Lightroom Classic and CC: Please support HEVC (H.265) video support for Windows

...and there was great rejoicing.

...great rejoicing from the Mac side maybe, but more gnashing of teeth from the Windows faithful.

Many thanks - it is much appreciated being able to view all my videos in Lightroom.

I was able to finally import some HEVC videos with this update today (on MacOS Mojave). Thx!

unfortunately this update isn't for all h.265 files but ones created on an iphone. The h265 files created by my DJI Mavic 2 are still unsupported :(

My H.265 files were created on a Samsung Galaxy S9 and they could be imported, I wonder what the difference is?

HEVC 4K video shot on iPhone 8 hardly plays, then freezes up Lightroom and system requiring a hard restart! Lightroom Classic CC 8.0, iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017, 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 24GB RAM), macOS 10.13.6.

Hey Rikk, what's taking so long?  Adobe added HEVC support for Mac over two years ago.  Loyal Adobe customers would like to stick with Lightroom instead of turning to products like ON1 and AseeDsee that aren't so fussy about what types of media can be imported.

We're not allowed to discuss release schedules but we are working on HEVC support for Windows in Lr Classic and we intend to get this in to customer hands very soon. HEVC is supported natively on Apple platforms which is why support on Mac was available sooner. Thank you for your patience. 

A workaround is to disable HEVC on iOS.  Check the option Settings > Camera > Formats > Most Compatible.

That's not a workaround.  HEVC is a superior video format with better compression so should be supported by Lightroom Classic.

"A workaround is a bypass of a recognized problem in a system. A workaround is typically a temporary fix that implies that a genuine solution to the problem is needed."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workaround

That's not a helpful answer, champ. It's not a workaround. His (and my) existing videos can't be used. The workaround would be use a different product other than Lightroom Classic.

Many people are asking why they can't import their iPhone videos into LR -- it's a frequent question on the user-to-user forum. For them, it certainly is helpful to know that until LR adds support for HEVC, they can set their iPhone to record in a compatible format.   People come here for solutions that let them get their work done now, as well as to provide product feedback.

Separating Bridge from Lightroom.

Please reference the new conversation here: please add h.265 video support.

Unfortunately, LR 6.14 was the last release of LR 6, so HEVC won't be supported in LR 6.

Ugg, that is simply not fair but forces us to pay for CC so Adobe wins. 
After re-reading the thread, will LR 6.14 import the HEVC videos so I can catalog them or will it skip them? If it doesn't then I have a even bigger issue on my hands.

In LR 7 imports the videos but doesn't let you play them.  I don't know about 6.14 -- you'll have to try.

Does that work with your installation of LR 7? I use LR 7, but it refuses to import HEVC videos in the catalog.

"Does that work with your installation of LR 7?" 

Sorry, I should have qualified that -- some have reported that they can import the video but it doesn't play.  (See above.) I haven't tested it personally.

Uhg.  Just ran into this problem and found this thread.  I have months of videos I cannot import.  Please add support Adobe!

Hi Phil,

HEVC / H.265 video is not supported at this time. I have merged your post with this thread so it gets counted as another vote for this feature.

LR 7.4 added support for HEIF / HEVC images (for which Apple uses the .heic extension). But LR doesn't yet support HEVC video:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/whats-new-in-lightroom-classic-74/

Ah, I see, thx for the info I thought support for it has already been added.

Neither CC nor Classic currently support HEVC video. I didn't find a similar feature request for CC, so I just modified the title and the topic's categories to include CC as well.

Great thanks Barry!

When do you expect that future release or update to come out Barry? The import process from panasonic's HC-X1 4k camera with .MP4 file extensions also has the same issue. Sometimes you import serveral files and some files don't get imported and when they do some show the ! icon with the legend that says you wont be able to make adjustments. Now imagine importing a 256 gB card. It takes over 10 hours just to import when you import by batches with different folder locations and keyword tags.  Now that another topic... It would be nice to have the option of selecting groups of photos or videos and determining to which folder each group would go to and their respective keyword tags. That would save a lot of time rather than clicking import each time and waiting for thousands of photos to render minimally, then when the new photos option is selected it takes time for them to dissapear... I think that would be a plus too. 

We're not allowed to discuss release schedules but I will pass your feedback on to the team. 

Unless I am mistaken this is still a problem almost a YEAR after Apple moved to HEVC video as the default.  The current correct answer seems to be to downgrade the video codec so as to "avoid the issue". Surely not a real solution to the problem. 

Barry I would appreciate seeing a timely update to fix this HEVC issue. 

I used to always recommend Lightroom to others looking to manage their photos, but now I will not. In reality it is a bundle of incoherent and incompatible software programs. For example keywords entered in CC will not sync to Classic - Why not?? Because Adobe can't or doesn't want to provide the functionality. So it is pointless using an iPad as part of workflow when traveling to categorize photos and have them seamlessly appear on the desktop.

It seems that Adobe is abondoning LightRoom Classic [software originally developed in close cooperation with real photographers] in favor of its CC software. The workflow in the cloud based software just does not suit this photographer and I suspect many others. I already pay the subscription but choose to use Classic because of the thousands of photos I have - all keyworded and cataloged. As I understand it if I move to CC all these keywords are lost!!

It is concerning that having been a loyal Lightroom user since its earliest days I may be forced to consider some alternative solution. With all the workarounds now imposed as a result of Adobe's failure to keep Lightroom Classic both up to date [see the above HEVC issue] AND consistent with CC [keywords not compatible between CC & Classic] it is no longer the sweet and elegant program which was a pleasure to use.

HEVC support is coming soon. As I mentioned earlier, I cannot discuss release schedules. Please be patient. 

As for your other comments, you are absolutely correct that Lr CC and Lr Classic do not support the same level of syncing capabilities. Two primary differences are: 1) Classic does not upload originals, so what you get on the other devices are downsized proxies 2) Classic does not sync Keywords, in addition to other metadata.  

Lr Classic was built and architected ~10 years ago as the "Truth is on the desktop", whereas Lr CC was built from the ground up as a "truth in the cloud" application. This is why Lr CC can sync everything across devices as a native solution (there is one catalog that is managed in the cloud). In the case of Lr Classic, there are technical and design challenges to support the same level of syncing that Lr CC has today.

Lr Classic is not being abandoned (you can see this by the frequent releases that we still put out) but it is true that Lr Classic will not have the same fidelity in terms of syncing as the native sync solution provided by Lr CC. 

If a native syncing solution across devices is the primary need for customers, then Lr CC is definitely the recommend solution for this need. Migrating a catalog from Lr Classic to Lr CC is the way to go to enable this, and keywords will be migrated along with the rest of the metadata, original files, etc. 

I hope this helps. 

Barry

Barry,

I do appreciate your prompt response. I will look forward patiently for the HEVC support.

Thanks also for your explanation regarding the differences in syncing of Keywords between Lr CC and Lr Classic. 

It would be helpful if something could be added as a pop up warning in LR CC when [first] using Keywords warning that they will not sync with Lr Classic. It would have saved me [and judging from comments on the web, many others] significant hours spent in adding keywords. 

Are you able to point me to a place on the Adobe site where the main differences, particularly differences in functionality, between Lr Classic and Lr CC are explained?

Hopefully this would help me as I admit I am struggling to find a satisfactory and robust workflow from Lr CC to Lr Classic, particularly one that uses an iPad on the road as the primary device for collecting and doing the initial input on photos both from my cameras and iPhone. 

Having left my MacBook Pro at home this trip, it was a little frustrating to find that what I was seeing on my iPad [both in Videos and Keywords] did not reflect what was uploaded by the cloud to my Mac. 

Despite my current frustrations I do appreciate all the work that has gone into Lightroom over the years, and I hope that this current bump in my perception is soon gone, so I can go back to my once strong affection and support of Lightroom.

Barry,

Thank you for your responses. I am also struggling with my workflow using LR CC. There are many struggles that I am facing, and haven't yet found the kind of information I need to be able to switch to LR CC.

1. I am struggling with the limited space that is available in LR CC. Due to the limited space I cannot move to LR CC completely. But I haven't yet found a methodology that works when mixing LR CC and LR Classic.
2. I have more than enough cloud space available already. Even if I was able to purchase more cloud space with Adobe, I am not ready to pay yet again for space that I already have available. Could it be possible to use my dropbox space or iCloud space instead of the Adobe cloud space?
3. I am not ready to give up control of having a (local) copy and backups of my images. Assuming I have enough space available in the Adobe cloud, how do I make sure I have at least a copy of the originals somewhere else?
4. Part of my workflow includes my iPhone. Is there a document somewhere that details the workflow of getting my iPhone images into LR CC, while also using LR Classic, and consequently getting a copy into LR Classic? Or is the idea from Adobe that you are either exclusive LR CC or exclusive LR Classic?

I look forward to your response and ideas.

Kind Regards,
Jean-Marc

> 3. I am not ready to give up control of having a (local) copy and backups of my images. Assuming I have enough space available in the Adobe cloud, how do I make sure I have at least a copy of the originals somewhere else?

In LRCC, you'd check the "store a copy of all originals locally" checkbox in Preferences, and you could use backup software to create additional disconnected backups of that originals folder too.

> 4. Part of my workflow includes my iPhone. Is there a document somewhere that details the workflow of getting my iPhone images into LR CC, while also using LR Classic, and consequently getting a copy into LR Classic? Or is the idea from Adobe that you are either exclusive LR CC or exclusive LR Classic?

I haven't come across any detailed Adobe documentation, but in case it helps, the Cloud Sync chapter of my LR Classic Missing FAQ book goes into the nitty gritty of getting the cloud to play nicely with Classic and the pitfalls to look out for. The mobile apps themselves are detailed in my LRCC Edit Like a Pro book, but you'll like get the gist of those.

> Are you able to point me to a place on the Adobe site where the main differences, particularly differences in functionality, between Lr Classic and Lr CC are explained? 

clarijoh, not the Adobe site, but this might help (and Adobe have been linking to it)

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-cc-vs-classic-features/

If anyone is interested, I can explain some of the technical underpinning with keywords.

Most image file formats have reserved space for metadata, which is data about the file (keywords, ratings, develop settings, copyright, and so on.) Some formats, like RAW files, typically have a linked sidecar file which goes with the image and contains that metadata.

A number of different "namespaces" are defined to store metadata, each with specific fields and formatting required. These namespaces can overlap so that metadata is often duplicated inside a file.

Keywords can be stored in the "DC" namespace with a "Subject" tag but also in the (apparently undocumented) "LR" namespace with a "hierarchicalSubject" tag.

Ideally, keywords would be saved to both namespaces in, say, a JPEG file. Most graphics software reads the DC namespace.

I've written some scripts for Bridge to assign keywords and I write keywords to both namespaces. I don't know how mobile apps or Lightroom CC operate but presumably, using both namespaces would mean that keywords were truly portable.

Note that metadata can be written to files AND/OR to a catalog like Lightroom uses. If files are not updated and changes are only written to a catalog, its up to the developers to export that data as needed.

If you run File Info on an image using Photoshop or Bridge and look at the Raw Data, you'll be able to see the structure of the metadata and what is present or not.

Finally, there are both third-party programs such as EXIFTool and add-ons for Adobe products that let you work in depth with metadata including keywords.

Oh and just to add- if you create copies of an image file with metadata, the developer decides what metadata (if any) to copy to the new file.

Hi @barry_young, we're still waiting for HEVC support. Lightroom CC (not Classic) tries to import my iPhone videos, and at first it seems ok on my Mac, but after a few minutes Lightroom re-tries to sync these HEVC videos, and re-tries, and re-tries... Really strange and annoying :(
I hope HEVC will be supported on next version!