Immich - HEIC files not showing up [SOLVED]

deljones · April 17, 2024, 9:45am

Hello All.

I have recently installed and currently testing Immich. Thanks very much to the team for putting this package together and making it available.

I have installed both the YNH app (v1.101.0) and the phone app, both are the current version.

I have a problem in that only jpgs seem to work, ie uploading from the mobile app and the YNH app. Both sync up well.

If I upload an iPhone format photo (HEIC) the image shows as broken in the YNH app. Its fine in the mobile app as the format is supporter don’t he phone anyway. I did see a report that some users changed the extension to lower case, I did try that but no joy!

I have grabbed the “Untracked Files” in the REPAIR section of the server, which gives:

/home/yunohost.app/immich/thumbs/73a084b8-5fce-4f53-b617-386ae2b65079/7f/0f/7f0f387b-373a-4db6-9822-ce204bdb64ba-preview.jpeg
/home/yunohost.app/immich/thumbs/73a084b8-5fce-4f53-b617-386ae2b65079/e1/db/e1dbdcc1-ba44-493e-b629-d22b9169a194-preview.jpeg
/home/yunohost.app/immich/thumbs/73a084b8-5fce-4f53-b617-386ae2b65079/e8/06/e8061361-f9b7-4e5a-b3d0-2951ca4ce2b5-preview.jpeg

These are the three files that failed. The progress shows that they did upload but not rendering or going in the right place?

has anyone else seen this? Is there a fix?

Best wishes

Dj

ewilly · April 21, 2024, 9:59am

Hi,
HEIC is a patented file format and not compatible with GPL License so sharp doesn’t provide it’s support natively. Adding it is a huge pain, i don’t plan to do.

deljones · April 21, 2024, 8:34pm

@ewilly Thanks very much for your reply. Understood. What a pity. Great app all the same

Thank you

dj

OniriCorpe · April 21, 2024, 8:43pm

but HEIF/C is an open file format so .___.

and the immich docs is saying that it’s supported Supported formats | Immich

deljones · April 21, 2024, 8:46pm

I’ve just changed my iPhone to Jpeg instead… No big deal

Dj

ewilly · April 22, 2024, 6:36am

open but under Nokia licensing which is not compatible with LGPL…

so sharp does not include it by default, see

github.com/lovell/sharp

HEIF/HEIC support

opened 02:47PM - 29 Jan 18 UTC

closed 02:17PM - 29 Jul 19 UTC

kadishmal

enhancement ready-to-ship

I don't know if this is technically possible at this moment, it would be nice if… `sharp` would one day support HEIF format which is now a default image format on latest iPhones. References: - Intro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Image_File_Format - Technical Info: http://nokiatech.github.io/heif/technical.html - File Format Specs: https://mpeg.chiariglione.org/standards/mpeg-h/image-file-format/text-isoiec-cd-23008-12-image-file-format

and as often with debian package version does not fit minimal requirements versioning to use globally-installed version of libvips instead of the provided binaries (see sharp - High performance Node.js image processing)

emailseeker · November 21, 2024, 5:39am

For regular immich setup, heic works. I tested. So yunohost’s installation process breaks the heic compatibility. It’s too bad.

ewilly · November 21, 2024, 7:45pm

whats you mean with “regular immich setup” is a docker install…so nothing to compare with yunohost packaging…
if you want it just install it with docker and make a redirection with yunohost

emailseeker · November 25, 2024, 12:20am

I tested with a fresh ubuntu 24.04 install and that install recognized heic files.

Would be nice to get the yunohost version to work because the email server, cypht works. Nextcloud works. But immich is a problem.

arkadi · November 25, 2024, 12:32am

you can use the Redirect app to link your Immich docker install to Yunohost.

create domain
make redirect app
install immich with docker

Kayou · December 1, 2025, 12:54pm

FYI HEIC files should now work as expected

torcon · January 14, 2026, 4:34pm

Hi, I’m having trouble with my HEIC files. I can see them on the iOS app, but not on the server. It says “Error loading image”. I’ve run the Generate Thumbnails job a lot of times, just in case, and I was hoping it would be fixed with the last Immich update, but it’s still the same. What can I do?

ewilly · January 15, 2026, 10:36am

Apparently you are not the only one. Didi you look at https://www.reddit.com/r/immich/comments/1ibav7x/error_loading_image_for_a_lot_of_photos/ and try the different suggestions?

torcon · January 15, 2026, 10:54am

Yup, I tried to generate thumbnails both from Administration Jobs and “manually” from the three dots’ menu, and neither worked. I’ve also seen some other “solutions” in Reddit, but they only apply to Docker containers.

ewilly · January 15, 2026, 5:48pm

Could you try after updating to 2.4.1~ynh3and say?

torcon · January 18, 2026, 7:54am

Still the same

Tho · January 18, 2026, 8:40am

Have you re-run all jobs?

torcon · January 19, 2026, 5:09pm

Since your message, I’ve been running every single one of them except for Transcode Videos, since it was really slow and I didn’t see it relevant. Still the same.

ewilly · January 19, 2026, 9:50pm

Could you:

Post the result of ls -ali /var/www/immich/vips/bin/
Launch in a terminal tail -f -n 50 /var/log/immich/immich-server.log and upload in your immich a heic file (that one for example https://heic.digital/download-sample/shelf-christmas-decoration.heic) and report what you see on terminal

torcon · January 20, 2026, 8:45am

1.total 116
4229156 drwxr-x— 2 immich immich 4096 Dec 22 21:44 .
4229114 drwxrwx— 6 immich immich 4096 Dec 22 21:44 ..
4229157 -rwxr-x— 1 immich immich 29144 Dec 22 21:44 vips
4229158 -rwxr-x— 1 immich immich 23688 Dec 22 21:44 vipsedit
4229160 -rwxr-x— 1 immich immich 22832 Dec 22 21:44 vipsheader
4229159 -rwxr-x— 1 immich immich 24656 Dec 22 21:44 vipsthumbnail

2.[Nest] 1668340 - 20/01/2026, 09:41:16 LOG [Api:WebsocketRepository] Websocket Connect: DJv-LH-BYunfEnOvAAAF
[Nest] 182982 - 20/01/2026, 09:41:28 ERROR [Microservices:{“source”:“upload”,“id”:“3762cb65-c145-4e2b-b94e-6fa953cb4542”}] Unable to run job handler (AssetGenerateThumbnails): Error: /home/yunohost.app/immich/library/admin/2023/12-December/shelf-christmas-decoration.heic: bad seek to 1442310
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/admin/2023/12-December/shelf-christmas-decoration.heic: bad seek to 1442288
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/admin/2023/12-December/shelf-christmas-decoration.heic: bad seek to 1442282
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/admin/2023/12-December/shelf-christmas-decoration.heic: bad seek to 1442279
heif: Error while loading plugin: Support for this compression format has not been built in (11.6003)
Error: /home/yunohost.app/immich/library/admin/2023/12-December/shelf-christmas-decoration.heic: bad seek to 1442310
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/admin/2023/12-December/shelf-christmas-decoration.heic: bad seek to 1442288
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/admin/2023/12-December/shelf-christmas-decoration.heic: bad seek to 1442282
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/admin/2023/12-December/shelf-christmas-decoration.heic: bad seek to 1442279
heif: Error while loading plugin: Support for this compression format has not been built in (11.6003)
at Sharp.toBuffer (/var/www/immich/immich/app/node_modules/.pnpm/sharp@0.34.5/node_modules/sharp/lib/output.js:163:17)
at MediaRepository.decodeImage (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/repositories/media.repository.js:118:68)
at MediaService.decodeImage (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/media.service.js:179:59)
at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:103:5)
at async MediaService.generateImageThumbnails (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/media.service.js:192:44)
at async MediaService.handleGenerateThumbnails (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/media.service.js:118:25)
at async JobService.onJobRun (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/job.service.js:51:30)
at async EventRepository.onEvent (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/repositories/event.repository.js:91:13)
at async /var/www/immich/immich/app/node_modules/.pnpm/bullmq@5.66.0/node_modules/bullmq/dist/cjs/classes/worker.js:566:32
[Nest] 1668340 - 20/01/2026, 09:41:35 LOG [Api:WebsocketRepository] Websocket Disconnect: DJv-LH-BYunfEnOvAAAF
[Nest] 1668340 - 20/01/2026, 09:41:36 LOG [Api:WebsocketRepository] Websocket Connect: Jk7mse9P-vzB3fRaAAAH
heif: Error while loading plugin: Support for this compression format has not been built in (11.6003)
heif: Error while loading plugin: Support for this compression format has not been built in (11.6003)
at Sharp.toBuffer (/var/www/immich/immich/app/node_modules/.pnpm/sharp@0.34.5/node_modules/sharp/lib/output.js:163:17)
at MediaRepository.decodeImage (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/repositories/media.repository.js:118:68)
at MediaService.decodeImage (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/media.service.js:179:59)
at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:103:5)
at async MediaService.generateImageThumbnails (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/media.service.js:192:44)
at async MediaService.handleGenerateThumbnails (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/media.service.js:118:25)
at async JobService.onJobRun (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/job.service.js:51:30)
at async EventRepository.onEvent (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/repositories/event.repository.js:91:13)
at async /var/www/immich/immich/app/node_modules/.pnpm/bullmq@5.66.0/node_modules/bullmq/dist/cjs/classes/worker.js:566:32
[Nest] 182982 - 20/01/2026, 00:03:10 ERROR [Microservices:{“id”:“99e4b213-0738-4ac7-b97d-9f61b2045a14”}] Unable to run job handler (AssetGenerateThumbnails): Error: /home/yunohost.app/immich/library/90691a38-64e3-4555-b067-8cd748e61ff0/2022/07-July/IMG_9173.heic: bad seek to 2425811
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/90691a38-64e3-4555-b067-8cd748e61ff0/2022/07-July/IMG_9173.heic: bad seek to 2425792
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/90691a38-64e3-4555-b067-8cd748e61ff0/2022/07-July/IMG_9173.heic: bad seek to 2425783
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/90691a38-64e3-4555-b067-8cd748e61ff0/2022/07-July/IMG_9173.heic: bad seek to 2425780
heif: Error while loading plugin: Support for this compression format has not been built in (11.6003)
heif: Error while loading plugin: Support for this compression format has not been built in (11.6003)
Error: /home/yunohost.app/immich/library/90691a38-64e3-4555-b067-8cd748e61ff0/2022/07-July/IMG_9173.heic: bad seek to 2425811
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/90691a38-64e3-4555-b067-8cd748e61ff0/2022/07-July/IMG_9173.heic: bad seek to 2425792
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/90691a38-64e3-4555-b067-8cd748e61ff0/2022/07-July/IMG_9173.heic: bad seek to 2425783
/home/yunohost.app/immich/library/90691a38-64e3-4555-b067-8cd748e61ff0/2022/07-July/IMG_9173.heic: bad seek to 2425780
heif: Error while loading plugin: Support for this compression format has not been built in (11.6003)
heif: Error while loading plugin: Support for this compression format has not been built in (11.6003)
at Sharp.toBuffer (/var/www/immich/immich/app/node_modules/.pnpm/sharp@0.34.5/node_modules/sharp/lib/output.js:163:17)
at MediaRepository.decodeImage (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/repositories/media.repository.js:118:68)
at MediaService.decodeImage (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/media.service.js:179:59)
at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:103:5)
at async MediaService.generateImageThumbnails (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/media.service.js:192:44)
at async MediaService.handleGenerateThumbnails (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/media.service.js:118:25)
at async JobService.onJobRun (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/services/job.service.js:51:30)
at async EventRepository.onEvent (/var/www/immich/immich/app/dist/repositories/event.repository.js:91:13)
at async /var/www/immich/immich/app/node_modules/.pnpm/bullmq@5.66.0/node_modules/bullmq/dist/cjs/classes/worker.js:566:32
[Nest] 182982 - 20/01/2026, 00:03:10 ERROR [Microservices:{“id”:“f39e0079-c3d7-4245-a366-0fd44eb9516d”}] Unable to run job handler (AssetGenerateThumbnails): Error: heif: Error while loading plugin: Support for this compression format has not been built in (11.6003)