Hazel Rule > Photos HEIC to JPG Conversion

Hello,

We have a frame that doesn’t support HEIC photos.
I’ve figured out: Google Photos -> (IFTTT) -> Dropbox Folder -> Photo Frame.

Issue I am having is that the HEIC photos don’t work uploading to the frame.

Thinking use Hazel on the mac to watch the Dropbox folder and convert any HEIC file to .jpg and then delete the .heic file.

Does anyone have a script or idea how to do this?
If someone wants to send a video, I’m happy to create a process in text so others have a solution to this issue.

Best,
M

There may be a simpler way but one quick method I was able to come up with is to create an Automator Workflow with a single action “Change Type of Images” with the destination type of “JPEG”.

I then created a Hazel rule to monitor for a file with extension “heic” and to run the Automator Workflow created above.

The above action changes the file in-place so no need to delete the HEIC version.

Being able to key on Kind would be better, IMO, but I don’t see that HEIC/HEIF is listed as a Kind that can be used; it looks like they all fall under Image so file extension is the next best thing.

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@JoePreiser Does that mean I can just change the extension and it will work and be happy?

In my test it did, and I never knew that.
Here I am making things complicated…

Looks like Hazel worked and solved it.

Thanks!

To my knowledge, you cannot just change the file extension from “.heic” to “.jpg” (i.e. rename the file). You need to change the image format. It is optional, but worthwhile to avoid confusion, to change the filename extension to reflect the file type. Some Operating Systems look at file contents to determine type but others (e.g. some/all? versions of Windows) rely on file extension to determine file type.

The “Change Type of Images” action will covert the file and rename it using the correct extension.

I was able to make this change:

  • Hazel now launches an automator script that changes file format and it’s been amazing.

Thanks for everyones help.

M