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Participant
April 26, 2023
Question

P: Synced collection distorts images in cloud gallery

  • April 26, 2023
  • 7 replies
  • 1043 views

Images from a synced Lightroom Classic (12.3) collection appear distorted (vertically squashed) when viewed in the generated web gallery.  This is consistent across browsers, devices, OS (but working primarily on Mac 13.3.1 and iOS 16.2).  I saw that there was a similar discussion from June 2022 but the proposed solution (check the metadate projection field for equirectangular) did not resolve the issue. Interestingly, when I access the collection on a mobile device, the images are distorted in the collection there (not just a generated web gallery).  However when I hard press on an image (a gesture that typically shows before/after states) the original unedited image briefly appears (as expected) but when it pops back to the current state, the distortion is gone.

For background, these images were shot on a Sony a7iii with the aspect ratio accidentally set to 16:9 (versus the native sensor 3:2).  Once imported I batch reset the crop to include the whole sensor capture.  I did this by adjusting one image and syncing the crop settings across the others. 

Oddly when the image "pops" back to undistorted in the mobile app, it returns to the 16:9 crop.

7 replies

Participating Frequently
July 14, 2026

I’ve had this issue for a while, and found a fix finally.

Issue:
Photos in a Lightroom Classic synced collection look fine in LrC, but appear warped/stretched in the Lightroom Web gallery (and mobile grid view).

Cause: The photos were shot on a Sony body with an in-camera aspect ratio crop enabled, so the raw files carry an "As Shot" crop flag instead of explicit crop coordinates. The web renderer mishandles that flag, especially after batch resetting crops via Sync Settings. Re-syncing, deleting cloud copies, and rebuilding smart previews does not fix it.

How to verify you have this issue:

  1. Open an affected photo in the Develop module and press R for the crop tool.
  2. Toggle the Aspect dropdown between "As Shot" and "Original."
  3. If the framing changes between the two, the file has an embedded in-camera crop. That's the trigger.

Fix:

  1. Select all affected photos in the Develop module.
  2. Enable Auto Sync (flip the toggle on the Sync button so it reads Auto Sync).
  3. Open the crop tool (R) on the active photo.
  4. Drag a corner crop handle in slightly, then back out to the framing you want. This forces Lightroom to write explicit numeric crop values to every selected photo instead of the As Shot/Original flag.
  5. Close the crop tool, turn Auto Sync off, and let the collection sync.
  6. Check the web gallery in a private/incognito window to bypass cached thumbnails.

Gallery previews rendered correctly immediately after the crop values synced.

Prevention: Set the camera's aspect ratio to 3:2 (native sensor) so raws don't carry the in-camera crop flag in the first place.

linvilt
Known Participant
March 14, 2024

Yes unfortunately.  Images appear fine in LR Classic on Desktop.  In Lightroom Mobile app (some) images are distorted in grid view.  When selecting to view single image, it appears to "pop" and lose the distortion.  However in the synced web gallery they remain distorted. 

Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
March 13, 2024

@Travis L  Are you still experiencing this issue?

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
Travis LAuthor
Participant
April 27, 2023

Thanks! Will do. 

Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
April 27, 2023

We've logged a bug with our Cloud team to investigate. Please leave the gallery available.

 

Thank you!

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
Bob Somrak
Legend
April 26, 2023
Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
April 26, 2023

Some screen-capture examples of what you are seeing would help us diagnose.

Additionally, if you can create a shared album called "Distorted" with a few images in it and then share with us that link, we can look on the backend and see if we can discover what is happening. 

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
Travis LAuthor
Participant
April 26, 2023

Here's the web gallery the third and fifth images have the distortion but not the others. I'm also noticing that the web gallery doesn't reflect the custom sequencing of the collection that I established in LrC.  Here also are a before and after (with distortion and without).

 

 

Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
April 26, 2023

Thank you. I will forward to the team for review. 

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org