My Photo library size does not match the size of all my Photos

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Level 1

8 points

My Photo library size does not match the size of all my Photos

Hello all,

I've recently been starting to back up my pictures on a cloud service and realized something was off with my photo library. When I look at my Photos Library data the OS tells me it's 96.8 GB:

However if I select all the pictures and videos in the app it tells me it's 71.48GB:

Similarly, if I try to export all pictures and videos I get a folder that's around 60-70GB.

I don't understand why there is a 25GB difference between what the Finder says the Photos Library is and what all the files in library add up to. It's also really weird because my library had been around 60-65GB in size recently, and even though I've added a few pictures and videos recently, there's no way I've added 35GB of new data in it in just a few days.

Does anyone know why there is such a big difference between the Photos Library's size in the Finder and what the photos and videos seem to add up to?

Thank you all for your help!

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 8, 2020 4:58 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,603 points

Mar 8, 2020 12:11 PM in response to TeeKay75

Is iCloud Photos enabled for your Photos Library? The size of the library will be mangaged by iCloud?

On macOS 10.15 Catalina the size of the library shown in the Finder is not updated reliably.

You will get a better idea of the true library size, if you ctrl-click the library in the Finder and use the command "Show Package Contents". This will open a Finde rwindow showing you the folders inside the library. Have a look at the sizes of the sub folders.

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Answer 2

TeeKay75 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 9, 2020 4:56 PM in response to léonie

Thank you all for your answers!

I have Catalina but iCloud for Photos is not activated.

Looking inside the package contents I can see the Originals are 72.23GB, the Masters 16.98GB and resources for 8.47GB, and the other folders account for negligible amounts.

All of this adds up to the 96.8GB displayed by the Finder but I still don't understand why my Photo library is much smaller once exported, or why taking all photos and pictures and asking Photos for their information also give a much smaller size.

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,948 points

Mar 9, 2020 5:00 PM in response to TeeKay75

but I still don't understand why my Photo library is much smaller once exported, or why taking all photos and pictures and asking Photos for their information also give a much smaller size.

The library contains your original photos. plus their edited versions, called previews, plus a number of thumbnails for each images, faces and so on, plus the databases plus the caches. That's why the Library is always larger than the total of the exported images.

Then... what settings are you using to export the images? That will impact the size as well.

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

215,640 points

Mar 8, 2020 10:47 AM in response to TeeKay75

That's normal for a library that size. The library includes a lot of overhead: thumbnails, previews, databases, export files, faces, etc.

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My Photo library size does not match the size of all my Photos

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