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Inspiring
April 4, 2022
Question

What exactly does DNG conversion option "Embed Fast Load Data" do?

  • April 4, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 2004 views

I have not been able to find any documentation explaining exactly what the "Embed Fast Load Data" option does when converting to DNG.  Can anyone enlighten me on the specifics of this feature?  The standalone DNG converter and the tool tip displayed when hovering over the option in Lightroom note that file size will be increased.  So what is the cost/benefit of this option? 

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3 replies

Ian Lyons
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 4, 2022

To avoid confusion - it's 'only' used in the Develop module where it serves the same purpose as the Camera Raw cache file used by proprietary raw files (e.g, NEF, CR3, ARW, etc).

TheDigitalDog
Inspiring
April 4, 2022

DNGs with Adobe software will load faster when there is an embedded preview image called Fast Load Data (FLD). In other words, the benefit is improved performance. Since the data is embedded in DNG, that means it travels with that DNG file.  Wherever you send the DNG, the embedded FLD is always available for helping performance.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
johnrellis
Legend
April 4, 2022

From the help:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/processing-camera-raw-image-files.html#save_changes_to_camera_raw_images  

 

Embed Fast Load Data: Embeds a much smaller copy of the raw image in the DNG file, to enhance the speed at which the raw image is previewed.