Is it possible to make iOS Safari upload original HEIC photos without JPEG conversion?

Question

iOS stores the pictures taken with the camera in HEIC. These files are twice as small as a JPEG of equivalent quality. I could find a way deal with them on my back end (for one, libvips seems to support HEIC), thus saving data for the user. The problem: as of iOS 13, Safari insists on converting HEIC to JPEG on upload and thus doubling the file size.

This:

<input type="file" accept="image/heic" name="file"/>

doesn't do the trick either. Neither does image/heif.

Am I missing something, or is it flat out impossible and I have to make do with data-wasting jpegs?

Himyaritic

Interested in the solution myself – Miscreant

I'm looking to do this too. They really should have made the accept mime type opt in for the old behavior, which was just preserving HEIC (which admittedly did cause a lot of headaches when HEIC first came out). The only workaround I have right now is making the user Save to Files" and then upload from Files rather than photos, which seems to preserve the HEIC. – Disclaimer

Looking all around the web for a solution and 2 years later none. Apple has to intervene, let us have a descriptor on our form on how to handle that upload without conversion please… – Taught

I think it converts the file to jpeg when you select it, before the upload starts. – Lemming

Answer 1

I am not sure this answer can be of any help since it is so convoluted but it looks like if you upload your picture as a file, it should stay .heic This is absolutely not practical tho, as you have to save any photo you want to upload into your files first (app "Files")...

I did it recently during a trip with friends to pool photos from several iPhones on my NAS but it was a hassle to get everyone to do it.

Lundin

This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker. - From Review – Ticino