Panoramas - deleting RAW files after stitching

[Kindhearted_Buttercup0D4D]

I've been using photo merge in Lightroom CC a lot, recently. Each image is made up of around 100 RAW files. I'm wondering if I can delete the RAW files after the panoramas have been stitched together but before I do a lot of work on them? The final constructed image has a badge on it showing how many single images it is made up of, so I assume it's still referencing them until it's exported to a TIFF or whatever format the final image is going to be in. I prefer not create a giant TIFF file until it's needed, so am I able to delete the underlying images after stitching but before converting the file to another format without losing the newly created image?

[99jon · Accepted solution]

The number is normally showing how many photos are in the stack. But the merged file will be independent. It is not connected or linked to the original images. So it is safe to delete the original raw files from the cloud. But perhaps keep them as a backup on an external drive in case of future usage.

[Kindhearted_Buttercup0D4D]

Fantastic. Thank you.