Users of Google Photos have reported that older images in their library are corrupted.
Users started noticing that their older photos have lines, and deep cracks running through them over the weekends. Some others have noticed that their photos are blurry or distorted in some area.
According Tech Times, while the incident does not happen to all users, several users of the photo-sharing service of Google experienced it.
Corrupted Images Issue Affected a Sizable Number of Users
Google Photos is an amazing platform to keep your digital memories safe and sound. Users expected that the platform would be a reliable tool to store photos.
However, according to 9to5Google, over the weekends some people are experiencing some issues with older images uploaded to the service. According to users' report, the older images in the library are corrupted.
As per Android Police, it appears like the images affected were the ones which are uploaded between 2013 and 2015. Moreover, there are some reports that specified the May 2013 to May 2015 timeframe.
The corrupted images have been observed in various Google Photos platforms, including Apple's iOS, Android, and even the web.
Users who are affected said that the corruption persists even when downloading the images. The incident is observed in both individual downloads, and when using Google Takeout.
Based on users' report, it seems that people have almost similar experiences of the issue.
Users experienced that their older photos suddenly have lines and deep cracks running through them. There are also those whose photos suddenly become blurry or distorted in some areas. Another observed occurrence is the presence of white dots.
While the problem appears to have resided eventually, others are still affected. The incident did not affect all users, but a sizable number was impacted.
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Is There a Fix to the Corrupted Images?
As per Forbes, one user stated, "Older photos in my drive have started becoming corrupted. Issue looks like a water stain with massive discoloration and data loss. Is there any way to revert this?"
Luckily, it appears that there's fix to the corrupted images. According to Forbes, the corruption does not appear to be permanent.
It seems that only the edited versions of photos are affected. In order to fix it, users just simply need to select the 'download original' option in order to have an uncorrupted copy of the image.
Moreover, it appears that the unwanted artifacts disappear once a user enter the edit mode on an affected photo.
Other users were also able to get obtain a copy of the clean, uncorrupted image by clearing the cache of the Photos app. Afterwards, just open the affected images again and you'll have the error-free versions.
It appears like Google still keep the original, uncorrupted images on its servers. According to Android Police, there's a possibility that there are just "some problems in the transfer process from the servers to the Google Photos app."
It might be a good idea to secure a copy of your photos even after the issue has rectified as you'll never know when a more serious problem will happen in the future.
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