LrC 15.6: JPEG export leaves deleted cr_sdk temp files (~1.8 GB each) held open. 37 GB after a third of a wedding, freed only when quitting. Internal disk fills up.

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Since a recent update, exporting a full wedding to JPEG fills my internal disk. This did not happen before with the same workflow.

System
- Lightroom Classic 15.6
- macOS 26.6.2 (25G83), Apple M2 Max, 32 GB RAM
- Catalog on an external drive; Camera Raw cache limit 5 GB (stays almost empty during export)
- Source: 45 MP raw files (output 5331×7992 JPEG)

What happens
- During export, Lightroom creates temp files named `cr_sdk_XXXXXXXX_gNNNN.tmp` in `$TMPDIR` (`/private/var/folders/.../T/`).
- The files are unlinked right away, so they don't show in Finder or `du`, but Lightroom keeps them open and the space is not released.
- Each one is about 1.8–2 GB. `lsof +L1 -p <Lightroom PID>` showed 20 deleted-but-open cr_sdk files = 36.9 GB about one third into a ~3000-photo export.
- Some are released from time to time, but overall they keep growing. Earlier today an export of the same size filled the internal disk completely.
- After stopping the export, with Lightroom idle, it still held 16 deleted cr_sdk files = 31.6 GB. Nothing was released until I quit.
- Quitting Lightroom freed the space immediately: free space went from 119 GB to 152 GB.

Expected
Temp files are closed and released after each photo, or at least the total is bounded.

Steps to reproduce
1. Select ~1000+ raw photos with develop settings applied.
2. Export to JPEG, full size, quality high.
3. While exporting, run `lsof +L1 -p $(pgrep -f "Adobe Lightroom Classic.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Lightroom Classic")` and watch the `cr_sdk_*.tmp` entries and the free space in `df -h`.

Workaround for now: export in batches and quit Lightroom between batches.

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johnrellis

Legend

Hmm, I tried that recipe on a similar configuration and I’m not seeing that misbehavior, which suggests there’s something particular to your configuration causing it.

I’m on a Macbook Pro (2023, Apple M2 Max 64 GB) / Mac OS 26.6.2 / LR 15.6. When I export 1000 raw files to a temp folder on Desktop at full size and quality 85, “lsof” sows just one “cr_sdk_*.tmp” file open at a time:

$ lsof -r +L1 -p $(pgrep -f "Adobe Lightroom Classic.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Lightroom Classic") | grep cr_sdk
Adobe\x20 98059 john  141u      REG               1,15  308551744     0           555590952 /private/var/folders/x2/3qrttzcs1111vxl5n6609ddc0000gn/T/cr_sdk_33492922_g0010.tmp

And repeated “df -h” shows no change in disk usage during export and after exiting LR:

$ df -h $TMPDIR
Filesystem      Size    Used   Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk3s5   7.3Ti   3.4Ti   3.9Ti    47%    4.1M   42G    0%   /System/Volumes/Data

$ df -h $TMPDIR
Filesystem      Size    Used   Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk3s5   7.3Ti   3.4Ti   3.9Ti    47%    4.1M   42G    0%   /System/Volumes/Data

Perhaps it’s related to having the catalog on the external drive? Try creating a test catalog with 1000 raws on the Desktop, and try exporting them to a folder on the Desktop. Does the problem still occur?

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