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Original picture / library size ratio 1:3 ???

Hello all,

my Photos library consists of 21.000 photos that come in varying sizes depending on cameras and file formats. The size of the whole library is 160 GB. As I found this to be a bit large, today I checked the size of the "Originals" folder that is to be found in the library package. To my surprise this one is only 60 GB! Going through other folders I found out that the previews of most pictures take 3 MB each, previews of files that only have around 5 or 6 MB as their originals!


So I guess my question is: Is this normal that the photos app blows a library to almost three times the size of the original photos? I know that the app always keeps the original when I tweak with a picture, but I'd estimate that I have only post-processed around 25 % of my photos.


So what do you say: Normal or not?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 10, 2015 3:18 AM

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1 reply

Oct 10, 2015 3:31 AM in response to tilltoll

To my surprise this one is only 60 GB

Have you imported all of your originals into the library?

If you create a smart album (File > New Smart Album) with the rule "Photo is referenced", do you see any photos in that album? In that case the Previews can take up more storage than the originals in the master folder.


Another reason for a large library might be a large iPod Photo Cache folder. Are you syncing with iTunes? See iTunes: Understanding the iPod Photo Cache folder


It is not unusual, that the Photos library has 1.5 times the size of your original master files. The thumbnails for browsing, the previews for sharing with other applications, faces thumbnails will add up.

Original picture / library size ratio 1:3 ???

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