IPhone X Videos Shot in High Efficiency (HEIC) Format are Blank with Sound

[dcooney]

There are other similar threads about this but I'm starting a new one because this issue is still not fixed and it should be becasue users rely on Dropbox to serve their most precious information - family photos and video 🙂

When backing up the iOS photo library to Camera Uploads any video shot using the High Efficiency (HEIC) format in iOS cannot be played on the web or any HTML5 player. There is sound but no video.

If I was to copy the same video from my iPhone directly to my computer the video is able to be played so the issue is during the Camera Uploads process.

I have built desktop applications that allow users to browse their entire Dropbox directory, play and share videos and now their libraries (including mine) are full of blank videos.

Please resolve this issue.

[Lusil]

Hey there @dcooney, thanks for nudging us here!

I'd be more than happy to help, but I'll need a bit more info on this. For example:

• Do the .heic files uploaded play as video files when previewed from the website or are they static? 
• Are you able to preview them normally from your computer locally? 
• Does this happen to every .heic file added to your Dropbox account?

Let me know what you find!

[dcooney]

Hi @Lusil 

Thanks for responding.

1. I am able to play them on the Dropbox website.
2. I am able to preview them from the Camera Uploads directort via the Finder on Mac.
3. Yes, every local heic video is blank except for sound when played from the Camera Uploads directory using an HTML5 video player.

[Lusil]

Thanks for confirming these, @dcooney. 

From what I understand, you're trying to preview the .heic files directly from the Dropbox mobile app. 

Could you try previewing them from the Files app, instead? Maybe that will do the trick. 

Keep me posted!

[dcooney]

@Lusil 

From what I understand, you're trying to preview the .heic files directly from the Dropbox mobile app. 
That's not what I'm doing at all.

I explained in the first post... "When backing up the iOS photo library to Camera Uploads any video shot using the High Efficiency (HEIC) format in iOS cannot be played on the web or any HTML5 player. There is sound but no video."

I've built applications that users use to browse their Camera Uploads directory on their local machines. These apps create a photo gallery experience that allows them to easily view the photos and video. What I'm saying is, the HEIC videos are not able to be viewed by my applications or even if I copy them from the Camera Uploads directory to a web server. The videos are blank, yet the sound remains.

Another strange issue - if I download a HEIC video directly from my iOS photo library (over email) and copy it to my Camera Uploads folder it works and plays as it should.

It appears that something is happening to the video during the backup process.

I feel like maybe this is more of a developer support question rather than generic Dropbox support.

[Lusil]

Ah, I see! Thanks for clarifying that for me, @dcooney. 

I've moved your post here where some like-minded users may be able to provide some insight to help. 

If there's anything else I can do from my end, please let me know. Thanks!