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Participating Frequently
March 7, 2025
Question

Lightroom has pixelated all my photos

  • March 7, 2025
  • 5 replies
  • 4349 views

Hello!

 

I have been using Lightroom for a couple months now (my subscription covers Lightroom classic, desktop, and mobile) and recently all of my photos in Lightroom have become pixelated. 

This pixelation occurred seemingly at random, and happened to all photos I have in Lightroom - it had never been an issue before and I adjusted no settings around the time this began. It makes the photos more difficult to edit, as I typically zoom in quite far to remove small background objects, and the pixelation best be seen once you have zoomed in. The problem goes beyond editing, however, as my photos save with this pixelation as well. This is happening on all versions of Lightroom I use (classic, desktop, and mobile). 
I will attach examples photos to this post...

 

Here is the first photo, saved to my device in February, before the pixelation happened. This is how my photos used to look when editing them as well, even while zooming in as far as possible:

The second photo is another zoomed in version of the photo above, but is an example of how my photos now look when editing them. Again, they look this way on all versions I use and this had never occurred before. 

And here is another good example of the pixelation...this is how my photos look when I save them. This is another screenshot of a zoomed in photo. (Again, on all versions, and regardless of whether I am trying to save to my phone or computer).

 

Please help! I have deleted all existing smart previews, and have messed around with export settings to try to get my photos to export at the highest available quality. I don't understand why this suddenly started happening and have now spent days trying to figure out how to fix it, but to no avail. I loved Lightroom before this began, but will have to cancel my subscription if I can't figure out how to resolve the issue, as this completely downgrades my photo quality. 

I have no idea what to do! Any and all help is appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

5 replies

GoldingD
Legend
March 25, 2025

Looking at your latest screenshots, the more complete ones, I notice a few things,

 

  • In first screenshot we can see the camera make and model
  • In the first screenshot we can see that the image selected is JPEG
  • Cannot see in any screenshot the file location, but it may be assumed to be on a hard drive, not the cloud
  • In the second screenshot we can see the History, and it appears the image was downloaded from the cloud, Via mobile.Also shown in filmstrip preview badge as those double arrows.
  • First screenshot in Library, second in Develop-. By design, the Library is poorer at displaying the image, for performance reasons. I assume you know this and you are comparing only via the Develop module image.
  • Third screenshot, I cannot see much difference, oh the width/height appears different, but that is a minor issue around real estate in use. 
  • Difference between second and third display may not appear the same online on an iPad, vs on your monitor (scrolling up and down helps the eye see the difference)

    As to my point
  • It appears that the image is not the true original, but a copy brought into LrC via an import from the cloud, apparently Adobe CC cloud. As such it is a degraded copy.
  • Do you still have in camera SD card, the actual original. And is that RAW or JPEG, and either way, can you import it?
  • Part of issue could be how image got from camera, to cloud, to LrC

 

An observation that has nothing to do with your issue or solution, but..

 

  • In your Library Module screenshot. In the Folders Panel. I notice your iPhone is included. An iPhone is a flash media like an SD card, correct? Not to be trusted for long term storage, and can lead to accidental deletion.
  • Are you actually using that iPhone as LrC photo media, or is that a leftover bit from some odd import done badly?

 

An odd inquiry. Treat this as in just in case, or to avoid an assumption.

 

  • That third screenshot, the one outside of LrC. Yes, I see the same size file (may or may not be important, probably not). And you state from computers gallery, so perhaps the same exact file, but perhaps not. So, is the image selected in LrC and the image selected outside of LrC, the same exact file? Is one on a hard drive, the other in the cloud? The workflow involving mobile makes me ask.

 

 

 

Participant
November 1, 2025

Hi, did you ever find out the answer to this? What are you doing now? I have the same problem and it is at a hugely inopportune time. Talking to the people through the Lightroom chat has only proved to be frustrating and unhelpful. I get your frustration!! Did you ever get it figured out??

Per Berntsen
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 2, 2025

When viewing an image at a higher magnification than 100%, the missing pixels will have to be invented.

For instance, a 3000 x 2000 (6 megapixels) image viewed at 400% will require 12000 x 8000 pixels (96 megapixels) to display. The image only contains 6 megapixels, so 90 megapixels (the vast majority of the displayed image pixels) are invented by the software you're using, and the result never looks good.

 

When scaling images, different applications use different algorithms (like smoothing and sharpening).

As you can see below, 400% view does not display the same in LrC and Windows Photos.

At 100% view, all applications will display identically, and this is only view that gives you a true representation of the image – one image pixel is displayed using one screen pixel. (see my previous post here)

If you have a high resolution screen, you may need to use 200% because the screen pixels are tiny.

 

GoldingD
Legend
March 19, 2025

And another inquiry that might as well be asked, how are you calibrating your monitor?

Participating Frequently
March 23, 2025

I am not very knowledgeable about technology, and must admit that I'm not sure what it means to "calibrate" a monitor, or how to answer this question. Over a month ago now I was using Lightroom without this pixelation issue, and I did not change anything about my device or its settings between then and when this issue arose. 

 

Should I look into calibrating my monitor? I will make every attempt to figure out how to do so if you think it may help. I will also add, however, that this pixelation occurs now on every device I can access Lightroom on, which includes my computer as well as 2 different types of smart phones. This leads me to believe the problem may be related to import/export or cloud storage settings rather than the settings of a particular device. 

 

Let me know what you think! Thank you again for all of the information so far.

GoldingD
Legend
March 19, 2025

I might as well make the following request, it will probably be asked by other members, especially if you follow thru with that requested more complete screenshot:

 

Please post your System Information as Lightroom Classic (LrC) reports it. In LrC click on Help, then System Info, then Copy. Paste that information into a reply. Please present all information from first line down to and including Plug-in Info. Info after Plug-in info can be cut out as that is just so much dead space to us non-Techs and it takes up vast amounts of scroll space making the reply less readable and less likely that others will bother with your post. Also large amounts of text in a post also render the Translate function inoperable.

Participating Frequently
March 19, 2025

Thank you for your reply!

 

I will post the requested information once I return home this evening. I am willing to give any info that could be helpful, I'm just so new at this and terrible with technology that I generally don't know what info that would be...I so appreciate your detailed explanation of what information I should provide. 

I will follow up! Thank you again! 

GoldingD
Legend
March 19, 2025
Participating Frequently
March 18, 2025

Hello!

 

I have been using Lightroom for a couple months now (my subscription covers Lightroom classic, desktop, and mobile) and recently all of my photos in Lightroom have become pixelated. 

This pixelation occurred seemingly at random, and happened to all photos I have in Lightroom - it had never been an issue before and I adjusted no settings around the time this began. It makes the photos more difficult to edit, as I typically zoom in quite far to remove small background objects, and the pixelation best be seen once you have zoomed in. The problem goes beyond editing, however, as my photos save with this pixelation as well.

 

This is happening on all versions of Lightroom I use (classic, desktop, and mobile), and is also happening in adobe photoshop. The issue persists even after entering 'develop' mode in Lightroom Classic. When checking upload status of the photo, it will claim that I am looking at the original RAW file, and not a smart preview. 

 

I will attach examples photos to this post...

These screenshots are from my phone, but the pixelation that occurs on my desktop is exactly the same...

 

Here is the first photo, saved to my device in February, before the pixelation happened. This is how my photos used to look when editing them as well, even while zooming in as far as possible:

 

 

The second photo is another zoomed in version of the photo above, but is an example of how my photos now look when editing them. Again, they look this way on all versions I use and this had never occurred before. 

 

 

And here is another good example of the pixelation...this is how my photos look when I save them. This is another screenshot of a zoomed in photo. (Again, on all versions, and regardless of whether I am trying to save to my phone or computer).

 

 

 

Please help! I have deleted all existing smart previews, and have messed around with export settings to try to get my photos to export at the highest available quality. I don't understand why this suddenly started happening and have now spent weeks trying to figure out how to fix it, but to no avail. I loved Lightroom before this began, but will have to cancel my subscription if I can't figure out how to resolve the issue, as this completely downgrades my photo quality.

I have no idea what to do! Any and all help is appreciated! Thank you in advance!

GoldingD
Legend
March 19, 2025

Please post in a reply more complete examples, that is screenshots, from LrC showing the issue. By more complete I mean full screen as to include the histogram, the filmstrip, the Navigation panel, and preferably the History panel. Many if those bit of info could give a clue. The Histogram foe example will show if the original is in use, and if a smart preview might be in use. Errors/issues in the Histogram, the Nav panel, and occasionally the filmstrip can give clues (blank, gray, or odd colors). And the NAV panel will show current zoom (in case it is significant)  Various symbols like ! and ? can give clues.

 

As to what community your discussion is in, it looks like a moderator moved and merged it/them into LrC community, as your initial posting was primarily about LrC, yes you are having similar/same issues in Lr, but multiple posts are not helpful, also more members will look at the LrC community than the Lr community (quite frankly many if us old farts could care less about Lr as opposed to LrC, some of us think of Lr as LrPOS)

 

Oh, and as to screenshot quality, those examples you posted above, they have a look like something taken with a smart camera as opposed to a screenshot via the OS, see:

 

 

 

Community Manager
March 10, 2025

Hello @Jordan_Avis6074 

At a glance, this looks like you are zooming in on Smart Preview copies of your images, and not the original full resolution images.  Smart Previews are downsampled copies of your images that are 2560 pixels on the long side.  These exist for easier image sync & display across devices, while providing good image quality for most kinds of edits (aside from extreme zoom pixel peeping).

 

If you open an image and then tap on the cloud icon, see if you can choose 'Get this original.'  Originals are uploaded to cloud storage from all the Lightroom Mobile apps and Lightroom for Mac and Windows.  FYI, Lightroom Classic does not sync originals to the cloud, but rather uploads only the 2560 pixel Smart Previews.  If it's important to you to see pixels 1:1, for the most detail possible when cropping, you should import and upload images from a LR app apart from LR Classic that can upload original images.  

 

I'll try to attach a video of my own LR Mobile app, showing the relative pixelization on can see with extreme zooms on Smart Previews, then the more detailed / less pixelized appearance that will of course be available with larger, full resolution images

 

 

Participating Frequently
March 17, 2025

Thank you for your response! 

I have tried deleting all smart previews, and have also tried tapping 'get the original' under the cloud icon, however the issue persists. Even when viewing my photos in Lightroom classic, they are pixelated. 

I was not having this issue on any of my devices or applications when I originally uploaded these photos to Lightroom, and was able to edit and export 10+ photos over the course of several weeks before this issue occurred. Now every photo is pixelated like this, and the pixelation remains after exporting them. I have hundreds of photos imported and sorted at this point, and am really hoping to avoid having to re-import, re-sort, and re-edit them all. 

I'm really not sure what to try next, but will try anything you think may help (even if I eventually must re-import all of my photos). I loved Lightroom before this seemingly random issue occurred, and so hope to find a solution so that I can continue using it. 

Community Manager
March 18, 2025

Hi again @Jordan_Avis6074 

"Even when viewing my photos in Lightroom classic, they are pixelated. "
This I can't explain, but I am not a Lr Classic expert.

Experts in the LR Classic forums may have ideas about this, and they may not be checking in this particular forum that serves the cloud-centric LR apps.  That forum is: https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic/ct-p/ct-lightroom-classic