Mayayana <maya...@invalid.nospam> wrote:
> libheif
At the Github site for libheif:
https://github.com/strukturag/libheif
there was a hyperlink to:
https://www.libde265.org/
Alas, the download points to:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/h265-hevc-player/dambgipgbnhmnkdolkljibpcbocimnpd
which is strucktur's add-on to the Chrome web browser. Since MS Edge-C
accepts Chrome add-ons, the add-on could be used in MS Edge-C, too. I
tried an example file, and it displayed in Firefox without an add-on but
on Windows 10. Well, the add-on won't help you, either, since MS Edge-C
isn't available back in Windows XP. I don't know if older versions of
Firefox that ran on Windows XP have the x.265 codec.
The
libde265.org site has codec downloads to embed in VLC. There's
mention of VLC 2.1, and pointer to
https://github.com/strukturag/vlc-2.1/releases/tag/2.1.4-libde265-4. I
looked at
https://www.videolan.org/vlc/releases/, but couldn't see
mention what versions of Windows are supported by which versions of VLC.
None of the releases have a datestamp. Oooh, it's a secret. From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player#Release_history, VLC 2.1
was released back in 2013, so maybe VLC should play your HEIF files, but
it seems dependent on the container used.
My recollection of VLC is that it uses its own private codec store
instead of relying on pointers in the registry to find them; that is,
VLC uses its private codec store instead of the global codecs available
to the OS and apps using the registry pointers. Instead of codecs,
looks like VLC uses plug-ins to supply the code that the codecs would
provide. I go to Tools -> Plugins and Extensions, select the Plugins
tab, and search on "hevc" to see there are 3 matching entries.
However, from further reading, it looks like the viewer has to support
the container in which the HEVC encoded content resides. The libde265
add-on mentions "Matroska video files with common audio codecs like MP3,
AAC, and AC3". Their add-on for Chrome mentions only a few containers
(.mkv).
https://www.libde265.org/downloads-videos/ has some example
videos. Alas, I picked the Tears of Steel video which is 92MB in size.
Not huge, but their server is very slow. I gave up waiting for it.
Instead I picked the Spreed - The Meeting at 2MB. VLC played that okay.
It played a .mkv video file that supposedly used HEVC to compress it.
VideoLAN VLC is about playing videos, so that's why the focus above was
on HEVC video content. For viewing HEIF image files, you need the HEIF
codec (which seems to require the HEVC codec), and most articles lead me
to Windows 7 as the minimum.
I see Adobe Lightroom mentioned several times to view, and even edit,
HEIC files. It is subscriptionware on Windows, but its mobile app is
free. However, mobile apps tend to be crippled versions of their
desktop cousins, so no idea if mobile Adobe Lightroom will let you
convert HEIC to JPEG.
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/kb/heic-files-support.html
While you're striving for offline conversion on your Windows desktop,
maybe you have a smartphone where you could run Adobe Lightroom to see
if it can view HEIC files.
Android:
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=adobe%20lightroom&c=apps
iOS 11+:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lightroom-photo-video-editor/id878783582
I suspect the mobile apps for Lightroom use Adobe's cloud-based service.
WHen I hunt around for Lightroom for Windows, I only support going back
to Windows Vista, and a $9.99/month subscription to their cloud service
(
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom/compare-plans.html).
I suspect the mobile-based Lightroom apps, to be free, have a much
smaller [starter] cloud quota, something like OneDrive or Google Drive
giving you a starter quota, and hoping you'll eventually need to buy
more cloud space. You could get your friend's HEIC photos to your
smartphone, and use the free mobile Lightroom app to convert them.
Seems a lot easier to ask your friends to send you JPEG images instead.
Tell them you're not an Apple user, so you need their images in a format
that other platforms will support without incurring expense or massive
workarounds. Android has the greatest OS market share, then Windows,
and thirdly iOS. See:
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share
Some Apple users don't give a gnat's fart about the non-Apple world: to
them, it's Apple's way, or no way. They are interred in the Apple
realm, and don't care what is outside. I have an Apple iPad (non-Pro),
and it is my least desired OS platform.
Here's an idea: have the Apple users send you their HEIC photos to your
iCloud account. They're free. Instead of using my own e-mail address,
I got an iCloud e-mail account (and used that to create an Apple ID
account). How are the Apple users sending you their HEIC photos, or any
of their photos? Instead of e-mailing them as attachments, have them
send their pic files to your iCloud account. They already have an
iCloud account.
https://support.apple.com/guide/icloud/share-photos-and-videos-mm93a9b98683/icloud
After logging into your iCloud account, open the Photos app. Select the
image(s) you want to download. Click and hold the download icon, and
click "Most Compatible" in the pop up notification. You'll end up
downloading HEIC images from your iCloud account as JPEGs to your
Windows computer.
For the Apple user, they could double-click the photo they want to send
you (they're going to have to select it somehow to send to you). They
use File -> Export, and choose JPEG. If you keep bouncing their e-mails
with .heic attachments because you have no way to view their .heic
files, and because they have an impetus to get you that photo (else they
wouldn't have bothered sending it to you), seems a simple method for
them to get their precious photos to you in a more compatible format.
https://www.10news.com/convert-iphone-heic-photos-jpegs
Seems that indicates the files are .heic in their photo library, but get
converted when they share -> copy to a folder shown in the Files app.
We've probably already wasted more time that it would take for your
senders to send you JPEGs instead of HEIFs.