Level 1

33 points

Portrait type photos are corrupted (grey area appear) when transferring from iPhone to PC

When using the bulk transfer from iPhone to PC (Windows 10) with "Keep Originals" settings in Photos, the imported portrait (IMG_Exxxx) photos are corrupted and they are imported as HEIC as well as the originals.

Few months ago with the above settings, the portrait photos were transferred as IMG_Exxxx.JPG instead of HEIC format. There is no any other issue with the normal HEIC photos, only with the portrait type photos.

If I change to the "Automatic" setting when transferring to PC in the Photos application, the portrait images are transferred properly in IMG_E.jpg, but in this scenario all other HEIC photos are not rotated properly and the EXIF data can be lost.

I prefer using the "Keep Originals" settings when transferring from iPhone to PC, but it seems that there is a bug when you are importing the Portrait type of photos that should be copied as JPG and rotated properly regardless of the "Keep Originals" settings.

Thank you,

Peter

iPhone 11, iOS 14

Posted on Nov 1, 2020 1:52 AM

Top-ranking reply

AussieLyndal

Level 1

18 points

Posted on Feb 20, 2022 12:43 PM

@Ryder_del_Fin, Refer my answer on the other post about this issue in Apple Communities: Portrait Mode Photos Corrupted (Gray Bar) - Apple Community

To summarise though:

yes, I'm using the Windows iCloud app, not a web browser (although there's a partial workaround to the download size for unedited photos in a web browser, it doesn't help us with the grey bar issue).
you can change the name of the folder where iCloud saves photos. I've called mine "Download" in the location you saw in my screenshot.
no, using an external drive doesn't help. Not sure why you are seeing a difference?
The only workarounds I found were to use a 3rd party cloud backup tool (I tested OneDrive, Dropbox and iDrive and both work to get the full resolution edited photo)

Other important points to note:

the issue is not just "Portrait" mode photos. Can't remember what setting I used for the below landscape photo, but clearly the grey bar occurred.

The issue doesn't only occur on Windows. It happens in certain circumstances on Mac too - see: Portrait Mode Photos Corrupted (Gray Bar) - Apple Community . I've seen another post from someone saying they saw it on Linux.

Note: My reason for mentioning the HEIF extension was that I was just adding to @davidg82's post to explain which extension on MS Store to use. It's not really relevant to the grey bar issue - just friendly advice because someone was saying they didn't know how to display (valid) .heic files on Windows. FWIW, I have Windows 10 and it certainly didn't recognize .heic files by default. I needed to install the extensions to be able to display the photo in an .heic file. Based on my Google'ing, WIndows 11 doesn't support .heic out of the box either - you need to install the extension for it too. If you don't have the extension installed, you can still open the file with 3rd party tools that support .heic, or you can open it to examine it at byte level with an editor that supports doing so. As you're adamant photos with a grey bar are just mis-named jpeg files, it sounds like you've probably done that.

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141 replies

Dec 14, 2020 10:30 PM in response to waltereleven

Hi,

I'm having the same problem with all my pictures - a quick fix is to go to Settings / Pictures / select "automatic" in the "Mac or PC transfer" section - I didn't have any issue with JPG pictures.

Best regards,

Flavien

Apr 14, 2021 11:41 AM in response to S314-EsPi

I am also suffering a similar issue with the iPhone 12 Pro.

E photos are giving me a corrupted grayed out area on the bottom of the E photos. Standard HEIC photos are fine.

Changing settings to photos from "Keep Originals" to "automatic" solves it, but is not really a satisfactory answer when it comes to utilizing the iPhone's camera quality to produce quality images.

I distinctly remember having no issue importing portrait or other edit photos from the iPhone back in 2019.

Sep 5, 2021 5:50 AM in response to Lardon_Jim

So, I no longer care about the #greyareagate bug and have since incorporated the new unapologetic Apple "feature" into my workflow as follows:

assume I'm running the latest and greatest non-beta iOS version on the iDevice (do not select Most Compatible option for exporting)
make sure the Win10 machine is updated, including iCloud and iTunes (from the Windows AppStore), and FastStoneViewer
connect iDevice via USB cable and download all photos from iPhone with FSV (automagically sort into daily folders)
in the iDevice open the Photos app, open the Portrait Mode tag/filter/container/whatever, select all photos and export to a temp folder on iCloud using the Files App
wait for my Win10 machine to sync with iCloud
use Windows PowerToys to quickly rename the Portrait Mode photos to include the *E* on the filename
move/replace (or copy to new folder if you want to keep the #greyareagate abominations)
give yourself a pat on the back and send a thank you tweet to Mr. Tim Apple for the great job his doing running the show /s

Life is short. Cheers,

Oct 12, 2021 6:12 PM in response to DrollAntois

@DrollAntois

The issue with that setting is that it converts your HEIC images to JPEG and all H265 encoded videos to H264, which takes significantly more (approx. double) the space. Additionally, it would often corrupt a large video file due to transcoding errors while transferring.

Oct 16, 2021 2:51 PM in response to S314-EsPi

Hello everyone,

I'm still on iOS14.8 with my iPhone11Pro. I've got Windows10 with all updates up to 16.10.2021 and on the Microsoft Store I can see HEIF Image Extensions version 1.0.42621.0 and HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer version 1.0.42701.0 updated as of 15.10.2021.

I've connected my iPhone to the USB-C port on my PC, navigated to the most recent DCIM folder and copy/pasted a Portrait Mode photo taken on 13.10.2021. Lo and behold, the situation remains.

So, I will continue to make separate downloads, by selecting all Portrait Mode photos and saving on a temp folder on iCloud Drive and sync that with my PC. The rest I can safely download with Faststone Image Viewer.

Other replies from this thread indicate that photos modified on the iDevice will also generate grey areas. I was not able to confirm this. So far I only get the grey areas with Portrait Mode photos (front and back cameras).

Cheers,

TheLittles

Level 10

202,805 points

Nov 28, 2021 12:52 PM in response to waltereleven

waltereleven Said:

“Boots are disgusting, but you've reach the next level. I don't think you've read everything I wrote, otherwise you wouldn't give me those ‘advises’.”

———-

As the OP Said: “transferring from iPhone to PC, but it seems that there is a bug when you are importing the Portrait type of photos that should be copied as JPG”

So, if there is a bug, then that is why to contact MS and Apple. They are the developers of the Operating Systems. If a bug, they’ll look into it, and MS may know something on their part.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Portrait type photos are corrupted (grey area appear) when transferring from iPhone to PC