What JPG compssion amount does Lightroom' use when it creates a JPEG copy of a RAW file

Forum|Forum|8 months ago
June 24, 2025
1 reply
294 views

In Lightroom Classic on a Windows 11 PC, when editing a RAW file, if I 'right click' the image and choose "Edit In..." and select a third-party app, and in the "What to Edit" pop-up select "Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments" and in "Copy File Options" select "JPEG" to end up with a .jpg file, it appears that Lightroom immediately creates the .jpg copy before invoking the third-party app. What JPG compression setting does Lightroom use to generate the .jpg copy, and can it be changed?

Windows

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

I don't know the answer to that question, but I do have one advice: don't select JPEG as file type if the purpose is to further edit the file. Use TIFF or PSD (and AdobeRGB or wider and 16 bits, if the external editor supports that), edit the image and select JPEG (and sRGB if it's for web use) when you export the edited result. The quality will be much better if you do it that way.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

CMass

Community Manager

Hi @Tonybytsea,

+1 to what @JohanElzenga said. I've also included a link to our User Guide with more information on this feature here: https://adobe.ly/3T3teiy

^CM

T

TonybytseaAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you CMass, for the link to information on "Set preferences for working with camera raw files in external editors". The information lists the preferences as:

File Format
Color Space
Bit Depth
Compression (TIFF only)
Template

There is no option to select the compression level for a JPG file, so what level Lightroom uses when it creates a JPG is unknown?

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