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allanb29056422
allanb29056422
Participant
February 23, 2019
Answered

Opening File Size in Photoshop

  • February 23, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 593 views

Hi,

I searched the forum site and found some details on my issue, but not anything that actually resolved it.

NEF File size from Nikon Camera = 46MB.

Imported to Lightroom as NEF = 46MB.

Hard Drive File Size = 46MB

When I first started working with Photoshop, all files would open at the initial file size for that image.

Regardless of how I open an image in Photoshop now, it opens at approximately 4 times larger file size (e.g. 46MB file is opening as 260MB file) when viewed in the bottom left corner (i.e. doc: 260.0M/260.0M).  This just the initial opening as a single layer.

My default import to Photoshop is RGB 16-bit.

Anyone know how to resolve this so that the image opened in Photoshop is not 4 times larger than the original?

Thanks.

Regards,

Allan

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer davescm

    Hi

    Don't confuse the file size on disk (46MB) with the RAM size shown in Photoshop (260MB).

    On disk the NEF file uses 14 bits for each pixel site (less than 2 bytes) and then uses lossless compression to reduce the saved file size

    Opened in Photoshop at 16 bit, each pixel site used 6 bytes - 2 for each channel of RGB. There is no compression in RAM.

    So the comparison is a bit "apples and pears".

    Dave

    1 reply

    davescm
    Community Expert
    davescmCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    February 23, 2019

    Hi

    Don't confuse the file size on disk (46MB) with the RAM size shown in Photoshop (260MB).

    On disk the NEF file uses 14 bits for each pixel site (less than 2 bytes) and then uses lossless compression to reduce the saved file size

    Opened in Photoshop at 16 bit, each pixel site used 6 bytes - 2 for each channel of RGB. There is no compression in RAM.

    So the comparison is a bit "apples and pears".

    Dave

      allanb29056422
      allanb29056422Author
      Participant
      February 23, 2019

      Hi Dave, Thanks for your reply.

      Making more sense now.  I wasn't grasping compression differences between image and RAM.

      Thanks again for the response.  Much appreciated :-)

      Regards,

      Allan

        davescm
        Community Expert
        davescmCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 24, 2019

        You're welcome

        Dave

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