Apple announced iOS 11 as a breakthrough in many categories. Interface changes, plenty of new functions, revamped Siri, Apple Pay, and, probably the most distinctive innovation: new formats of photo and video files. Now, users that have already tried beta version are mostly satisfied with changes.
Nonetheless, even though it’s not advised to install Beta version on your primary device, users that give it a shot reported quite satisfying performance. It’s just Beta, so don’t be sore if it’s glitchy or the representation of changes is not at a top level. However, one thing that won’t change on the full version we’re expecting in fall of 2017 is a new media file format.
New iOS 11 formats and how to use them on other devices
With the iOS 11, photos or videos you take with your iPhone or iPad will be stored in special, exclusive (Apple and exclusivity are apparently synonyms) formats. Photos drop JPG format and switch it for High-Efficiency Image Format (HEIF, the extension is .heic) and videos drop good old H.264 format and now are recorded in High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) with H.265 extension.
Now, these are the lossless formats so, basically, photos and videos will retain quality but will substantially drop in size. Almost half the size, to be exact.
Sadly, it besides all the advantages, this change also has an emerging problem to be answered. How to use this formats on other non-Apple devices? Well, for the time being, that’s not possible. At least until the rest of the tech world adopts to this changes. However, the files can be automatically transferred to iCloud or synced to other Apple device in JPG or H.264 formats if you choose to do so.
What you need to do is just follow the instructions below:
- Tap Settings.
- Open Camera.
- Choose Formats.
- Set the second option to Automatic or JPG.
- Save changes.
With that, you every new media file you shot or record will be transferred in widely-used formats. Albeit, if you already have photos taken and stored in the .heic format, keep them that way until some third-party converting solution emerges.
We hope this was helpful. Have in mind that this might become a generally accepted standard, as the time pass. With this change you’re now able to store around 100,000 photos on the 128GB device, which is an exceptional advancement, to say the least.
What are your thoughts and impressions on iOS 11? Be kind and tell us in the comments section below. Thanks for reading and have a nice day.
