ultralytics 8.4.16

v8.4.16 - `ultralytics 8.4.16` Windows<>Linux model compatibility fix (#23725)

on Python PyPI

🌟 Summary (single-line synopsis)

Ultralytics 8.4.16 mainly improves Windows ↔ Linux/macOS .pt model portability by fixing pathlib pickle issues, with a small docs update for HEIC/HEIF image support 🧩💾📸

📊 Key Changes

• 🪟🖥️ Cross-platform .pt loading fix (PR #23725 by @glenn-jocher):
  • Updated torch_safe_load() to remap pathlib.WindowsPath ↔ pathlib.PosixPath during unpickling, preventing common load failures when models are created on one OS and loaded on another.
• 🧵 Checkpoint metadata made safer/more consistent:
  • model.pt_path is now stored as a plain string (str(weight)), not a Path object (applies in general checkpoint loading and YOLO NAS model wrapper code).
• 🔢 Version bump: 8.4.15 → 8.4.16.
• 📸 Docs + format clarity (PR #23717):
  • Docs now reflect that HEIC/HEIF uses pi-heif (auto-installed on first use) and AVIF is supported natively by Pillow.
  • .heif is explicitly listed among supported image formats.

🎯 Purpose & Impact

• ✅ Fewer “can’t unpickle WindowsPath/PosixPath” errors when sharing trained .pt weights between teammates or CI systems running different operating systems.
• 🔁 More reliable export and tooling workflows that depend on model.pt_path (strings behave consistently across platforms and serialization).
• 👥 Better collaboration & reproducibility for teams training on Linux servers and deploying/testing on Windows machines (or vice versa).
• 📸 Smoother HEIC/HEIF user experience thanks to clearer docs and explicit .heif support visibility (less dependency confusion).

What's Changed

• Update HEIC/HEIF dependency info and add .heif format to docs by @raimbekovm in #23717
• ultralytics 8.4.16 Windows<>Linux model compatibility fix by @glenn-jocher in #23725

Full Changelog: v8.4.15...v8.4.16