Extract text from iOS photo thumbnails (ITHMB)
To convert ITHMB thumbnails to another format, you need Apple Photos or other Raster Image software.
To convert other file formats to the "iOS Thumbnail Cache" file type, you need software like Apple Photos or a similar tool.
The .ITHMB file is a proprietary thumbnail cache generated by Apple iOS devices and legacy iPods. It stores pre-rendered, screen-sized versions of photos to allow fast gallery loading on mobile devices without reading the original high-resolution files.
Historically, these files were managed silently in the background by iPhoto, Aperture, and iTunes. Advanced users sometimes attempt to extract data using Adobe Photoshop plugins, but the format is notoriously difficult to work with.
The main disadvantage of the .ITHMB format is its proprietary, undocumented nature. It is not a standard image file; rather, it is a binary container or database holding raw pixel data or embedded JFIF blocks. Because it lacks standard image headers, .ITHMB files cannot be natively opened by web browsers, Windows image viewers, or modern Android devices. Furthermore, the internal structure completely changes depending on the specific hardware generation of the iPod or iPhone that created it.
To view or recover these images, you must convert them. For universal web compatibility and viewing, convert to JPG. If you want to preserve the exact pixels without further compression loss, extract them to PNG.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ITHMB file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted PHOTO DATABASE, F00, APPLE TV PHOTO DATABASE, JPG, IPOD PHOTO CACHE, THUMB, _PHOTO DATABASE, THMB, THUMBS, ITHMB 2, ZIP, PNG and TSX files.
If you want to convert ITHMB file to JPG, JPEG, PDF, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, TIF, WEBP, ICO, CUR or PSD, you can use Apple Photos or similar software from the "Photo Thumbnail Cache" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert RAW, PNG, AI, NEF, PSB, DNG, SVG, GIF, EPS, JPG, ARW or PDF files to ITHMB, try Apple Photos or another comparable tool in the "Photo Thumbnail Cache" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our ITHMB converter.