is there a size limit to the LrC library?

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
July 21, 2025
5 replies
444 views

Heard a comment from a respectable photographer that LrC could run into a 'won't run' issue with about 5TB of images referenced, irrespective of the size of the .lrcat file itself. Is this true (I have already exceeded this so worry that I'm on thin ice now)? Or is the limit on previews? Or anything else? Or is this urban legend from someone with a corrupt catalogue?

thanks, Bill

Correct answer KR Seals

Ref: Corrupt Catalog... A sure sign of a corrupt catalog is that LrC will not start. Good catalog backup procedures and optimizing help prevent issues like a corrupt catalog. However, the only time in 18 years of using Lr/LrC was this year when my new home built PC had defective ram that corrupted the catalog. Since I optimize and backup the catalog on each LrC exit, I was back in business when the replacement ram arrived overnight from the Amazon warehouse that is a mile away from our home. 🙂

Rikk Flohr_Photography

Heard a comment from a respectable photographer that LrC could run into a 'won't run' issue with about 5TB of images referenced, irrespective of the size of the .lrcat file itself. Is this true ?

By @lasers100

There is no limit. My catalog is double that size (11.8 TB) and has no issues. I am aware of customer catalogs in the 10s of millions of images

Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org

L

lasers100Author

Known Participant

OK, thanks everyone. Consider case closed. As I expected there is no basis for the issue raised, again likely a corrupt catalogue was the root of the tale.

dj_paige

Legend

Heard a comment from a respectable photographer that LrC could run into a 'won't run' issue with about 5TB of images referenced

I take this as an incorrect statement. There are no hard-coded limits, only limits being what your hard disks can hold. And your photos don't need to be all on a single disk, LrC has no problems with some photos on Disk A and some photos on Disk B and some photos on Disk C and so on

KR Seals

Correct answer

Community Expert

Ref: Corrupt Catalog... A sure sign of a corrupt catalog is that LrC will not start. Good catalog backup procedures and optimizing help prevent issues like a corrupt catalog. However, the only time in 18 years of using Lr/LrC was this year when my new home built PC had defective ram that corrupted the catalog. Since I optimize and backup the catalog on each LrC exit, I was back in business when the replacement ram arrived overnight from the Amazon warehouse that is a mile away from our home. 🙂

Ken Seals - Nikon Z 9, Z 8, 14mm-800mm. Computer Win 11 Pro, I7-14700K, 64GB, RTX3070TI. Travel machine: 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 64GB. All Adobe apps.

KR Seals

Community Expert

Not true. My LrC catalog references 180,000 images. Most of those are high resolution 45mp images that are almost 7TB on two different hard drives and LrC runs just fine. It's really preferable to have the LrC catalog located on the fastest drive (preferably a SSD) in your computer.

Ken Seals - Nikon Z 9, Z 8, 14mm-800mm. Computer Win 11 Pro, I7-14700K, 64GB, RTX3070TI. Travel machine: 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 64GB. All Adobe apps.