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.ithmb

ITHMB file: what it is and what can be recovered from it

An .ithmb file is a photo thumbnail cache that iTunes and older iPods and iPhones build when photos are synced.

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Contenta Converter results screen showing 32 converted photos and a before and after preview
The results screen of Contenta Converter: 32 photos converted in 47 seconds, with a before and after preview.
  1. Add your ITHMB filesDrop in single files or a whole folder.
  2. Pick output formatJPG, PNG, TIFF, PDF and more.
  3. Click ConvertEvery file converted in one pass.

Each file holds several small previews stored as raw pixel data, not your full-size photos. Contenta Converter reads all common layouts and saves every preview in the file as its own JPG or PNG.

Before you convert ITHMB files

  1. What changes in the conversion
    Nothing is lost in the conversion itself, because an ITHMB only ever held small previews, stored as raw pixels without colour profile or EXIF data. The JPG or PNG you get is that preview at its stored size. The full-resolution photos were never in the file: they stayed in the photo library of the computer the device was synced with.
  2. What Contenta Converter does with ITHMB
    Contenta Converter recognises the common ITHMB layouts (the F-numbered files from iPod_Control/Photos/Thumbs) and writes every stored preview as its own JPG or PNG. It tells you when a file uses a layout it does not know, or when every slot in the file is empty, instead of writing blank images. There is no date or camera data to preserve, because the cache never stored any.

The same photo, five outputs

Photo of a stage set with a bed, a small table and a checked sofaDSC_0001.NEF · 3900×2613
  • PNG.png1.9 s
    16.1 MB
  • AVIF.avif2.2 s
    2.02 MB
  • JPG.jpg1.7 s
    1.69 MB
  • WebP.webp1.7 s
    1.32 MB
  • JPEG XL.jxl1.7 s
    1.12 MB
One Nikon D60 RAW file converted to five formats, at quality 90 where the format has a quality setting. PNG is lossless, so it is the largest. Seconds are the median of three runs. Measured with the Contenta Converter 9.0.35 command line on an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, 2026-09-30.
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Format

ITHMB

Firma

Apple

Opis ITHMB files are iPhone and iPod Touch thumbnail cache files created by Apple iOS. They contain low-resolution preview images of photos stored on the device. ITHMB files are essentially renamed JPEG images and can be converted directly. Contenta Converter PREMIUM can batch convert ITHMB files to JPG, PNG, TIFF, and other standard formats for easy viewing and archiving.
Korzyści Can be used to recover photo thumbnails from old iPhone/iPod backups. Files are essentially JPEG data and convert quickly.
Wady Contains only low-resolution thumbnail previews, not the original full-size photos. The .ithmb extension is not recognized by most image viewers.

Ready to convert your ITHMB files? Download the free trial.

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Frequently Asked Questions about ITHMB

Does an ITHMB file contain my original photos?

No. It holds several small thumbnails that iTunes and older iPods and iPhones build when photos are synced, stored as raw RGB565 or YCbCr pixels. The full-size photos are not in it.

Can I rename an .ithmb file to .jpg?

No. Unlike a THM file, an ITHMB file is not a JPEG and has no image header, so a new extension does not make it open. It has to be decoded.

What does Contenta Converter get out of an ITHMB file?

It decodes all common layouts and saves every thumbnail in the file as its own JPG or PNG, for a whole folder at once.

Why does Contenta Converter say the layout is not recognised?

ITHMB files have no header, so the decoder works from the file size and name to tell which device wrote them. A cache from a device or iTunes version with a layout the app has not seen is reported, not guessed: decoding it blindly would only give noise. The originals may still be on the computer that synced the device.