HEIC (Lost Histogram) Best way to recover/Convert

[kiwilink]

I was sent some family pics and they are in HEIC from an Iphone.  I spent yesterday reading all of the posts about HEIC's so I understand these are not good for my IMATCH database.  Obviously, the histogram doesn't show up (among other things) when I imported them.  I used a 3rd party program (HEIC Converter +) to convert them to .jpeg files.  The histogram is now showing but I don't know what else could be lost.  I read Mario's cautions so I am suspect on how to proceed.

I'd like to have these images.  What is the best way for me to proceed with these images?  Is there anything within IMATCH that I should do (Best practices)?  I may not want to run Face detection or other things on these files.  If there is a best way to convert them and keep most of the Metadata please let me know.

Just looking for what other people do if they have these formats and are unable to get the original JPEG's.

Thanks!

Kiwilink

PS  Getting my database of 130,000 images ready for IMATCH 2025!

[bekesizl]

I use XnView or XnConvert to convert iPhone HEIC files to JPEG. It copies everything, including metadata.
Then you can define HEIC as buddy/version or simply delete it.

[Mario]

HEIC files are a patent landmine and under the tight control of Nokia, Apple and affected by about 1,000 (no kidding) patents.

But IMatch loads them just fine when you have installed the separate HEIC WIC codec from Microsoft.
Since Microsoft must pay money to Apple and others for each HEIC "user", the HEIC codec is not included in Windows. It's free to install, but Microsoft wants users to explicitly download the WIC codec to save money.

If you miss the histogram in the "Image" Metadata Panel layout:

The Histogram and Dashboard are by default configured to show only for files of type "Image". But IMatch classifies HEIC/HEIF files as "multimedia" since they can contain anything.

Open the layout in the MD Panel Layout Editor and enable the histogram for all file types:

[kiwilink]

Bekesizl and Mario

Thank you very much Bekesizl.  I will get that software and convert these HEIC's.

Mario:

Made the change and now I see the histogram.  Thanks so much for the help.  Really appreciate it!!

kiwilink

[Mario]

See Support for HEIC/HEIF Files in Windows for details.

[Mario]

And yet another for the (hopefully soon released) version 2025 of IMatch.

When a Metadata Panel layout uses "image" for controlling when a panel like the Dashboard or Histogram is shown, IMatch now includes files with the IMatch file class multimedia and the IMatch file format tag HEIF (which covers HEIC, HEIF, HIC, HEIFS, AVCS etc.)

This makes things easier for users

Yikes: There are now 99 entries in the release notes for IMatch 2025, and most are not bug fixes.