iCloud Photo Library much larger than camera roll size

I know this won't help you, but I'm facing the same problem. I suspect it's a problem with the way iCloud handles very large files.

I wanted to see how long I could record video with a full battery on 2 devices; this created a 10gb file on one device and a 20gb file on another.

I immediately deleted them (literally as soon as I finished recording), and removed them from the "recently deleted" album - but a few days later, I noticed that the 2 files had been synced on ALL my devices. But when I deleted them (again), and removed them from "recently deleted" (again), the icloud library photo size still counted the videos.

I can prove it's a bug/issue by doing one simple test. On my MacBook, I open photos.app and go into 'moments'. I select every item and right-click and select "get info". This calculates the size of every item in my library. It comes to 14gb (this is the figure I get when I go into Finder and click 'get info' on the "Masters" folder in the photo library bundle). Then when I deselect all, the "get info" box remains open and reports.... 48gb used. This proves that there's a problem somewhere - the files *do not exist* on my computer, on my iPads or iPhone, and they are not shown on icloud.com. Of course, the difference is 38gb, when my two video files are only 30gb. So there's another file somewhere causing my space to fill up.

I've searched for several weeks to see if I can find a solution. I'm about to do the one thing I hate doing: I'm gonna call support and see if I can get them to sort it.

If this doesn't do it, then I'm going to turn off iCloud photo library and wait 30 days - after that, every stored photo will be deleted from Apple, and I can start again.

There's a problem with how iCloud decides to sync large files. I suspect that it "decides" to sync as soon as a file is created, and perhaps syncs bits of data while the video is being recorded, which is why it synced the video files even though they were deleted immediately. And then, somehow it either keeps those files in the cloud, hidden, or it has a database somewhere that has entries for those files even though they don't exist, making it believe the space is used.

If I get any joy from my call to Apple support I'll post again here.

http://www.apple.com/icloud/photos/

Im not exactly sure why there is so much storage taken up. Try deleting it then re uploading to see if that clears it up.

iCloud essentially works just like an external hard disk, but with some benefits. One of those is that deleted items are kept available for 30 days, in case you change your mind. So what you are seeing is probably a combination of the bigger file size of the original photos, as compared to the ones on your iPhone, and recently deleted items.

Delete it permanently while off wifi? How would that even work? Have you checked the Photos folder on iCloud.com for remaining items that should have been deleted?

http://www.imore.com/how-delete-pictures-and-videos-icloud-photo-library

Have you checked Photos for a recently deleted album?

I just had a really, really long call with Apple support. I was considering doing the same as you, but I've decided to escalate it. The problem is, tech support always treat things as user error. I understand that - probably 99% of things ARE user error. But in my case, they kept assuming that I wanted the videos and simply hadn't downloaded them, which is why my library size was reported as 15gb or so. In other words, they kept assuming that 48gb was the correct size, and 15gb was the mistaken size. I had to spend more than half the phone call repeating my explanation, and then when they escalated it to second level tech, I had to explain it all over again.

It's really frustrating, but I understand it - most problems are down to users not understanding things (which just shows how complicated and awful computers/phones still are - even simple things can seem convoluted to people who aren't technical); it is really horrible to be in our position - where we KNOW that there's a problem with these files, but we can't prove it; all we can do is say "look, I know I'm right". The people I spoke to were really helpful, which makes a difference. They didn't treat me like an idiot.

They've asked me to turn off cloud syncing while they investigate it, and they're gonna call me back at the end of the week.

Part of why I'm escalating it is to get it acknowledged that there's a problem with handling large files. Let's see if it helps...

Hey there! Did you ever hear anything back? My client has the same problem and I'm stumped.