Photos.app on Mac en HEVC

[vmachiel]

Hi,

So have my photos on my mac set to download and keep all photos, and I optimize on my iPhone 8. I have my iphone set to take high efficiency photos and videos (HEIF and HEVC). When I look at the details of my videos in the photos app it has the HEVC label. But when I look at them in finder (inside the photos library package in the images folder), finder tells me they are .mov files (so far so good) with h.264 video, not h.265 or HEVC).

So.. what gives? Are they HEVC or not? Why does photos tell me one thing, and finder tells me something else?

Thanks!

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Are you exporting them out of Photos to see what codec is used? If so, it sounds like Apple converts video back to H.264 for greater compatibility when sharing.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207022

Sharing this media
iCloud Photo Library preserves media in its original format, resolution, and frame rate. Upgrade to iOS 11 or macOS High Sierra if your device can't fully view, edit, or duplicate HEIF or HEVC media in your iCloud Photo Library, or displays it at a lower resolution.

When you share HEIF or HEVC media using other methods, such as AirDrop, Messages, or email, it's shared in a more compatible format, such as JPEG or H.264.​

 

[vmachiel]

It's synced via icloud library to my Mac. I want all my original stuff there. But it's stored as a h.264 on my disk when I locate the file in Finder

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

What version of macOS is installed?

 

[vmachiel]

High Sierra 10.13.6