I have a file, iCloud.photoslibrary, on my iMac that is 260 GB, while my iCloud storage shows Photos only is 193 GB
I understand that there will be a sizable library on my iMac, why would it be 65GB larger than the iCloud photos?
Thanks!
iMac 27″, macOS 11.7
Thanks for replying. I think my question is not how to configure icloud storage—I have the 2TB limit and am not trying to reduce cloud file size— but why the file on my Mac would be so much larger than the file in the cloud, since presumably the cloud file has full sized copies of all my photos. Does the smaller file in the cloud mean the cloud does not have maximum resolution copies of all my photos? If the cloud storage can be configured in a way that it doesn’t have the best copies (i.e., the biggest files) of photos that would be a serious problem.
Thanks for replying. I think my question is not how to configure icloud storage—I have the 2TB limit and am not trying to reduce cloud file size— but why the file on my Mac would be so much larger than the file in the cloud, since presumably the cloud file has full sized copies of all my photos. Does the smaller file in the cloud mean the cloud does not have maximum resolution copies of all my photos? If the cloud storage can be configured in a way that it doesn’t have the best copies (i.e., the biggest files) of photos that would be a serious problem.
Hi rwbramel,
For help with managing iCloud storage check the optimization settings with the steps below found in the article here: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support
"On your Mac
You can also find helpful information here: Find out how much iCloud storage you need for your Photos Library on your Mac which leads to Adjust the size of your Photos library to store it in iCloud Photos
Cheers.
Hello rwbramel,
Thanks for the additional information. iCloud Photos are stored in the original format at full-resolution. You can view more details here: About iCloud Photos and My Photo Stream - Apple Support and below.
"How your photos are stored
When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. If you have a large collection in iCloud Photos and need more storage, you can buy extra starting at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month. If you choose a 200GB plan or higher, you can share with your family. Learn more about iCloud storage prices in your country or region.
iCloud Photos
In reference to getting a more detailed look at your Mac storage, you can follow the steps listed here: Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support. This may allow you to see what the Photos app is using and the different categories that could be taking up the space as well.
Best regards.
Thanks for your comments.
After opening up the contents of the library on my iMac I'm beginning to see why the Mac library is so much bigger than the iCloud library.
The number of pictures and videos is the same in both libraries, but the Mac library contains many GBs of Adobe Photoshop Elements files, which individually range in size up to 36 MB. In addition, there are many "Canon Camera Raw Files", and the files sizes are up to 16 MB. I often use PSE to edit pictures from within the Photos app, and in the past remember importing Canon raw photos into Photos. I'd have guessed that the PSE activities wouldn't be placed in the Photos Library.
I'm guessing that these files, although they are in the "Photos Library iCloud.photoslibrary" on my Mac have not been uploaded to iCloud. I'm not sure what good they are buried inside the Photos Library.
The thing is, Photos does not-destructive editing. It always keeps the original picture, but the edited picture you see is reconstructed each time on the fly using the adjustments it recorded you making. But if you use an external editor, it can't do that-- it has to keep a full copy of that you edited as well as the original. So those pictures take up more space that those edited internally.
I'm not sure how iCloud handles this, but I think I'll experiment...
Thanks Richard! That’s been my understanding; even so there are two things that are difficult to figure out. First, what can Photos do with a PSE file, especially if Photos has no way of knowing if the PSE software still exists on a computer, and second, if Photos needs the PSE file to reconstruct the current modified image, why doesn’t the iCloud copy need the same PSE info?
It’s hard to imagine that iCloud and Mac would re-create the same image if one source has a bunch of additional information.
I'm working from ignorance, here, but when I have used an external editor with Photos, I had to hit "save," then go to Photos and then tell Photos to save the results. There was certainly some image file created and stored somewhere-- I've never tried to search for it. After you've generated this new image, that's the one that you edit in the future. But if you say "Revert to Original" you get the actual original image. My phone also shows the actual original when I ask. There you have everything I know!
iMac Photos library is 65GB larger than iCloud library
