Lightroom export file size: why so small? How can I maximize image quality?

[plumleygator]

My image file sizes are much smaller after editing and exporting through Lightroom. Is it impossible to maintain original file size to preserve image quality? Will this smaller file size have negative impact on prints? Any help is appreciated!

[ssprengel]

Are these JPGs or raws you’re editing? Presumably you’re exporting JPGs.

A few different things affect the size of the Exported image:

Most obviously if you resize the image to smaller pixel dimensions the resulting file would have less pixels and could be smaller.

Secondly the Quality setting (for JPGs) turned up all the way to 100 will be the best quality.

Thirdly, if you used significant smoothing or cropping of the image within LR then it would be smaller than it would be otherwise all other parameters being the same.

Without knowing what sort of images you’re starting with, what sort of images you’re exporting, and what you’re doing to them in LR as well as what Export parameters you’re using it’s hard to give a more detailed answer since so little detail was provided.

[donavonj40580591]

I shoot a wedding at the highest jpeg 2000, this was my first time to use LR they all exported lower than 200.

All I want is to be able to import high res jpeg and RAW and get an image that I can print at least a 16x18,

Can you help me, I love LR's  output other than the size.

[dj_paige]

donavonj40580591 wrote:

I shoot a wedding at the highest jpeg 2000

What does "highest jpeg 2000" mean?

this was my first time to use LR they all exported lower than 200.

200 what? Please specify the units. Also, please specify the settings in the Export dialog box under Image Sizing (it would be best show us a screen capture)

All I want is to be able to import high res jpeg and RAW and get an image that I can print at least a 16x18,

Print "at least 16x18" (meaning 16x18 or bigger?)

How big (in pixels, width and height; not megabytes) are the original photos? Did you crop these photos at all? If so, what is the cropped size of the photos (in pixels, width and height; not megabytes)?

[Tomfarrellphotography]

I am processing RAW photographs and cropping them in various sizes such as 8x10 or 16x24. On export to photoshop I notice the image size is not the same as what was cropped. The files are much smaller. When I go to increase the file to the proper size all of tge resolution is lost.

[Tomfarrellphotography]

I see that upon export it was resizing my images so I changed the megapixels from 5 to 10 With 300 dpi which it always was. That increased the size of the exported files but it is not exporting to the cropped size. Why is that?

[Geoff the kiwi]

What are you doing Tom??
Exporting a copy from Lightroom and opening in Photoshop or opening in Photoshop from Lightroom?

Lightroom cropping has no sizes just ratios so when a file is opened in Ps form Lightroom it will be the cropped ratio with the pixels that are left from the cropping. If you want more pixels then Ps will create them.

When exporting from Lightroom the size is set in the export menu here

So to summarise, Lightroom cropping has no size only ratios.

[Tomfarrellphotography]

Editing RAW files in Lightroom then exporting them as a JPEG to a dedicated folder to open at a later time for final editing in Photoshop. When I crop in Lightroom it gives you the option to crop in 8x10 or several other presets. Upon export the files are in the same aspect ratio however very small. If I increase the size in Photoshop to be where they need to be then the image quality drops drastically. This is a problem because I just did final editing on a shoot I did. I can export them all over again but will have to do all of the final editing all over again as well.

[Geoff the kiwi]

Tom, the 5x4/10x8 are ratios, not sizes..... size is determined when a new file is created. You are cropping too small an area of the original if you are getting pixelation after increasing the Image Size in Photoshop.

Now may I suggest you look at a different workflow..  instead of exporting as JPEGs form Lightroom (where again you can determine the size in pixels or inches) and then opening in Photoshop to final edit (you have already lost more than half of the data) you choose to "Edit in Photoshop" the raw file and when finished save that file back to Lightroom... you are then editing the full data, after saving back to Lightroom you will have a TIFF or PSD with the edits from which to export a JPEG (of the size you want) whenever you want. I am sure you will end up with better quality...

[Tomfarrellphotography]

I just did everything in Lightroom like I normally do but instead on export I changed the size to 18mp and 300dpi. That for the most part allowed me to do what I needed to do. However from now on I am going to do what you just said. Thank you very much for the assistance.

[Geoff the kiwi]

Well 18MP should be ok.... I don't understand that, maybe you had the "Don't Enlarge" checkbox checked

Usually I set the long edge size I want in cms or inches and then if you cropped to the ratio you want the shorter side will fit...

[deborahn45348010]

Its strange because on my old computer a raw file converted to jpeg downloaded to 15-22 MB. I bought a new computer and downloaded lightroom and now my file size is less than 2 MB. Makes no sense to me

[JP Hess]

Would you care to share a screenshot of your export settings?

[dj_paige]

  wrote

Its strange because on my old computer a raw file converted to jpeg downloaded to 15-22 MB. I bought a new computer and downloaded lightroom and now my file size is less than 2 MB. Makes no sense to me

Your export settings have changed.

[nilla_s_photography]

A similar question...

I am building a photography eCommerce site that auto sends the image when ordered to the print lab. What is be the best parameters to save the jpg to the website's library for varying print sizes? For example, a customer can purchase an image for a canvas, or gloss/matte photo, etc., and select the printed size to be 6x4, 8x10, 8x12, etc.

(My site displays an optimised image when viewing, however, still retains whatever the original jpg is that I upload to the media library to send to the print lab.

1. 300DPI

2. sRGB, ProPhoto, or?

3. Any other recommendations?

[dj_paige · Accepted solution]

File size is not an indicator of image quality! You are looking at the wrong measure.

File size is determined by the number of pixels you have, the quality slider in the Export dialog box, and about a dozen other things, most of which you can't control.

You want to look at the number of pixels (height and width) and not the file size.

Is it impossible to maintain original file size to preserve image quality?

Not only is it impossible, it is also meaningless (see above)

Will this smaller file size have negative impact on prints?

Instead of looking at the file size, you need to look at the number of pixels in the exported photo (width and height), and this will determine if you will get a decent print. The usual standard is that you need 300 pixels per inch.

[lehib95363884]

Not sure how this got upvoted because it's not the answer! All my photos are suddenly unable to be opened in photoshop at their original file size. They are all opening as thumbnails!!!

[dj_paige]

@lehib95363884start a new thread. Describe your problem in detail. People will be happy to help you in a new thread. Do not continue to discuss your problem in the current thread.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

You’ve posted to an ancient thread. It is highly unlikely that the issue described in this thread, though not impossible, is the same one you are currently experiencing. Rather than resurrect an old thread that is seemingly similar, you are better off posting to a new thread with fresh, complete information, including system information, a complete description of the problem, and step-by-step instructions for reproduction. 

If the issue is the same, we will merge you back into the appropriate location. 

Thank you!

[Poste]

I too am having this issue with Lightroom 5. My files shot in RAW are huge but upon exporting are downsizing to under 3 MB. I understand that the JPEG are smaller, but that should be by 40% or so. My 17 MB files should downsize to 6 MB ( approx), 24 MB files should downsize to 10ish. Any and all downsize to under 3 MB.

I have even gone back and attempted to "re-export" files that I have previously exported which exported at the correct size and they too are now down sizing to under 3 MB. My 24MB files are downsizing to 1.8-2.4 MB files. I do not  have file re sizing checked. Have JPEG at 100 % quality. Not sure why this is happening.

Is this a lightroom issue?! Anyone else having this problem?!?! or know what the issue is?!?! Help please!

[dj_paige]

I too am having this issue with Lightroom 5. My files shot in RAW are huge but upon exporting are downsizing to under 3 MB. I understand that the JPEG are smaller, but that should be by 40% or so.

I don't agree with the 40% number. I never heard that before, and as I said, the size of the JPG depends on things you can control and things you can't control. So I see nothing wrong with a 3MB JPG in your case.

The idea that you, a human users of the software, can pre-determine a "correct size" for a JPG export is, in my opinion, wrong. Lightroom applies the JPG algorithm to your photos, and I have never yet seen a case where LR (or any other software) improperly sizes your JPGs given the settings in the Export dialog box.

Lastly, I don't think you can judge quality by the size of the exported JPG file. If you go down this path, it will only mislead you. The proper way to judge the quality of your images is to see if they have enough pixels for the intended purpose, and did you select the proper options in the Export dialog box (quality, resizing or not, sharpening, etc.)

[Poste]

I understand I cannot judge the size a photo should be as such but I think I do have a fairly good understanding of where file size usually ended up. As I said, I re exported some files that I had exported before which came out to 7 ish MB and upon exporting now, they came out under 3MB. Not an issue before, issue now. I have done nothing more to the photos , exported with the exact same settings and the "newly exported" files are half the size they were previously. If I have changed nothing, then the files should export at the same size and with the new update, they do not!! I have selected the proper settings in teh dialog box, ie. JPEG, 100 quality, non sharpened, no resizing, so this should not happen in my estimation. I shoot for stock photos and with the current exporting issue, cannot even upload photos as they are rejected "due to size". I should not have to re size the files as they are "large enough" in RAW format to export in correct size as a JPEG. This is not an issue with Photoshop. Any photos directly imported into photoshop, when saved are around the size I expect but...if I open the photos from lightroom into photoshop, they are much smaller. This seems to tell me there is an issue when files are uploaded into lightroom!

[dj_paige]

Then we'll just have to disagree. I say you cannot tell the image quality from the 3 MB. I say trying to judge "quality" from image size is meaningless.

Can you look at this exported 3MB at state clearly in detail what about the photo is now low quality?

Can you share one of these photos via Dropbox or similar (and provide us the URL) so we can look at it too?

[Todd Shaner]

JPEG uses lossy compression and file size is highly dependent on the subject material in the image. Shoot a white ceiling out focus with no shadows and your original 20 MB raw file will create a JPEG that is less than 1.0 MB.

Here are some examples:

Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » An Analysis of Lightroom JPEG Export Quality Settings

[awrymag]

I am having a similar problem, except, my RAW files have a larger pixel count than my exported JPGs, at 100% quality and no pixel parameters set in the export function.

My RAW files are 4608px × 3456px.

The maximum size I can get when exporting a JPG is 3916px x 2937.

I want to export JPGs for printing large prints, so would like to figure out how to do this.

Can you help?

J