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

Aug 4, 2021 9:34 PM in response to skyking83

Looking at the photos, the scan of image into the portrait mode or HEIC format seems to stop with a color that is close to the the bit where the picture drops out into grey for the rest of the line in the photo. So a blue shirt ends up with a blue line at the bottom of the photo before the software gives up and just goes to grey, for instance. When the photo is converted from HEIC to JPG the final line with color information converts to the grey background like the rest of the photo.

somdatta

Level 1

8 points

Aug 27, 2021 10:36 PM in response to S314-EsPi

I have been facing the same problem. The problem got resolved temporarily with an update to the OS, when they had started displaying the folders as per month_year names. However, with another update 14.7.1 (the most recent one), the problem with IMG_E****.HEIC files being cropped while transferring to windows 10 is back for me!

Oct 17, 2021 11:28 AM in response to lencastre

Hello,

iOS 15.0.2 is out but still the same issue. Confirmed to happen on Windows, MacOS (see Bosny post on Jun 22, 2021 who also has a win 10 machine) and Linux (another post from lencastre on May 16, 2021).

Come on Apple ... one year now ... do something ...

lesterw

Level 1

4 points

Dec 11, 2021 1:01 AM in response to S314-EsPi

This problem has been around since iPhone 7 -- with ANY image that is edited. Notice the 'E' in the filename, such as IMG_E6340.HEIC. This is NOT a Microsoft problem. It is Apple who wrote the code which does the transfers, so they need to step up and fix this problem which has now existed for YEARS.

Please Apple, FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feb 19, 2022 1:44 AM in response to Ryder_del_Fin

"100% photo quality" is not true, @Ryder_del_fin. Just confirmed the photos are NOT full quality in the iCloud Download folder. I thought they were but I have checked again and they are only half the resolution of the original.

e.g. the photo transferred from my iPhone to computer: Resolution is about half when downloaded from iCloud, as it is when transferred by USB or whatever to the computer itself, which is when it gets the grey bar. The same reduction in resolution happens for unedited photos. Below is an example. It shows the file downloaded from iCloud is 1536 x 2048 is about half the size of the same file transferred from my iPhone to computer which is 3024 x 4032 (the latter is the same photo - I always rename it when copying direct from iPhone).

Please fix this Apple! Your claims of high quality camera on iPhone are meaningless if you cannot get the photos off the phone with the same photo quality.

Apr 17, 2022 12:31 PM in response to S314-EsPi

This is getting crazy.

This thread was initially reported back on Nov 2020 with iPhone 11 and iOS 14

We are now April 2022 and issue still exist every with Windows 11, iPhone 11/12/13 and iOS 15.4.1

Come on Apple... Do something! It doesn't make sense that you are abandoning the Windows users that way.

TheLittles

Level 10

202,759 points

Nov 24, 2020 9:59 PM in response to waltereleven

waltereleven Said:

"I'm having a hard time with the same!"

-------

Do your Part:

Inform Apple of this, as Bug, as mentioned above.

JonMerel

Level 1

4 points

Apr 12, 2021 4:33 PM in response to S314-EsPi

Same here, iOS 14.4.2. iPhone SE MCXW2VC/A.

I found that all edited photos have the problem (copped, colour changed).

Sep 13, 2021 9:02 AM in response to ientrepreneur

And it only applies to rear camera portrait mode, the issue doesn't come when it is front camera portrait mode. Billion dollar company, please fix this!

lesterw

Level 1

4 points

Dec 11, 2021 3:34 AM in response to S314-EsPi

This is a reasonable work-around until the issue is properly fixed by Apple. If you want the full 10-bit detail, say for the best portrait, use Apple ProRAW mode.

Feb 20, 2022 12:12 PM in response to S314-EsPi

BTW, there's another post about this issue too. See https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253265090?answerId=256901604022&page=1

TheLittles

Level 10

202,759 points

Nov 27, 2020 6:12 PM in response to jo3553

jo3553 Said:

"[...]I'm so glad I found this posting, because having exactly the same problem, except I'm not using Windows but a Linux PC[...]Clearly, this is not a problem with Windows."

-------

Do your Part:

Inform Apple of this, as Bug, as mentioned above.

Nov 28, 2020 12:38 PM in response to TheLittles

Hi Jo,

My apologies for the delay updating this post, sadly no, they didn't call me back (again). So I've call them and I was told "engineering support" still working on it, honestly, I don't belive they're Apple Engineers and neither they're "investigating/addressing the issue".

Indeed, files named IMG_EXXXX.HEIC are the ones going wrong. Glad you've specified you're going through the same with libheif on Linux, so ONCE AGAIN (excuse my tone, this is on Apple) we can conclude this is definitely not an issue with ours operative systems. Looks Apple (that's what I can say based on my recent experience dealing with them) just want to blame we're not MacOS users.

I'm supposed to get another callback anytime next week, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Best regards,

Walter

Nov 28, 2020 12:45 PM in response to TheLittles

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".

Thanks for your trouble but please do not reply unless you have a real based-software solution. Level and posts aren't everything when you talk to users who knows what they're doing.

Dec 6, 2020 7:16 PM in response to S314-EsPi

You got it Peter, we all know more about this than the genius bar, techie reps, supervisors and mangers at Apple.

I'll keep you posted If they come up with anything (don't thinks so but, just in case). Please let us know if you have some news as well.

Best regards,

Walter

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