# Playing video recorded in H.265 (HEVC Codec) in Lightroom Classic



## MikeQi (Jan 15, 2020)

On a trip over the holidays, I recorded some video using my iPhone 11, which records by default in H.265 (.MOV format). These will not play in Lightroom Classic 9.1, which is really annoying.  Interestingly, they play perfectly in Lightroom CC.  When I travel, I load my photos into Lightroom mobile on an iPad, where I can begin to edit and sort them. I then sink them to Lightroom Classic when I get home and delete most of the Cloud copies. Using this work flow is how I realized that HEVC H.265 will only play on the Cloudy version and not on the Classic version. Does anyone know if this will be addressed? Classic is my primary platform, and I don't want to have to try and convert all these videos to a downgraded format.


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## johnrellis (Jan 15, 2020)

LR Classic supports HEVC (H.265) on Mac but not Windows.  LR Mobile supports it on iOS but not Android.  LR Desktop (cloud) supports it on Mac but not Windows:
https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/kb/heic-files-support.html
A lot of people have asked for this, and the above article says, "Adobe is working on providing the support".  Please add your vote to this feature request:
https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/hevc-support-for-lightroom-cc-mac
If you click Follow you'll be notified as soon as it gets implemented.

My informed speculation is that this is a licensing issue; see my post:
https://feedback.photoshop.com/phot...t[settings][reply_id]=20247000#reply_20247000


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## johnbeardy (Jan 15, 2020)

I have followed this up with the relevant people at Adobe, John. Unfortunately I cannot say more, but while it is a complex issue, it is not related to licensing.

I was also hit by Apple's default H265 and switched the camera settings to most compatible, so any new videos are H264. I converted my existing H265 videos using the Adobe Media Converter - I also heard good things about Handbrake HandBrake: Downloads.

It may be that Cloudy LR plays video using the OS.


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## johnrellis (Jan 15, 2020)

_"it is not related to licensing."_

That's good to know -- maybe there's hope yet.


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## johnbeardy (Jan 15, 2020)

There is hope, but I doubt it will happen soon. So the way forward is to stop accumulating more h265 and to find ways to losslessly-convert existing files to h264.


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## MikeQi (Jan 15, 2020)

Thanks for all the great responses! Still, why can't Adobe be more communicative on this?


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## Hal P Anderson (Jan 16, 2020)

MikeQi said:


> Still, why can't Adobe be more communicative on this?


They just aren't. For reasons of their own, they don't tell what they have planned. They never have.


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