iPhone HDR hevc videos and Camera upload

[timefrancesco]

Hi, but the videos taken with the new iPhone 12 are saved in a very bad quality, using Camera upload functionality from the Dropbox iOS app.

They are mov files (it should be hevc), the colors are all wrong (it looks almost black and white), and they are compressed (I would like to keep the original).

It doesnt seem there is an option like there is for photos to keep hevc format.

[Walter]

Hey @timefrancesco; thanks for posting on our Community!

Can you please take a look at this Help Center article and let me know if it helps?

Thanks!

[timefrancesco]

Thank you @Walter , sadly the article suggests to change the format, but I would like to keep the hevc format and be able to use the background camera upload capabilities. 

Not sure if this is a limitation of iOS sdk, sadly for now I can only upload hevc using the mac.

On iOS they are always converted to mov and they lose their color depth as well as quality. 

[Walter]

I see; thanks for clarifying that for me @timefrancesco.

Can you please let me know if you get any different results if you try to upload those files manually through the (+) button?

[timefrancesco]

I checked and the results are the same @Walter , so maybe it is a limitation of iOS, or Dropbox in general.

Hopefully in the future it will be possible to upload original HEVC files directly from the phone.

[Daphne · Accepted solution]

Is it possible that the file is just a HEVC encoded .mov file, @timefrancesco?

Most likely, the difference you see when you view the file in Dropbox is due to the way that the preview of the file is generated, rather than the quality of the file being affected during upload.

Can you try downloading one of these files on your Mac locally, to try and play the file there and see how it looks?

The settings for Camera Uploads would be for images, but you do have the option to retain the original format by selecting HEIC instead of the recommended JPG.

[timefrancesco]

Hey @Daphne you are right.

I checked on the Mac and it plays fine, it's just the iOS preview that messes it up somehow.

Thanks for your help. 

[Daphne]

Thanks for checking that @timefrancesco!

The preview that is generated can sometimes be lower quality than the actual file, to improve the loading time for the file.

While it's not ideal, if you want to watch the video from Dropbox on your mobile, perhaps offlining the file first will help with the preview quality.