Skip to main content
carlo_colombo
Participating Frequently
November 9, 2021
Question

Lightroom Library.library is large and I need to reduce its size

  • November 9, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 267 views

hi! 

my Lightroom Library.lrlibrary file takes up too much space of my MacBook Pro (500GB)

i can't reduce this size, can you help me?

i set at 0% my cache space. (I have attached a photo)

 

please help me!

 

thank you,

Carlo

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Jim Wilde
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 10, 2021

Johan has already explained how to deal with the stored images that are stored in the Lightroom Library.lrlibrary, but in order to prevent this continually happening every time you import new images it would be sensible (if possible) to change the location for locally stored originals to an alternative drive (using the option on that Local Storage preferences tab).

 

The Lightroom Library.lrlibrary itself cannot be relocated, but the original images can be. Doing that would be a significant help to managing the space on your system drive.

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 10, 2021

Lightroom copies the originals into its library before it uploads them to the cloud. After successful upload, these local copies should be deleted, but that takes time, sometimes many months before it happens. I don't know why this has not been dealt with.

 

You can manually delete the originals if you are sure they have been uploaded already. Right-click on the Library and choose 'Show Package Contents'. That opens the library as a folder. Inside it there should be a subfolder with the originals.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga