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johnrellis
johnrellis
Legend
April 1, 2026

P: Save Metadata To File sometimes writes huge .acr sidecars for JPEGs unnecessarily

  • April 1, 2026
  • 11 replies
  • 148 views

Save Metadata To File will unnecessarily write a huge .acr sidecar for a JPEG that’s been exported from LR and reimported. This affects users who regularly export with the Add To Catalog option. See here for a motivating use case:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/exported-jpgs-with-an-acr-file.54565/

 

To reproduce  on LR 15.2.1 / Mac OS 26.2:

 

1. Download and open the attached catalog, which contains a single raw, DSC08981.ARW, with Denoise applied.

 

2. Ensure the option Catalog Settings > Metadata > Include Develop Settings In Metadata is enabled (the default).

 

3. Select the raw and export it as a JPEG to the desktop, with Quality = 70 and the option Metadata > Include: All Metadata.

 

4. Import the exported JPEG with the Add Option.

 

5. Select the JPEG and do Metadata > Save Metadata To File. Observe that DSC08981.acr is created, about 10.3 MB (three times the size of the .jpg) (incorrect).

 

6. Delete DSC08981.acr from the desktop.

 

7. Edit DSC0891.jpg in Develop and change Exposure = -2.

 

8. Do Metadata > Save Metadata To File.  Observe that no .acr sidecar is created (correct).

 

9. Delete DSC08981.jpg from the desktop.

 

10. Select the raw and export it with Export With Previous.

 

11. Create a new catalog and import DSC08981.jpg from the desktop with the Add option.

 

12. Select the imported .jpg and do Metadata > Save Metadata To File.  Observe that no .acr sidecar is created (correct).

 

* * * 

 

In step 5, Save Metadata To File is incorrectly ignoring the develop setting xmp:AlreadyApplied = True and writing the .acr sidecar even though the contained Denoise result can never be used with the JPEG.  

 

The inconsistency in results between steps 5, 8, and 12 further reinforce there is no coherent design rationale or use cases for writing a .acr sidecar when xmp:AlreadyApplied = True. 

 

 

    11 replies

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    E
    ExUSA
    Legend
    February 23, 2026

    Lightroom Classic 15.2 on Apple Silicon, Tahoe 26.3.

     

    My workflow is to label my select RAW images, edit in Photoshop, and save a PSD and multiple sizes of JPEG to a different drive than the RAW files. I then remove the color labels from the finished JPEG and PSD files from inside Lightroom (I typically show both RAW and finished file folders together in Lightroom Library mode.)

     

    Lightroom is now writing a ~6-10MB .acr file for every one of those finished images, including JPEGs which are under 300k. This means I have to delete those sidecars in the Finder or they add significantly to my disk usage. This does not affect the assigned labels in Lightroom.

     

    I’m wondering if this is a bug, by design, and or??? Is there a way to avoid writing those unneeded files? They are NOT created by Photoshop and only appear if I make a metadata change in Lightroom.

    C.Cella
    C.Cella
    Legend
    April 2, 2026

    ​@ExUSA 

    LrC doens't separate metada and edits which is the source of many, many problems.

    On multiple occasions I suggested that metadata should end into XMP, edits in a dedicated sidecar and finally binary data (Ai, Enahnce, etc...) in .acr 

    I also suggested to let users choose wheter to save binary data next to the file OR only in the .lrcat-data OR both (what LrC does now )

    With these changes in palce saving metada would be quicker (like orders of magnitude quicker) and unwanted .acr would not be created.

    Maybe one day it will happen, not today 

     

    If you need to get rid of the .acr files for the JPEGs I can give you a code.

     

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