Preview files have multiplied

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
September 4, 2024
2 replies
1272 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

To me, it does not. Yes, the preview (auto) size is related to the monitor, not to the image. Change your monitor settings, and you'll see that this changes 'Auto (xxxx)' too. That makes sense, because you want to be able to see the image in loupe view on your monitor, and you want to be able to do that in full screen mode. That means you need an image that is 2560 pixels wide; the width setting of the monitor. So why Lightroom does not create that 2560 pixels preview is not clear to me.

OK, I've just done it again. Created a new catalog, imported the same 50 nefs, and lo and behold it has created 2560, 1280 and 640 previews! That is what you would expect with a 2560 monitor. But when I then created 1:1 previews, it made 8256 and 4128 previews, as expected for 8256 images(?), but altered the existing previews to 2064, 1032, and 320. The previous 2560, 1280 and 640 previews have disappeared! So in this second test, the initial creation of standard previews was in relation to the monitor size, but the second creation (using Build 1:1 previews) changed them all to be in relation to the image size(except for the 320 size).

Make of that what you will! Perhaps all this was best hidden in .lrprev files.

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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