Starting with iOS 11, (and already now in the beta) iPhone pics will be taken in HEIC/HEIF format instead of JPEG. (Video format changing too - not sure what that one is called). It will almost overnight become one of the most popular formats on the web.
Please make sure those files are respected and processed in video libraries. Click like to vote for this!
Vote for this feature, it saves space and is not just an iPhone feature.
Samsung Galaxy S9 and newer can also use this format if you enable it.
So an iPhone for two years has been taking pictures in HEIF and uploading them to the PMS server as part of the camera roll feature, but PMS canāt understand the file encode, canāt display it, and logs errors?
Voted up ftw.
This format is technically 4 years old, and has been popularized on Apple hardware for more than 2. As the hardware advances, Apple is adding additional features for using this HEIF format (like keeping multiple zoom levels with the different lenses for image correction). But I like using Plex as my photo auto backup, so I canāt use the newer format.
It would be nice to know if Plex has any additional info to share on the matter that isnāt 2 years old. I think we deserve an update.
Hi Plexers
Iām new to Plex but have been using Linux for years (Plex on Ubuntu server 18.04).
Executive summary of the below: āHey PLEX team - please add automatic conversion of *.heic image files when we load them into our servers! This is not hard because I can do it.ā
I just encountered the HEIF format in my wifeās images downloaded from her iPhoneX. Fortunately, Linux has a handy tool (poorly documented!) called heif-convert in the package libheif. If anyone out there uses it, be sure to use the -q option, which is a % quality of compression. heif-convert -q 90 gives a file that is visually identical to the maximum quality (-q 100) but much smaller. I also didnāt like that IOS only puts sequence numbers only in the file name so I used the exif data (exiftool, which can see the exif data in heic files) to rename the file to match that which I get from Google Photos and my android Pixel. When I converted the file, I used the exif data to reset the modified date to the create date because PLEX uses this to order the images in the timeline. All of this I hacked into a bash script so I can do an entire directory in one command. I donāt want to distribute this as the script is extremely crufty* but Iāll share if anyone is interested (no warrenty!). Would be good if our Plex server would automatically convert heic/heif files when we upload them.
cheerios
Buz
I would love a copy of your script to see if I can adapt it to run on my Synology NAS.
I put it on dropbox - adapt and improve as needed. It makes assumptions that may not apply in your case.
Itās really sad that this is still a topicā¦ :-/
Yes Very sad that this is not complete - adds to the disappointment of a PLAXPASS LIFETIME MEMBER - thanks !
Hey Buz - I just saw this and would really like to find out more - I am definitely interested in the script and might be able to pretty it up ( but I am sure it is fine !! - lol ) if it works ā¦ it works ! right !!
thanks for taking the time to write this up -
marty
See my Oct 2019 response above. Click the linkā¦
Just adding for reference, I had a similar thread from ~3 years ago.
Please add support or allow developers to add it for you! As a Plex Pass member, this is a must have in order to have a complete solution!
3 Years and counting? Is plex deaf to users?
Maybe we should start complaining about missing features in external blogs/sites.
So new users will be aware before buying Plex.
Iām very disappointed to know that a lot of features I need are not implemented yet.
Instead we receive stupid features like tidal and free unknown films.
Iām seeing other apps now add HEIC support that are open source like NPM module called EXIFREADER. Do the libraries you depend on now support HEIC or can the PLEX image ingest tool at least convert from HEIC to what currently works vs fully support the HEIC format? I would prefer native support but I guess if quality stays high and proper exif is transferred in conversion process than ok.
Iāve been patiently waiting for this feature because I believed what the team had said and promised. Iām starting to doubt it and it is really disappointing because I really love using Plex and hope to continue using it. I know my comment will likely be ignored by the dev team, but there are still fans out there and adding this critical feature to the next release can surely regain some of their trust back.
I really donāt understand the holdup on this. 3 years and counting is bananas for this.
This is a popular format and has been since iOS moved to it years ago. Plex devās, please stop tooling around with VR crap and ensure the most basic functions work for people please.
Iām usually not the āvoice of reasonā guy, but this one isnāt the developerās fault, it ours (the communityās). We havenāt made this a priority for the developers. HEIF/HEIC support is about #48 on the list. The top three on the list all have about 10x or more votes than this one.
HEIC is a standard now and is rapidly becoming THE standard. I want this fixed, too.
If youāre reading this, VOTE for it!! If you donāt, another three years is going to pass by because the community is telling the developers all kinds of crap is more important than this!
Not sure I consider multi factor authentication to be āall kinds of crapā, but to each their own. Thatās a >5 year old request, has 10x more votes than this, and still hasnāt been done.
Four of the top five feature requests are over 5 years old. Itās nice to believe that number of votes translates to developer priority, but do you have any evidence that itās actually the case?
