rherwick
Level 1 (4 points)
Photos for Mac

Q: what is the best way to shrink jpg size within Photos app?

JPG images imported into Photos and edited there still can be huge when shot at maximum size. Particularly those which are not cropped can be way too large. What is the best way to shrink the size, e.g. from 24MB to 2MB? Is they any of automating the process from Photos out and back again?

iMac, iOS 9.3.4

Posted on Aug 20, 2016 6:05 PM

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rherwick

Q: what is the best way to shrink jpg size within Photos app?

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  • by Rysz,

    Rysz Rysz Aug 20, 2016 6:13 PM in response to rherwick
    Level 6 (19,801 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 20, 2016 6:13 PM in response to rherwick

    The best app for doing this is Preview, which you already have installed. There is a $2 app extension available in the Mac App Store that allows using Preview tools from within Photos. It's called External Editors.

     

    I would strongly suggest reducing the file size only of copies, not of the full-size originals. What's the reason you want to reduce the quality of your images so drastically?

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 20, 2016 9:52 PM in response to rherwick
    Level 10 (84,066 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 20, 2016 9:52 PM in response to rherwick

    That is not possible - once a photo is imported to Photos it is not possible to change it - you can export it as a smaller JPEG and delete it form Photos then import the new smaller Photo - the solution is to shoot what you what - if you do not want large photos set your camera to short smaller photos (and BTW I've never seen a 24GB JPEG - what pixel dimensions does your camera shoot?

     

    LN

  • by rherwick,

    rherwick rherwick Aug 21, 2016 2:43 PM in response to Rysz
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 21, 2016 2:43 PM in response to Rysz

    Rysz - Thanks for the tip. I'll look for the app. That was exactly what I was looking for. I don't want to shrink the originals "drastically" but at 24MG some of them are basically snapshots which don't need to take up so much space. The ones I may eventually do something with will be left in their large existing state. Thanks again for the helpful suggestion.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 21, 2016 2:48 PM in response to rherwick
    Level 10 (84,066 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 21, 2016 2:48 PM in response to rherwick

    Ok but using Preview as an external editor will not reduce the original - as I posted that can only be done by exporting a copy (during export is a great time to reduce teh size to the desired size), deleting the photo from Photos and from the recently deleted album and then importing the smaller version - you can not ever modify any file inside the Photos library

     

    Again

    That is not possible - once a photo is imported to Photos it is not possible to change it - you can export it as a smaller JPEG and delete it form Photos then import the new smaller Photo - the solution is to shoot what you what - if you do not want large photos set your camera to short smaller photos (and BTW I've never seen a 24GB JPEG - what pixel dimensions does your camera shoot?

     

    LN