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]

[Mr. Dmitry]

Please add HEIC support to Lightroom CC Classic!!! Can't use Lightroom to edit pictures from iPhone X!!!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I woud really really really like Lightroom CC Classic to support the HEIF/HEIC format. Any updates?

[Lumigraphics]

They don't even have support for non-flattened PSD files (without Maximize Compatibility) after all these years. I'm not holding my breath.

[kuhneng]

The difference is - HEIC is the native format on the most popular "camera" in the world. Lightroom's traditional strength has been simple to moderate editing workflows.

I shoot with both a "big" camera and my iPhone and want to mix photos in the same workflow. I can't do that without an ugly and lossy conversion through JPEG today.

[JohanElzenga]

You can shoot in DNG on an iPhone X. Maybe not with the Apple camera app, but there are plenty apps (including Lightroom Mobile) that support this.

[JohanElzenga]

On most iPhones you can use DNG nowadays. Maybe not with the Apple camera app, but there are plenty apps (including Lightroom Mobile) that support this.

[Mr. Dmitry]

You can't shoot DNG to avoid problem. Lightroom shoots DNG very poorly. They all are too smeared from hand movements in compare to the standard Camera app.

[Mr. Dmitry]

You can't shoot DNG to avoid the problem. Lightroom shoots DNG very poorly. They all are too smeared from hand movements in compare to the standard Camera app.

[JohanElzenga]

There are plenty of good apps (and often better than the Apple app) that can shoot in DNG.

[JohanElzenga]

So use another app that can shoot in DNG. There are plenty of them.

[JohanElzenga]

BTW, the Lightroom camera app has a 'Professional' setting that allows you to manually adjust things like ISO and shutter speed, so you can avoid hand movement problems.

[Mr. Dmitry]

You are not right. The standard Camera can eliminate movement problems with THE SAME settings. Just check it. I think Apple uses artificial intelligence and hidden API for that.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

It is just another way Adobe is trying to push us toward the cloud crap. The fact that HEIC support has been added in the LR CC but not in Classic is a clear indication. 

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

Er, no, they just hit some bugs that couldn't be fixed in time for release deadlines. It doesn't mean it won't come, but this is brand new tech.

[kuhneng]

I suspect a lot of us are watching the next few "Classic" releases very closely. It's quickly going to become clear whether Adobe has effectively abandoned that app.

[msp_guy]

It's a small thing, but this encapsulates for me why Adobe's cloud subscription model is such a disappointment. The original promise of moving to the cloud model was so they could add features as they are ready, instead of having to wait for a big "version" release to launch them. Yet that hasn't happened at all ... and in fact the pace of innovation has clearly slowed down massively over the last few years. 

Now, you may argue that the new LR CC is precisely what I'm describing - an auto-updated version that is continually tweaked, just like a web browser - but the fact is that it's not suitable for most of us who have a ton of images in local storage. So effectively Adobe is telling their serious/long-time users to take a hike, all the while putting engineering resources into a copycat of Apple Photos and Google Photos, which nobody will use because if they want that, they are already using Apple Photos or Google Photos.

Sigh. At least can we get HEIC/HEIF support? It already exists in Adobe code, for goodness sake. Ridiculous.

   

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

> The original promise of moving to the cloud model was so they could add features as they are ready

New features are added as soon as they're ready. We don't have to wait 18-24 months anymore. Now releases run about every 2 months. This new feature just isn't ready yet.

Don't worry that LRCC is taking resources away from Classic. It's a separate team - just like adding new features to Photoshop doesn't take away from Lightroom's development.

[kuhneng]

While we're at it - let's get specific about how HEIC should be supported. The current CC implementation preemptively converts files to jpeg (an unnecessary, lossy conversion) and loses any portrait mode depth maps in the process. That's completely counter to the idea of a non-destructive editing workflow.

I'd like to see HEIC treated like other formats - always use the native file or some lossless conversion of it as the foundation and apply processing on top of that.

[Franck Payen]

Sounds smart, but mostly as opened in Photoshop, where we could import a depth layer and use it for later postprocessing I guess.

[kuhneng]

One example of how this is useful - when I shoot in "Portrait" mode, the blur effect often has problems. Apple's photos app (and potentially others) can turn the depth effect off and salvage the photo. In time, there might even be more interesting things we can do in post.

[smq100]

Does anyone at Adobe yet have an update to this issue? How is it possible that the default image format of the most used camera in the world is not supported by Adobe's flagship photo cataloging application? 

[msp_guy]

Don't worry Steve, now that LR is "cloud" software it can be continually updated! Oh wait, except they have the code for this but it's still not updated. Never mind...

[michaelg11276540]

+1 on this. It's insulting to add support to L-CC and not Classic CC. And a BIG +1 to @gregkuhnen comment about how to support it natively.

[ebigmac]

Greg, Thanks for taking my basic request (have LR Classic read HEIC like LR CC does) and point out how it really should be implemented. We can only hope that the delay in adding it to LR Classic is due to the time that it takes Adobe how to figure out how to open a HEIC file in a non destructive way and let us work with it.

[msp_guy]

I have looked over the documentation for today's 7.2 update but don't see any reference to HEIC/HEIF support. I can't believe it would have been left out... somebody please tell me I'm wrong.