonable to say "I want it - and soon". But that has to be tempered with realism about whether there is demand to support new formats and about their specific technical and legal/licensing issues (it's not like supporting another variant of the same raw format). Should others be quiet when they are content that something comes when it is ready?

[msp_guy]

You're perfectly entitled to approve of Adobe's current approach. I guess I just don't understand why you would engage regularly on this thread and tell the rest of us why we should be ok with it, too. Why not just ignore it, as most people would do regarding threads that are not relevant to them?

[msp_guy]

You're perfectly entitled to approve of Adobe's current approach. I guess I just don't understand why you would engage regularly on this thread and tell the rest of us why we should be ok with it, too. Why not just ignore it, as most people would do regarding threads that are not relevant to them?

[john beardsworth]

Why wouldn't anyone get drawn back by hysterical comments like "ignoring" and "lying", threats of Facebook campaigns, unrealistic expectations etc?

[Butch_M]

Someone has to tilt at all those windmills for Adobe ...

Some would like us to believe Adobe are hampered by Apple's pace and methodology which puts severe pressure on third party developers ... I don't concur with that premise. 

After all, Apple offers months of advanced developer and public betas for ALL of the new versions of iOS, macOS, tvOS and WatchOS ... nothing Apple offers should come as a surprise to Adobe or any other developer ... yet Adobe seems to always be treading water way behind the curve ... this from a multi-national, multi-billion dollar developer ... that supposedly employs the best minds in the world ... yet, with all those valuable resources and assets, they seem to always be playing catch-up. I don't get why they are always so far behind on such items.

Craig Federighi stated in the WWDC keynote last week (an event where Adobe actually participated) that over 1 trillion images are captured with iOS devices every year ... it should come as no surprise that a new, more compact file format would be welcome news for those users to save space on their devices and in the cloud. Why Adobe would speculate or need to 'wait and see'  if their users would embrace the new format is simply illogical.

It would be nice, especially if Adobe has designs on expanding photography subscriptions to millennial smartphone shooters, it might behoove Adobe to add support for this file format sooner, rather than later.

[john beardsworth]

Phone storage grows, connectivity improves, space saving is less relevant. Contrary to your characterisation, Adobe moved ahead of the game by offering a higher quality lossless format, and they see what formats typical Lightroom users use to capture photos with their phones. So it's evidence versus hot air. While it certainly seemed a fair bet that Apple's default settings would lead to adoption of the new format ramping up, it's perfectly sensible to track that progress and see if LR customers do bother with it before jumping to offer native support. Adobe recently said "soon". Fine, that's the realistic approach. Yours is indeed the argument of charging at windmills....

[Butch_M]

Thanks for your opinion, John ... I'll certainly give it all due consideration and worth as you have afforded me.

I should have known better than to question the almighty Adobe and by extension Mr. Beardsworth. It must be very satisfying to achieve that level of perfection. We mere mortals can only pray we live long enough to achieve that status.

You and Adobe do seem to know best and we that don't march to your drum beat should bow our heads in shame, get in lock-step with the masses and keep our thoughts to ourselves. How dare we have a different point of view? 

[smq100]

It's becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish Adobe's defenders here as serious, or purveyors of satire and sarcasm. Adobe should "wait and see" and "check progress" on whether or not LR should support the default image format of the iPhone? Not sure whether I should laugh or be outraged...

[john beardsworth]

You throw jibes at me, Butch, I throw them back. Ah diddums.....

[Mr. Dmitry]

I've never thought about not using Lightroom and Photoshop. But I think I'm ready to cancel my subscription. It's shameful to use a product of the company that bluntly hates their customers and hates you.

[_Edouard_]

So Sir Beardsworth is implying I’m not a typical LR user — wivh means a professional photographer — if I’m using a space saving high quality format. Thanks! (except I am a professional photographer)

[john beardsworth]

You may imply whatever you want about yourself, Mike, or define whatever you think a typical LR user may be. It's not what I said. I didn't seek to define that typical user and I said "formats" - last time I looked, that was a plural.

[Butch_M]

Pure perfection once again ... 

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

Come on guys, this isn't achieving anything. While opinions do differ, we can all treat each other respectfully. There's no need for personal insults. 

[john beardsworth]

Please don't play innocent, Butch. You personalised the discussion, while I simply rolled your first jibe back to you and - unlike you - didn't continue making personalised comments.
As you may remember, I always advocated that LR should not restrict the type of file that people can import. That's as unlikely as ever, but  I don't think it's then unreasonable for Adobe to support new file formats based on proven demand from typical LR users rather than on phone vendors' hype. JPEG2000 was once the future, wasn't it?
So while I have to grudgingly accept that LR will never manage the FLOG video and stills shot on the same DSLR (it'll be a miracle if we ever get 4K export),  I wouldn't be surprised to see HEIC import before too long. The important thing is  whether that support will amount to much more than importing.

[Butch_M]

"Please don't play innocent, Butch. You personalised the discussion, while I simply rolled your first jibe back to you and - unlike you - didn't continue making personalised comments."

Hence my comment about perfection ... Apparently you have mastered the trait while I should really learn to know my place and be silent. Then all will be right in the world.

Though, I don't ever recall expressing an opinion on JPEG2000, FLOG of 4k export, ever. Somehow I must have messed those topics up as well.

[john beardsworth]

I have neither said nor implied that you should be silent or "know your place", Butch, those are your words, your imagination. Other than throwing your first ad hominem jibe back to you,  I have simply given a view that happens to be contrary to yours.

[Butch_M]

I completely understood your analogy. I was merely pointing out I never expressed an opinion on any of those items ... ever ... and questioned the relevance of same to this specific conversation. 

If an entity similar to Apple would have employed JPEG2000 as default, in a flagship device that had been used by a similar number of users around the world capturing a comparative number of images ... then ... after 18 years of availability, virtually no one was using the format ... then your comparison would hold water.

Unfortunately for JPEG2000, relatively few camera makers ever offered the ability to save images in that format. Certainly not in the numbers near the amount of iPhones in current use that are capable of saving in HEIC format.

I can recall only receiving a handful of JPEG2000 from customers over the years, yet the lab receives requests from customers wishing to submit HEIC almost daily.

It was good of you to point out my inferior comprehension skills and your superior intellect once more.

[john beardsworth]

It's amazing that stating a contrary view provokes such a spasm of forelock (check spelling twice) tugging....

[Butch_M]

Indeed

[Sunil_Bhaskaran]

HEIC support on Mac 10.13 and above is provided in Lightroom Classic 7.4 that released today.
For more info, please see: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/whats-new.html

Thanks,
Sunil

[Adam D H]

And what about Windows???

[msp_guy]

Strange - I got an email alert that Sunil posted announcing HEIC support in LR 7.4, but can't find his post on here. If correct, thank goodness and thank you Adobe (still not sure why the massive secrecy on when it was happening). If it got pulled due to some bug, please please don't make us wait until another major dot release to push the update for this.