David Bywater

Q: Exporting photos not same size as Photos file

Trying to export to folders to then import to Photoshop Elements 15. I have exported 'unmodified originals' but the file size is about 50gb when my Photos file is about 80gb. What have I missed? Thanks

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Oct 6, 2016 11:16 PM

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Q: Exporting photos not same size as Photos file

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  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Oct 7, 2016 1:41 PM in response to David Bywater
    Level 10 (108,438 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 7, 2016 1:41 PM in response to David Bywater

    Your Photos Library is larger than the the combined sizes of the original photos in your library, because Photos is keeping previews of the edited versions and thumbnails as well. There are also masks for brushed adjustments, or scanned faces thumbnails.

     

    To see, if you got all originals ctrl-click your Photos Library, use "Show Package Contents", the look at the size of the folder "Masters".  Is it roughly the size of the folder with the exported originals?

  • by David Bywater,

    David Bywater David Bywater Oct 7, 2016 1:41 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (22 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 7, 2016 1:41 PM in response to léonie

    No (and yes!).

     

    I think you have the answer. So my Photos app on it's own is 82.61gb, the Masters folder you mention is 9.69gb. The exported folder is 59.65gb, but (crucially here perhaps) my Photos library also has referenced photos.

     

    So I'm assuming it's connected the referenced photos and put them all together in one place.

     

    Interesting though how the masters file is just 9.69gb and there's 71gb of edits/data in there.