Why are my Photos in a small file size?

when I access them in my library (older photos that I know were full size when I imported them- I only shoot RAW).

How do you access photos in your library?

If you want to use the full-sized originals of the photos you imported to Photos, select the photos in Photos and use the command "File > Export > Export unmodified original" and the original RAW files will be saved to a folder in the Finder.

To save any edited versions of your photos use "File > Export > Export ... photos" instead and select the pixel size and quality of the exported JPEG files. Exporting edited versions will usually result in a smaller file size than the original RAW files because of the JPEG compression.

Do not use drag and drop to export photos from your Photos Library. You cannot control the quality of the exported photos this way. You may only be saving the previews of the edited version when exporting by drag and drop.

How did you import the RAW and TIFF files. Where did they come from?

What do you get when you export one of the RAW files to the Desktop using the File ➙ Export ➙ Export unmodified original for 1 photo menu option? What size do you get?

And I do edit them, was thinking the file would get larger but good to know that's the opposite.

Editing them does not necessary make them smaller or larger (cropping does make them smaller) - what is making them smaller or larger is your choice of export options (size, quality, etc)

LN

Where and how are you seeing the file size?

What system and Photos versions are you using?

Where is your iibrary located.

when I import that to Photos is remains at 4.6.

Then where do you see the smaller size and under what circumstances?