"Sorry. Photos can't open this file because the format is currently unsupported..."

[Babycog]

I am not able to open the hundreds of photos in my Dropbox. I get the following message:

"Sorry. Photos can't open this file because the format is currently unsupported, or the file is corrupted." These are jpeg files and were always able to be opened before this recent attempt.

Do you know what happened and whether I can retrieve my photos? Please help.

Sincerely,

Robin [removed per Community Guidelines]

[Nancy]

Sorry to hear about this, @Babycog. 

If I get this right, this error appears on the desktop app, correct? If not, feel free to correct me. 

Can you send me a full screenshot of the error you’re getting? 

Besides that, I’d like a screenshot of how these photos show in your local Dropbox folder, so that I can check their syncing status. 

Let me know when you’re ready.

[Babycog]

                              

Nancy, here is the error screen and what my folder looks like. Is this what you need?

[Babycog]

Sorry, Nancy - this is the error message!

[Nancy]

Thanks for the screenshots! Can you clarify the OS version of your device, as well as the app version and syncing status of your Dropbox app? Is the app running at the moment?

Other than that, I can see there’s a small orange dot by your images; are you also trying to back them up with Carbonite? 

Finally, can you send me a larger screenshot of how your files show within the Dropbox folder? I don’t see any syncing icons at the moment, and I’d like to see if that’s the case for all files.

[Babycog]

Nancy, I do have Carbonite, but the orange dot means it will be backed up:

It looks like the app version number is: 193.4.5594 - could that be right?

The OS is Windows 11

Here is the bigger page:

I hope this is what you needed. Thank you,

Babcog

[Hannah · Accepted solution]

Hey @Babycog, sorry to jump in here.

The thing is that if you're using Dropbox, it's not advised to use other backup services to back up the same files, especially the Dropbox folder.

Can you temporarily disable Carbonite, to see if the Dropbox sync icons appear?

Because with the Carbonite icon there, we have no way of checking the Dropbox sync status of the files.

[Babycog]

I disables Carbonite as suggested, and I was able to open photos again. The odd thing is, I've had Carbonite for years, and I was always able to open Dropbox photos before this recent inability.