Apple downgrades image resolution for HEIF imports

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Apple downgrades image resolution for HEIF imports

I have imported identical images in high resolution (7728 × 5152 px) in both file formats (JPEG and HEIF) to Apple Photos on a Mac. I am using iCloud Photos with optimized storage enabled on all devices.

When I observe the JPEG image on an iPhone and iPad, double tapping and pinching reveals the full resolution. Sometimes the image needs to be loaded from iCloud, which I am aware of. However, when I view the imported HEIF image on an iPhone and iPad, the resolution is capped when double tapping and pinching. Only pressing "edit" leads to the full resolution experience. This is very irritating to me as I was actually very happy to be able to use the optimised HEIF format now also for non-iPhone images in Apple Photos. But if Apple is capping the resolution for those, I feel forced to go back to JPEG, which takes unnecessarly more space in iCloud Photos. Has anyone experienced this as well? Can I do something about it?

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Feb 5, 2023 11:58 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 6, 2023 09:08 AM in response to FabuloFab

On your iPhone, do you have Settings>Photos set to "Optimize iPhone Storage?" This will keep lower resolution images on your phone. "Download and Keep Originals" should make the full resolution images available without having to download them from iCloud. I'm not sure about how this affects zooming-- let us know if this is the problem.

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Answer 2

FabuloFab Author

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6 points

Feb 6, 2023 12:49 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Hi Richard.Taylor, thanks for the quick reply. As I mentioned in the first section, "Optimize iPhone Storage" is enabled on all devices. I am also aware, that "Download and Keep Originals" will make the full resolutions available on my phone. I am actually referring to the above described problem where the zoom experience and displayed resolution differs for HEIC and JPEG for otherwise identical images.

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Answer 3

Feb 7, 2023 07:44 AM in response to FabuloFab

I may be turning into those people who answer without actually reading the question. Oops.

I've been trying to reproduce your experience. I have "Optimize" checked on my phone, and I've been comparing HEICs zoomed and HEICs Edit-zoomed and, while at first I thought I saw a slight difference, as I've looked more, I can't see it. I've tried on my iPad, as well-- also comparing the zoomed image on my phone/ipad with the Edit-zoomed image on my computer ("Keep Originals"), and they seem as much the same as I can tell.

What could be different?

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Answer 4

FabuloFab Author

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6 points

Feb 8, 2023 07:18 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks for trying to reproduce my problem. Are the HEICS that you checked high resolution images? The ones taken from an iPhone do load correctly on my phone as well as they are just 12mp. I was experiencing my problem statement with 40mp HEICS from an external camera that where imported into Apple photos (as mentioned, the JPEGS with that same camera did work fine).

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Answer 5

FabuloFab Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 7, 2023 12:13 PM in response to léonie

Hi léonie, thanks for your suggestion and sorry for the late reply. My HEIC images have not been edited, no. They are actually external HEICs, not Apple iPhone ones. I encountered the same problem with the zooming in Adobe Bridge, thus I actually believe it is a compatibility problem. Those new HEIC files (in my case actually a '.HIF' format) might not be fully supported yet as the camera came out rather recently.

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

199,927 points

Feb 8, 2023 11:31 PM in response to FabuloFab

Have the HEIC images been edited? I had to revert quite a few images to the original to be able to view them clearly, after the iOS 16 upgrade.

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Apple downgrades image resolution for HEIF imports

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