Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

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crazygringo ◴[21 May 20 16:55 UTC] No.23260987[source]▶

I thought iOS was supposed to convert HEIC images to JPEG automatically behind-the-scenes in any file transfer situation where HEIC isn't supported. The article itself even says:

> iPhones convert HEICs to JPEGs automatically when they’re attached to emails in the Mail app

I'm just curious technically why the same didn't happen with the testing portal? If you have a webpage that accepts image uploads, is iOS Safari not smart enough to do the same conversion?

Or was the portal programmed badly or in a non-standard way that that couldn't happen? Or is there a way to do it that the developers ignored?

Just curious for the technical details of who's more to blame here -- Apple not providing enough backwards compatibility, or the testing portal being designed poorly.

Because blaming students for not following obscure instructions to change their phone's overall configuration is not the right path. A national testing portal ought to support the default image format taken by the world's most popular phone, period.

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pdonis ◴[21 May 20 17:09 UTC] No.23261243[source]▶

>>23260987 #

> A national testing portal ought to support the default image format taken by the world's most popular phone, period.

What if it can't because the format is proprietary and Apple wants to charge for its use? As I understand it, MS and Google have to pay licensing fees to enable support for it in Windows 10 and Android.

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1. guptaneil ◴[21 May 20 17:19 UTC] No.23261441[source]▶

>>23261243 #

You're thinking of HEVC (video encoding, like h.265): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding#P...

HEIC (image encoding) is available without royalties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Image_File_For...

Regardless, in this case, as others noted, iOS would have just converted to jpg if College Board was using a standard image upload form.

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2. ungzd ◴[21 May 20 17:25 UTC] No.23261546[source]▶

>>23261441 (TP) #

> When containing images and image sequences encoded in a particular format (e.g. HEVC or AVC) its use becomes subject to the licensing of patents on the coding format.

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3. guptaneil ◴[21 May 20 17:29 UTC] No.23261623[source]▶

>>23261546 #

I'm not sure what you're trying to say with that quote? As I mentioned, HEVC is subject to licensing costs. If you try to wrap your HEVC video content in an HEIC container, you don't suddenly get to skip paying the original licensing costs.

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4. pdonis ◴[21 May 20 19:10 UTC] No.23263460[source]▶

>>23261441 (TP) #

> HEIC (image encoding) is available without royalties

Ah, ok, thanks!

5. noisem4ker ◴[21 May 20 20:07 UTC] No.23264335[source]▶

>>23261441 (TP) #

>HEIC (image encoding) is available without royalties

As stated by that Wikipedia article, HEIF is the royalty-free container. HEIC means the content is encoded with HEVC, which makes it not free.

6. noisem4ker ◴[21 May 20 20:14 UTC] No.23264445{3}[source]▶

>>23261623 #

He's trying to remark the fact that HEIC = HEIF(HEVC) => non-free. See my other reply to your first comment. Note that HEVC doesn't necessarily mean video. It can be used to compress still images, as it's the case of Apple devices.

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