Copying pictures out of Photos changes their size

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Level 1

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Copying pictures out of Photos changes their size

Hi!

I have quite a problem managing pictures on MacBook Pro. I have noticed that by dragging pictures out of photos to desktop or folder located anywhere else, it affects the size, but the strangest is - not for all pictures and videos- some are losing half size, some are losing just 1KB...some stay the same size... Can someone explain me why?

Started using Export function - absolutely the same happens if I use settings " Full size", " High quality"... very confusing, cause it's obviously not full size if the size in Photos is bigger....?!

Then I changed Export settings to Maximum quality... and now some of the exported files are even 4-5 times larger than original in Photos...

So, why does this happen? And is it better just deal with Maximum even tho it will consume the space quite fast? Is there any option to just get the same size out of Photos as its there?

Hope you can help me! Thanks!

MacBook Pro 15", 10.14

Posted on Feb 1, 2019 10:56 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,639 points

Feb 2, 2019 4:00 AM in response to Shhhh2

When you drag photos from the Photos browser to a folder, you are saving a preview of the photo. The preview may have a smaller file size than the original. The preview is the file created for sharing and has a lesser JPEG quality than the original and may also have a smaller pixel size.

If a photo has not yet been edited in Photos and does not have a very large pixel size, Photos may be using the original file as the preview.

I would not use drag and drop, if you want photos in the original quality. In that case use "File > Export". This way you can control the size and quality of the saved photos. File > Export has two mode:

File > Export > Export unmodified Original: This will save an exact copy of the original file you imported, without any edits applied.
File > Export > Export ... Photos: This will save the edited version, and you will be able to specify the file format, the JPEG quality and the pixel size.

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Copying pictures out of Photos changes their size

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