HEIF/HEVC, iCloud Photo Library, and older devices?

[ocanalix]

Say I take a photo on my iPhone 7 in high efficiency format, and then it uploads to iCloud Photo Library… will I be able to view it on my other devices that don't support iOS 11/macOS High Sierra? I'm assuming it'll generate a JPEG preview, but I won't actually be able to view the original file?

 

[EugW]

Any iOS 11 device can view HEIF files without conversion. It's just that if it's using something less than an A9, it will be software based decode, which uses up more CPU cycles. This increased CPU usage is especially true for Live Photos, since the video is 1080p HEVC.

 

[ocanalix]

But my Mac running Sierra can't open HEIC files, so I don't understand how it's supposed to decode it?

 

[David Murray]

But my Mac running Sierra can't open HEIC files, so I don't understand how it's supposed to decode it?

All HEIC files will be converted to JPEG automatically while transferring. Anyway, you can try this app to convert .HEIC files to JPEG or PNG on your Mac that is not supporting HEIC.

 

[EugW]

Any reason you can’t upgrade to High Sierra? Compatibility with legacy software or something? If your system supports Sierra, it also supports High Sierra.

 

[ocanalix]

Any reason you can’t upgrade to High Sierra? Compatibility with legacy software or something? If your system supports Sierra, it also supports High Sierra.

Sorry, meant it's running El Cap.

Think I figured it out now, iCloud converts. Took over 4 days to upload my entire library though… painfully slow.