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PhilipTobias
Known Participant
January 19, 2012
Open for Voting

P: Support Common Image Formats (EPS, GIF, PDF, BMP etc.)

  • January 19, 2012
  • 275 replies
  • 9772 views

Feature request: Please add Lightroom support for common Adobe publishing and Web image formats, such as EPS, AI, PDF, GIF, and PNG.

Many of us use Lightroom to manage client images in NEF, JPG, PSD and other formats. But the clients' associated images, which are used on their Websites and in their logos and publications, are invisible to Lightroom. If Adobe Bridge can display these other image formats, why can't Lightroom?

Even if Lightroom did not provide direct editing support for these other image formats, it would still be extremely useful if Lightroom could catalog and display them.

It would also elevate Lightroom from being "just" a photo editor into the realm of being a true Digital Asset Manager (DAM). Now that Lightroom includes basic video support - isn't it time to support all the common image formats that our other CS applications use?

Please vote for, as well as reply to, this request if you would also like to see Lightroom support these additional common image formats...

    275 replies

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    PhilipTobiasAuthor
    Known Participant
    June 21, 2014
    I'm glad, reinecke, that the AnyFile plugin workaround meets your needs.

    I tried Anyfile a couple of years ago and found it annoying in my own situation. Although I have since forgotten the details, I seem to recall a clutter of placeholder files. And due to the way my network attached storage device allocates space, I think each placeholder was taking up much more space than one would expect.

    In any event, I quickly gave up on AnyFile. For me it was not a satisfactory replacement for Lightroom providing adequate file support in the first place.

    But I'm glad you like it. Others might want to check it out, too. ...pt
    R
    RSquared
    Participating Frequently
    June 21, 2014
    I found a work-around with "AnyFile" Lightroom plugin. It has limitations but with the 30 day free trial and a cost of "a donation" it is worth examining. I found it at
    http://www.johnrellis.com/lightroom/a....
    I installed it and have had no problems.
    P
    PhilipTobiasAuthor
    Known Participant
    June 6, 2014
    Indeed, reinecke. That is why it would be extremely useful for Lightroom to provide support for more of the common image formats.

    Thanks for supporting this feature request. ...pt
    R
    RSquared
    Participating Frequently
    June 6, 2014


    Even photographers have logos and artwork to go with their photos.
    john beardsworth
    Community Expert
    john beardsworthCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 7, 2014
    Thanks, but I don't need you asking me to see the big picture. As I said before, I've long been in favour of LR letting the photographer choose what types of files to manage in the catalogue. No argument there. Non-maximized PSDs are the issue Martijn raised, and to which I responded.
    K
    Kim Letkeman
    Participating Frequently
    May 7, 2014
    @188115 -- you are focusing on one narrow issue and totally missing the point here. We want support for cataloging of all known image and video formats, not just the ones that LR can parse. This makes the cataloging section of LR much more useful to those of us who want to to rely on more than the LR catalog for a sense of organization of related files. Visualizing and editing of those formats is secondary and could be added after the fact for the most important formats. Offline tools could be created to provide the re-rendering and / or conversion. But this would all work much better *once the files are cataloged!* Seriously, try to see the big picture.
    K
    Kim Letkeman
    Participating Frequently
    May 7, 2014
    Arguments claiming "bloat" or "difficulty" have come up in the past, when in reality Adobe has all the skills and existing technology to accomplish the cataloging support we need, and even editing support if they chose to. Adobe could support basic import and cataloging operations with trivial amounts of code, but the lack of same is purely a marketing choice.

    Fatuous apologist arguments appear to be coming from a position of ignorance of software architecture issues as did past arguments against Adobe supporting newer versions of ACR in existing Photoshop versions, a position that Adobe reversed as soon as it suited them.
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    PhilipTobiasAuthor
    Known Participant
    May 7, 2014
    Hi, folks. Before we get unduly concerned about the nuances of supporting some particular image format, we need to convince Adobe that expanded file format support is needed by many of us.

    To do that, a united front would seem to be helpful. So please encourage more people to vote for this general idea.
    john beardsworth
    Community Expert
    john beardsworthCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 7, 2014
    Oh, all assumptions, yeah right. And let's upload PSDs to the cloud....

    All because we're too lazy to fix the problem we caused ourselves, and which we can easily fix for ourselves, today?
    T
    Thany2
    Known Participant
    May 7, 2014
    It's all assumptions.

    If it's really too big a thing to add (and that's a big if, one that ONLY Adobe knows the truth about), I imagine this scenario:

    Photoshop installed -> can manage non-maximized PSD in Lightroom and work with them and everything. Let Photoshop render them.

    Photoshop not installed -> non-maximized PSD's will simply not work, but maximized ones will.

    Or, since everything is very cloudy these days, let the cloud render PSD's in the background, and have Lightroom treat those renders as smart previews.
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