# Capturing still and Live Photos Configure and capture single or multiple still images, Live Photos, and other forms of photography. ## Discussion Video captured on the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X running iOS 11 or later uses the HEVC codec by default. If your app shares the captured video using a system share sheet, the video will be automatically converted to a format compatible with the destination device. AVFoundation supports many ways to capture photos. You can simply capture still HEIF or JPEG images, capture in RAW format for custom processing, snap several images in one shot, create Live Photos with motion and sound, and much more. In iOS, all photography workflows use the [`AVCapturePhotoOutput`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoOutput) class. > Note: > For macOS, see ``doc://com.apple.avfoundation/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCaptureStillImageOutput`` instead. ### Prepare for photo capture First, set up an [`AVCaptureSession`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCaptureSession) containing a supported camera device as one of its inputs and an [`AVCapturePhotoOutput`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoOutput) as one of its outputs. (For details, see [Choosing a capture device](/documentation/AVFoundation/choosing-a-capture-device) and [Setting up a capture session](/documentation/AVFoundation/setting-up-a-capture-session).) Each camera device supports a wide range of resolution and frame rate settings. To easily get the best photo quality for the user’s device, you can use the [`photo`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCaptureSession/Preset/photo) session preset instead of directly choosing individual settings. Some capture options affect the internal configuration of the media capture pipeline. Because changing those options causes the pipeline to reconfigure itself, which takes time, enable them before offering the user the ability to shoot photos with those settings. Otherwise, the configuration delay could prevent the user from capturing a photo at the right moment. For example, to configure the capture pipleline to support Live Photos, enable that property on the photo output, as shown below. After you’ve enabled Live Photo capture, you can choose for each individual shot whether to use still or Live Photo capture for each shot (see [Capturing and saving Live Photos](/documentation/AVFoundation/capturing-and-saving-live-photos)). ```swift self.captureSession.beginConfiguration() let photoOutput = AVCapturePhotoOutput() photoOutput.isHighResolutionCaptureEnabled = true photoOutput.isLivePhotoCaptureEnabled = photoOutput.isLivePhotoCaptureSupported guard self.captureSession.canAddOutput(photoOutput) else { return } self.captureSession.sessionPreset = .photo self.captureSession.addOutput(photoOutput) self.previewView.session = captureSession self.captureSession.commitConfiguration() self.captureSession.startRunning() ``` ### Choose settings To capture a photo, first create an [`AVCapturePhotoSettings`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoSettings) object describing the settings you want to use for that shot and the data format for the resulting still photo. For example: - On supported devices, you can use the HEIF/HEVC format for improved image quality at smaller file sizes: use [`init(format:)`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoSettings/init(format:)) and choose [`hevc`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVVideoCodecType/hevc) for the video codec. On devices without HEVC support, use the default initializer to fall back to JPEG format. - To shoot in RAW format, use [`init(rawPixelFormatType:)`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoSettings/init(rawPixelFormatType:)) with one of the [`availableRawPhotoPixelFormatTypes`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoOutput/availableRawPhotoPixelFormatTypes-5fatm) supported by the photo output. After creating a photo settings object, you can choose other settings for the photo. For example, the code below creates a settings object for HEIF/HEVC shooting, with automatic flash and image stabilization. ```swift let photoSettings: AVCapturePhotoSettings if self.photoOutput.availablePhotoCodecTypes.contains(.hevc) { photoSettings = AVCapturePhotoSettings(format: [AVVideoCodecKey: AVVideoCodecType.hevc]) } else { photoSettings = AVCapturePhotoSettings() } photoSettings.flashMode = .auto photoSettings.isAutoStillImageStabilizationEnabled = self.photoOutput.isStillImageStabilizationSupported ``` Other possible photo settings include Live Photos, depth data capture, and multi-image (bracketed) capture, as well as options for embedding preview or thumbnail images in output image files. For more information, see Next Steps and More Capture Options below. ### Capture the photo Pass your photo settings object to the [`capturePhoto(with:delegate:)`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoOutput/capturePhoto(with:delegate:)) method to trigger photo capture with the settings you’ve chosen. > Important: > Calling ``doc://com.apple.avfoundation/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoOutput/capturePhoto(with:delegate:)`` is analogous to pressing a camera’s shutter button—each call starts a new photo capture. Each call requires a unique ``doc://com.apple.avfoundation/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoSettings`` object with the settings for that capture. To reuse settings for multiple captures, see ``doc://com.apple.avfoundation/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoSettings/init(from:)``. ### Handle capture results The `delegate` you pass to the [`capturePhoto(with:delegate:)`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoOutput/capturePhoto(with:delegate:)) method is an object to track the progress of and handle results from that photo capture. Capturing a photo is an asynchronous process with multiple steps that unfold over time. Because your app can trigger additional captures while earlier captures are still processing, your delegate implementation should be able to handle multiple captures at once. An easy way to handle concurrent captures is to define a class adopting the [`AVCapturePhotoCaptureDelegate`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoCaptureDelegate) protocol and create a separate instance of that class for each capture: ```swift class PhotoCaptureProcessor: NSObject, AVCapturePhotoCaptureDelegate { // ... } let captureProcessor = PhotoCaptureProcessor() self.photoOutput.capturePhoto(with: photoSettings, delegate: captureProcessor) ``` When your captured image data is ready for use, the photo output calls your delegate’s [`photoOutput(_:didFinishProcessingPhoto:error:)`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhotoCaptureDelegate/photoOutput(_:didFinishProcessingPhoto:error:)) method. You can use the resulting [`AVCapturePhoto`](/documentation/AVFoundation/AVCapturePhoto) object there to display, process or save the image. ## Topics ### Next steps [Saving captured photos](/documentation/AVFoundation/saving-captured-photos) Add an image and other data from a photo capture to the photo library. [Tracking photo capture progress](/documentation/AVFoundation/tracking-photo-capture-progress) Monitor key events during capture to provide feedback in your camera UI. [Capturing and saving Live Photos](/documentation/AVFoundation/capturing-and-saving-live-photos) Capture Live Photos like those created in the system Camera app and save them to the Photos library. ### More capture options [Capturing photos with depth](/documentation/AVFoundation/capturing-photos-with-depth) Get a depth map with a photo to create effects like the system camera’s Portrait mode (on compatible devices). [Capturing a bracketed photo sequence](/documentation/AVFoundation/capturing-a-bracketed-photo-sequence) Capture several photos at once, varying parameters like exposure duration or light sensitivity. [Capturing uncompressed image data](/documentation/AVFoundation/capturing-uncompressed-image-data) Get processed image data without compression to use for filtering or lossless output. [Capturing thumbnail and preview images](/documentation/AVFoundation/capturing-thumbnail-and-preview-images) Enable delivery of reduced-size images with the main image in a photo capture. --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. | [Terms of Use](https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/terms/site.html) | [Privacy Policy](https://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy)