Why is my photo so pixelated in library?

[marissab89088022]

[Ian Lyons]

The preview in Lightroom is a relatively low quality JPEG of the original and can never be as good as the version displayed in the Develop module. However, you might find zooming to 1:1 then back to standard improves it.

[D Fosse]

This isn't pixelation, it's banding. And yes, jpeg compression always exaggerates banding. It's possible that the Library preview generation uses some sort of "progressive" jpeg coding/decoding, so you first get very low quality, and then higher quality as the preview is fully built. If the process stalls you may be stuck with the low quality one.

[Lauca]

What preview size did you select when importing your photo? If you set it to "Minimum", this may be normal, because it implies a small size as well as a bigger jpeg compression.

If you display the image at 1:1, a preview of the same size than the original will be calculated on the fly then displayed, which shouldn't have this banding.

I suggest to set the import preview size to "Standard". That way, LR will create a preview of the same size of your screen. This should avoid this problem.