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mac->PC jpeg conversion

dummy2001

Member
So I'm trying to copy over a cd of about 200mb worth of scanned photos from my dad's mac. They're all mac JPEGs, but every single one of them registers as generic windows "file" type. I know they copied ok because I can open them one at a time with quicktime, but I can't save them as windows jpegs. All but a very few copied over to my machine, even though the names my dad gave them are atrocious for windows (98se). I was able to convert about 5% of them by mass renaming to add .jpg to their names, but the other 95% remain.

Can anyone point me to a free (or functioning trial) utility that will let me do batch conversions to fix all the naming problems and forcibly convert the files to windows jpegs? Ulead Photo Explorer, for example, does batch conversions but won't do these, I presume because it can't do anything with the generic "file" type.
 
I'm not sure about converting the actual photo file format, but the easiest way I can think of to rename all of the files is to open a Command Prompt in Windows and type the following command:

COPY D:*.* C:\PHOTOS\*.JPG

This is assuming that your CD drive is D:, and that you want to put them in the C:\PHOTOS folder. Replace the D: drive and the C:\PHOTOS folder with the appropriate locations if you want to use something different.

This command will copy all files in the root directory of the CD to the C:\PHOTOS folder and replace their current extension with .JPG. If the photos are in sub-folders on the CD, you'll need to repeat the command for each folder on the disc. You should then be able to open the files in Ulead and convert them to whatever format you need.
 
Originally posted by: keeleysam
There is no such thing as "Mac JPEGs" and "Windows JPEGs"


Fine, but there are jpegs that originated on a mac that register as an unknown file type under windows and are unusable until "converted" to jpeg. Thanks again to tk11 and those others who gave helpful responses.
 
Originally posted by: dummy2001
Originally posted by: keeleysam
There is no such thing as "Mac JPEGs" and "Windows JPEGs"


Fine, but there are jpegs that originated on a mac that register as an unknown file type under windows and are unusable until "converted" to jpeg. Thanks again to tk11 and those others who gave helpful responses.

The difference is just the filename - picture01 vs. picture01.jpg. That's it... the poster is right - there's no difference; jpg is jpg. Windows just needs a file extension; that's all.
 
The difference is just the filename - picture01 vs. picture01.jpg. That's it... the poster is right - there's no difference; jpg is jpg. Windows just needs a file extension; that's all.

I agree that jpg is jpg regardless of platform, my problem was that simply adding the .jpg extension did not fix 95% of the pictures. When I said "windows jpegs" I meant jpegs that were recognized as such by windows and usable by other software under windows, which they were not. Anyway, thanks to tk11 for the solution; I refuse to get drawn further into a meaningless debate over the details of a situation that only I know personally and am apparently unable to communicate clearly enough to others.
 
Originally posted by: dummy2001
The difference is just the filename - picture01 vs. picture01.jpg. That's it... the poster is right - there's no difference; jpg is jpg. Windows just needs a file extension; that's all.

I agree that jpg is jpg regardless of platform, my problem was that simply adding the .jpg extension did not fix 95% of the pictures. When I said "windows jpegs" I meant jpegs that were recognized as such by windows and usable by other software under windows, which they were not. Anyway, thanks to tk11 for the solution; I refuse to get drawn further into a meaningless debate over the details of a situation that only I know personally and am apparently unable to communicate clearly enough to others.

If adding .JPG didn't fix the problem, it's most likely that you had 'hide file extensions' turned on in Windows Explorer, which can cause issues like this.
 
Originally posted by: dummy2001
it's most likely that you had 'hide file extensions' turned on in Windows Explorer, which can cause issues like this.

No, I did not.

That's odd! Then adding .jpg to the file should've allowed you to view it (ie should've associated it with your normal .JPG viewer...) Care to send one of the problematic files to me? See e-mail address in .sig.
 
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