P: Add PSB as a file format for external editing

[johnrellis]

Now that LR 9.2 supports importing PSB files, it would be a little more convenient if you could specify PSB as the default format for editing in Photoshop (Preferences > External Editing > Edit In Adobe Photoshop > File Format). 

As it stands now, if you want to save an edited file in PSB format, you must remember to do File > Save As and select Large Document Format.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Very much agree with this!  When I saw the release notes that PSB files are supported I was shocked to see that it isn't an option to use that format for external editing in Photoshop.  

[Sumeet_Choudhury]

Thanks for your valuable input John. Will pass this on to the team.

[john beardsworth]

Or ask Adobe to remove any need for PSB?

[Amitzi Photography]

Now that PSB is supported it's time to add it to the External Editing options

[stevet25034274]

It may well support PSB but you try importing them a modest 4.5 gb comes back with a too big error message

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Lightroom Support for PSB is currently limited to files whose long edge does not exceed 65K pixels or the entire image is less than 512 Megapixels and it must be saved in Max Compatibility. Photoshop is capable of exceeding these values. 

[stevet25034274]

so whats the point of that

we need more 

[john beardsworth]

It's sufficient for the vast majority of the small minority who are forced to save as PSB.

[Bob Somrak]

I don't think Adobe needs to spend valuable development time to support files greater than 65K pixels or 512MP in Lightroom.   I am sure the percent of people that need this is very close to zero.  

[johnrellis]

There are two general use-cases for needing to use PSBs:

- Starting with a high-resolution image, well under LR's pixel limits, and adding many layers in Photoshop to implement a non-destructive workflow. 

- Starting with a ultra-high-resolution image exceeding LR's pixel limits, produced by a panorama merge or a specialized (very expensive) camera.

I believe that the great majority of LR users of PSBs fall into the first camp.  My belief is based on monitoring this forum and the community forum for a decade and on feedback from customers of my PSB Quick Look plugin for Mac OS.

A typical example of the first use case: The retouchers in an ad agency start with a full-frame DSLR photo of a running shoe and, responding to requests from their art director, end up with more than two dozen layers.

[john beardsworth]

I think you're right about the two groups, but very few people ever set out to create PSBs - they do so only when they can no longer save their work normally. If you need PSB, you just choose it in Photoshop's save dialog and wouldn't need or anticipate making such a choice in LR.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I disagree.  With ultra high resolution cameras like the GFX 100 and the desire to composite 16 bit images in Photoshop I routinely run into the 4GB file limit of TIFF files. A side benefit is uncompressed PSBs, although can get huge actually save to disk much faster than compressed TIFFs so they always would be my preferred choice. 

[john beardsworth]

The "side benefit" being that compression takes longer than saving uncompressed?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hi John, I think you misread. The side benefit is the uncompressed PSBs save much faster than compressed TIFFs on any large file sizes, not just ones approaching 4GB.

[john beardsworth]

You need to compare uncompressed PSB against uncompressed TIF, Matt. I doubt you'll see any difference.

[stevet25034274]

I think the point being made is that you cannot use tiff above 4gb so you either need to compress the file of save as psb and the psb saves and opens quicker than a compressed tiff

[JSP8475]

When I work with a lot of layers from my 24MP camera or (fewer layers) from my 45MP camera in Photoshop, Photoshop often tells me to save the file in PSB and I have to manually navigate to the working forlder and put "-Edit" in the name myself.

It's not much but would be great if I were to given an option to default the file type to PSB.

[johnrellis]

If you click Cancel when it asks you to save as PSB and instead do File > Save As, it will select the right folder for you. But you'll still have to add -Edit manually.

[johnrellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this existing idea:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-add-psb-as-a-file-format-for-external-editi...

[JSP8475]

hitting cancel and trying to save again to move save folder location to the OG file location does not work for me

 OS12.6.3 Photoshop24.2.0 LRC12.2.1

[brandonv91940649]

Currently, when selecting "Edit In...Photoshop" from Lightroom Classic there is the option to open the raw image in Photoshop as either a PSD or TIFF. If the edits and layers created in Photoshop result in a file larger than 2 or 4 GB, it must be saved as a PSB (Large Format file). Unfortunately, this requires utilizing the Save As dialog in Photoshop and manually navigating to the folder where the other images in the set are stored, creating potential issues due to human error and costing unnecessary time. Similarly, when opening a previously edited TIFF from Lightroom Classic into Photoshop, and making changes that result in the need for a PSB file, the resulting file does not automatically import into Lightroom, requiring a manual import operation. Apart from compatibility with older software versions, there doesn't seem to be any good reason why images shouldn't be converted immediately to PSB when opening raws from Lightroom, if a user knows they routinely work with large files and expect the edited file size to exceed the lower limits of other formats.

[D Fosse]

Yes, this is long overdue. Same with export.

Some of us are now at a point where it would make much more sense to use PSB consistently and routinely. We keep bumping into the file size ceiling constantly. There is still no preference in Photoshop to set PSB as default instead of PSD, so having PSB straight out of Lightroom would go a long way.

[johnrellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this existing idea:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-add-psb-as-a-file-format-for-external-editi...

[mlphoto.raw]

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/saving-as-tif-how-to-set-default-as-z...

I too am running into this issue with PSB being ideal container for edited photographs with many layers exceeding 4GB. 

I am also running into the issue of Photoshop not saving to the original folder from which LrC sent the image from, and requiring far too many user intervention and impedes workflow. 

[Vit Kovalcik]

Support this too, PSB files would help me a lot.

My situation: Compression during saving is incredibly slow, but with today's SSD speeds it is much faster to just work with uncompressed files. However it takes just a few layers to exceed PSD file size limit.

Exporting directly to PSB would solve this (faster compression would partially solve it too 🙂 )