Preview files have multiplied

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
September 4, 2024
2 replies
1268 views

Why are there now hundreds of thousands more files in my preview folder? Some (but not all?) preview files (.lrprev) have associated files that seem to be different sizes of previews. They haven't been there in the past. What has changed?

Bob Frost

Windows

This topic has been closed for replies.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

Lightroom Classic 13.5 changed how previews are stored. In the past, a preview file contained a number of different size previews in one single file. Maybe these are now saved separately. Anyway, do not bother about it. This is not something the user needs to be concerned about.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Ian Lyons

Community Expert

> Maybe these are now saved separately.

Yes, they're now saved as separate files. The file format is JPEG, albeit with no extension.

B

bob frostAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks for the reply Ian, but why have some .lrprev files got associated separate size files, some separate size files don't seem to have any .lprev file with them, and some .lrprev files don't have any associated size files. Are .lrprev files redundant, and are being replaced by the separate size files. If so, my LR is presumably part way through replacing the .lrprev files. What triggers their replacement? And what about .lrfprev files? Are they being replaced?

Johan said I don't need to bother about all this, but I like to know what my program is doing when it suddenly increases my preview folder by 400,000 files! It takes longer to backup. And please don't tell me I don't need to back them up. I do, because if something happened and I lost all my previews, it takes an awful long time to regenerate them - I've done it in the distant past when LR was rather flaky at times.

Bob Frost

dj_paige

Legend

Assuming you are discussing Lightroom Classic (which you didn't really say):

You may have changed an option at Import that increases the number and size of previews. For example, at Import you had selected "Minimal Previews" and then later you selected "1:1 Previews".

But LrC uses these preveiws to speed up your workflow. If you get rid of some (or all) of them, things slow down in the Library Module whenever LrC has to generate a preview. It's a tradeoff ... more disk space for faster workflow; or less disk space and slower workflow.

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