rclone sync with iCloud photos special characters

[Kuba]

Hi.

Since I got the rclone sync running with iCloud Photos, which works with the Apple Data Protection setting, I am now running into a filename problem.
I am running Syncovery on a Windows 11 machine and on my iCloud Photos account are files that probably have names with special characters.

The Sync-Preview-Window for example shows me this filename:

Code: Select all

Duolingo_Sharing_Ad6IH1uS+U3epSwaZvj8fP3L／o7U.png

And this is the error message in the log file:

Code: Select all

24.06.2026 21:41:37 Rclone: Error downloading: HTTP ERROR 404 Not Found | {
	"error": "failed to find object: object not found",
	"input": null,
	"path": "PrimarySync/All Photos/Duolingo_Sharing_Ad6IH1uS+U3epSwaZvj8fP3L／o7U.png",
	"status": 404
}
 (GET http://localhost:5572/[iCloudPhotos:]/PrimarySync/All%20Photos/Duolingo_Sharing_Ad6IH1uS%2BU3epSwaZvj8fP3L%EF%BC%8Fo7U.png) (ETGFTPErrorDoNotRetry)
24.06.2026 21:41:37 HttpsGet: HTTP ERROR 404 Not Found | {
	"error": "failed to find object: object not found",
	"input": null,
	"path": "PrimarySync/All Photos/Duolingo_Sharing_Ad6IH1uS+U3epSwaZvj8fP3L／o7U.png",
	"status": 404
}

There are multiple files that I cannot identify and I don't know how to work around this issue. There is some information on this topic here (rclone.org/local/), but I don't know how to implement it with Syncovery.

Thanks in advance.

[tobias]

Hello,
can you post the original file name that you see in iCloud itself?

What is the special character really?

[Kuba]

I can't really tell. It is not shown in the iCloud Photos web interface. It seems to be a generated file name if this filename already exists. For example: You take a picture IMG_0001 with your own device and save a another image from a file transfer with the same file name.
Judging from the message it looks like ¼.

[Kuba]

Maybe it is a problem with the path translation into the according browser url. As you can see all special characters are replaced for the call.

PrimarySync/All%20Photos/Duolingo_Sharing_Ad6IH1uS%2BU3epSwaZvj8fP3L%EF%BC%8Fo7U.png

PrimarySync/All Photos/Duolingo_Sharing_Ad6IH1uS+U3epSwaZvj8fP3L／o7U.png

[tobias]

OK, thanks! I will look into it. I think I have enough information now.