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Participant
June 10, 2023
Answered

4kb image converted to a smart object adding 30mb to psd file?

  • June 10, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 432 views

Hello,

 

I have a small 128 x 128px image that takes up 3.79kb on my hard drive. When I add it to my PSD file and convert it to a smart object (so that I can resize it non-destructively) it adds 30mb to the PSD filesize.

 

I actually added the same image to the PSD a couple weeks ago, converted to smart object, resized it, and it only added 1mb to the PSD filesize. So I'm doing the exact same thing I was before, but somehow an extra ~29mb are getting added.

 

Is there a recent Photoshop update that could be causing the issue? Or did I accidentally misclick somewhere and change a setting that impacts how images or smart objects are saved in a PSD file?

 

If anyone has any ideas I would really appreciate it!

 

Thanks in advance for you help!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer D Fosse

You say you "add it to a file", so it's not a fresh new document? Has this other file been used as a template, so that it has a very long history of copy/pastes? In that case it can be "DocumentAncestors" metadata, which in some cases can grow to extreme sizes.

 

Smart objects do have a lot of overhead, but about 1 MB seems about right here.

2 replies

Legend
June 13, 2023

What is the exact size in pixels of the PSD (as you are editing, not the original file)?

aurora111Author
Participant
June 14, 2023

The PSD has one artboard that is 1600 x 2244 pixels and has about 134 layers. Most of the layers are text and shapes.

D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
June 10, 2023

You say you "add it to a file", so it's not a fresh new document? Has this other file been used as a template, so that it has a very long history of copy/pastes? In that case it can be "DocumentAncestors" metadata, which in some cases can grow to extreme sizes.

 

Smart objects do have a lot of overhead, but about 1 MB seems about right here.

aurora111Author
Participant
June 13, 2023

The PSD file is a only few weeks old. It's not being used as a template, but I have dragged in some shapes and text from other documents.

 

I just tested a fresh document with only the image smart object and some text and that PSD file is just over 1mb, so it might be the metadata you're referring to. I've never heard of DocumentAncestors before - is there any way to see its size or reduce/optimize it?

 

Thank you!