HEIC Files Won’t Open in StereoPhoto Maker? The spphotolib Checklist
Since v6.40, StereoPhoto Maker reads Apple’s spatial photos (HEIC) and .webp through the Windows Imaging Component — but only when its companion library is present. If HEIC files will not open, run this checklist before assuming the file is bad.
1. Version: you need v6.40 or later
HEIC reading arrived in v6.40 via the bundled DLL; v6.41 added .webp opening through WIC and depth-map extraction from HEIC portraits. Anything older simply cannot open these files. The current version and its verified hashes are on the download page.
2. The DLL must be in the SPM folder
The ZIP ships the executable together with spphotolib64.dll / spphotolib32.dll. SPM looks for the library in its own folder. If you moved the EXE out on its own, HEIC support went missing with the DLL — move them back together.
3. Is it really the original HEIC?
Transfers that “optimise” or convert can hand you a JPEG with an .heic name, or a JPEG copy with the stereo data stripped. Copy the untouched original file from the iPhone and test that. The workflow details are in iPhone spatial photos in SPM.
4. Portrait HEIC with depth data
Extracting a depth map requires a portrait photo that actually contains depth information (v6.41). A spatial photo is not the same thing as a portrait-with-depth file; see the depth-map guide for which is which.
No separate plugin download exists for this. Pages offering “HEIC plugin packs” for modern SPM are describing a pre-6.40 world — and at least one widely copied link set points to files that do not exist. The DLL in the official ZIP is the whole story.