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edwards57912491
Participant
September 17, 2026
Answered

Moving photos locally from one PC to another in Lightroom, are XMP files enough?

  • September 17, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 34 views

Hi,

I have a large photo library on my laptop that I want to move to a desktop pc, both are using Lightroom (non-classic version). The usual suggestion is to upload to cloud and sync, but this is out of the question due to file sizes and internet speed.

If I select Export > Original + Settings and save the photos to an external hard drive, I get a folder of RAWs + XMPs which can then be read on the desktop with edits applied.

So, if I just copy this folder to my new desktop location, is that as good as done? Will there be any weird behaviour in terms of synchronising XMP files as I continue to edit the files? I struggle to understand how central lightroom libraries and XMPs interact, as they seem to be separate ways of storing the same type of edit data.

    Correct answer JohanElzenga

    I’m a bit puzzled how you currently use Lightroom on these two computers. Are you using the Local tab on each version of Lightroom? In that case you should already have XMP files with these images, because that is how Lightroom stores local edits. Simply copying these images to the other computer should be enough. There is nothing going to be synced in this scenario. Export > Original + Settings is for exporting cloud stored images, but you said you can’t use that because of file sizes and internet speed. Or do you use cloud storage on one computer, but not on the other?

    3 replies

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    September 17, 2026

    I’m a bit puzzled how you currently use Lightroom on these two computers. Are you using the Local tab on each version of Lightroom? In that case you should already have XMP files with these images, because that is how Lightroom stores local edits. Simply copying these images to the other computer should be enough. There is nothing going to be synced in this scenario. Export > Original + Settings is for exporting cloud stored images, but you said you can’t use that because of file sizes and internet speed. Or do you use cloud storage on one computer, but not on the other?

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    edwards57912491Author
    Participant
    September 18, 2026

    Correct, local tab on both. I was away from home for several months and worked on my laptop, now I want to consolidate the files with my desktop library.

    By 'syncing' I just mean with the local library database... from what I read in other threads, I thought information is sometimes stored centrally in a .lrlibrary file, not necessarily all in the .xmp, so I was wondering if I need to worry about that (like if I make an edit in future, and it saves the change in a centralised library, will there be discrepancies between that and the outdated .xmp in the photo folder?). But it sounds like it's fine to just copy & paste the photos with their .xmps.

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 18, 2026

    Yes, all local edits are stored in XMP sidecar files, so those are all you need.

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
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