macOS Image Capture Bug More Pervasive Than Originally Thought

Earlier this week we reported on a bug in Apple's macOS Image Capture app that adds empty data to photos when imported from iOS devices, potentially eating up gigabytes of disk storage needlessly. Today, we're hearing that the bug in macOS 10.14.6 and later is a lot more extensive than was initially believed.

image capture
NeoFinder developer Norbert Doerner, who originally discovered the bug, informed MacRumors that the same issue affects nearly all Mac apps that import photos from cameras and iOS devices, including Adobe Lightroom, Affinity Photo, PhaseOne Media Pro, and Apple's legacy iPhoto and Aperture apps.

The reason is said to be because the bug is located inside Apple's ImageCaptureCore framework, which is a part of macOS that all developers must use to connect to digital cameras. The only app that isn't affected is said to be Apple's Photos app, which uses other undocumented APIs to talk to iOS devices.

Essentially, the pervasive Mac bug causes HEIC files imported from iOS devices and converted to JPG to contain more than 1.5MB of empty data appended to the end of each file, increasing the file size and eating up storage. As an example, Doerner said he discovered more than 12,000 JPG files in his own photo library containing this extra unwanted data, resulting in over 20GB of wasted disk space.

wasted space image capture

Hex data of a JPG file viewed using Hex Fiend

Apple is apparently aware of the bug, but until a patch arrives, one short term workaround for future transfers is to prevent your iPhone or iPad from using the HEIF format when taking photos: To do so, launch the Settings app, select Camera -> Formats and check Most Compatible.

For users with large existing photo libraries, Doerner has suggested using a new beta version of the third-party utility Graphic Converter, which includes an option to remove the unwanted empty data from the JPEG files.

Alternatively, media asset management app NeoFinder is itself being updated on Monday to include a tool that can find and eliminate the unwanted data in JPG files. NeoFinder for Mac costs $39.99 and a free trial is available to download on the developers' website.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Launching Later This Year With These 16 New Features

Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device. Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...
apple watch ultra yellow

What's Next for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3

Friday April 25, 2025 2:44 pm PDT by
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, which launched on April 24, 2015. Yesterday, we recapped features rumored for the Apple Watch Series 11, but since 2015, the Apple Watch has also branched out into the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch SE, so we thought we'd take a look at what's next for those product lines, too. 2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3 Apple didn't update the...
iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
ipad air magic keyboard feature

iPadOS 19 Rumored to Show Mac-Like Menu Bar When Connected to Magic Keyboard

Thursday April 24, 2025 12:09 pm PDT by
When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu. This change would further blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS," with unspecified improvements to productivity, multitasking, and app window management,...
top stories 2025 04 26

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Air Rumors, Apple Watch Turns 10, and More

Saturday April 26, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
We've known for quite some time about Apple's plans for a thinner "iPhone 17 Air" coming later this year, but wow, the latest dummy models give us our best look yet at just how thin this phone is going to be. Other Apple news and rumors this week included another iOS 18.5 beta, the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch launch, and more management reshuffling in Apple's Siri division, so read...
Global Close Your Rings Day Pin

Apple Stores Giving Away a Limited-Edition Pin For Free Today

Thursday April 24, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Starting today, April 24, Apple Stores around the world are giving away a special pin for free to customers who request one, while supplies last. Photo Credit: Filip Chudzinski The enamel pin's design is inspired by the Global Close Your Rings Day award in the Activity app, which Apple Watch users can receive by closing all three Activity rings today. The limited-edition pin is the physical...

Top Rated Comments

chrfr Avatar
65 months ago

Is it possible this is more than just a "bug"? Apple makes a LOT of money from services including iCloud storage fees, and by inflating photo file sizes, more people would be nagged to upgrade their iCloud storage from the initial free 5GB, to a paid tier, to accomodate a larger iCloud Photo Library. There is potential financial motive here - anyone with the know how should look carefully at all files stored in iCloud to see if there is any similar artificial inflation of file size. It reminds me of the Wells Fargo scandal where staff were creating extra accounts in customer names to inflate their numbers...
This is an unfounded conspiracy theory. This bug affects images imported to a Mac manually via the Image Capture app, not images saved in iCloud Photo Library. It's not a widespread workflow for people- most folks just let their device sync photos through the Photos app.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hughsaunders Avatar
65 months ago
A fixed increase per file is linear not exponential growth.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
martyjmclean Avatar
65 months ago

I don't understand, why a workaround is preventing iOS from shooting in HEIF. It's not the problem in HEIF, but in conversion. So if you work only with HEIF files, it should be fine, right?
The problem is, nothing is compatible with HEIF (or HEVC). I get handed a lot of iPhone stuff at work and need to xcode them to JPG or DNX.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chrfr Avatar
65 months ago

('https://www.macrumors.com/2020/05/01/macos-jpg-truncation-bug-widespread/')

Earlier this week we reported on a bug in Apple's macOS Image Capture app ('https://www.macrumors.com/2020/04/28/macos-image-capture-bug-eats-storage/') that adds empty data to photos when imported from iOS devices, potentially eating up gigabytes of disk storage needlessly. Today, we're hearing that the bug in macOS 10.14.6 and later is a lot more extensive than was initially believed.



NeoFinder ('https://www.cdfinder.de') developer Norbert Doerner, who originally discovered the bug, informed MacRumors that the same issue affects nearly all Mac apps that import photos from cameras and iOS devices, including Adobe Lightroom, Affinity Photo, PhaseOne Media Pro, and Apple's legacy iPhoto and Aperture apps.

The reason is said to be because the bug is located inside Apple's ImageCaptureCore framework, which is a part of macOS that all developers must use to connect to digital cameras. The only app that isn't affected is said to be Apple's Photos app, which uses other undocumented APIs to talk to iOS devices.

Essentially, the pervasive Mac bug causes HEIC files imported from iOS devices and converted to JPG to contain more than 1.5MB of empty data appended to the end of each file, increasing the file size and eating up storage. As an example, Doerner said he discovered more than 12,000 JPG files in his own photo library containing this extra unwanted data, resulting in over 20GB of wasted disk space.


Hex data of a JPG file viewed using Hex Fiend ('https://ridiculousfish.com/hexfiend/')

Apple is apparently aware of the bug, but until a patch arrives, one short term workaround for future transfers is to prevent your iPhone or iPad from using the HEIF format when taking photos: To do so, launch the Settings app, select Camera -> Formats and check Most Compatible.

For users with large existing photo libraries, Doerner has suggested using a new beta version of the third-party utility Graphic Converter ('http://www.lemkesoft.org/beta.html'), which includes an option to remove the unwanted empty data from the JPEG files.

Alternatively, media asset management app NeoFinder is itself being updated ('https://www.cdfinder.de/guide/17/17.5/truncate_JPG.html') on Monday to include a tool that can find and eliminate the unwanted data in JPG files. NeoFinder for Mac costs $39.99 and a free trial is available to download on the developers' website ('https://www.cdfinder.de').

Article Link: macOS JPG File Truncation Bug More Pervasive Than Originally Thought ('https://www.macrumors.com/2020/05/01/macos-jpg-truncation-bug-widespread/')
This article title is wrong. The files are not being truncated. Rather, data is being appended to the end of the files.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
65 months ago

Is it possible this is more than just a "bug"? Apple makes a LOT of money from services including iCloud storage fees, and by inflating photo file sizes, more people would be nagged to upgrade their iCloud storage from the initial free 5GB, to a paid tier, to accomodate a larger iCloud Photo Library. There is potential financial motive here - anyone with the know how should look carefully at all files stored in iCloud to see if there is any similar artificial inflation of file size. It reminds me of the Wells Fargo scandal where staff were creating extra accounts in customer names to inflate their numbers...
The answer to your question is no. Relax.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ivarh Avatar
65 months ago
This is a bad bug, but on the other side i would not reccomend converting the .heif files if you are importing them for archiving.

The heif files coming off my iphone 11 pro contains 10 bit color data per channel and this means that in addition of the loss of image quality you get from decompressing a lossy format that .heif is and changing it to jpg that is another lossy format you also loose a lot of color information.

This is not a excuse for apple to not fix the bug but doing this conversion is a bad choice in the first place for archiving.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)