Photoshop 25.0 creates much larger .psd files

[Bill Junk]

I recently upgraded my computer and reinstalled my Photoshop subscription with version 25.0.  I am now noticing that the .psd files this version stores are several times larger than I was getting with the prior version.  For example, I just opened a .NEF file that was 46.31 MB in size, added a B&W conversion layer, then stored it as a .psd file.  That ,psd file was 391.28 MB in size.  In the past, the .psd file would have been well under 100 MB.  Do I have some Preferences set incorrectly?  For the most part I stick with what Adobe sets as the defaults.  I have not seen any obvious preferences that I would sustpect as affecting the saved file size.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I had another case where the .psd file was almost 1 GB.  I don't need to be using up my disk space that quickly.

[JamieHuntsman_HC]

Hello 

Just installed Photoshop 2024 and the first thing I did with it utilized the generative fill to extend a background on a photo - added a little type to it to create a social media graphic. Fairly simple - my 1080x1920 @ 72dpi image is saving at 15mb. I can't seem to reduce the size no matter what I try (I rasterized the generative fill layer and flattened it with the photo image).

help. 

thank you!

[Bill Junk]

One thing I've discovered that it seems by default that Photoshop 25.0 defaults to 16 bit color.  I'm suspecting that in Phoshop 24.X color depth might have been set to 8 bits.  As a simple test to see the difference I opened a .NEF file that was 50.97 MB (shot with 14 bit depth) then without making any changes in Photoshop 25 I saved it with 16 bit color which produced a .psd file of 246.16 MB while saving it with 8 bit color produced a file of 123.03 MB or essentially half the size.  Unfortunately I don't have easy access to my old computer and Photoshop v24.X to check out what the settings were on the older system.   However, I might just have to go to the effort to prove or disprove this as an explanation.  Just for my own edification, from a practical perspective is there a real advantage of 16 bit color over 8 bit color?

      Bill

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

@Bill Junk 

It's because ACR used to open files in 8 bit color depth, which is a pointless restriction with today's hardware. ACR now opens in 16 bit depth to acommodate modern workflows. That doubles the file size.

You also need to be aware that a raw file is a single channel at 14 bit depth. A demosaiced RGB opened into Photoshop is three channels at 16 bit depth. So again, that's 3.5 times the file size.

Any additional layers and alpha channels further add to file size. Smart objects add a lot to the file size.

In short - this is all normal and just the way raster image files work.

[Bill Junk]

Thank you very much for the explanation.

[davescm]

Have you checked your compression settings for PSD files in Preferences - File handling? Be aware though, it is a trade off between compressed small files that are slow to save and open, and uncompressed larger files that are quicker to save and open. Personally, I prefer larger but quicker i.e. the uncompressed option.

Dave

[D Fosse]

Yes, and of course there's compression. I'm so used to not paying any attention to file sizes that it's hard to remember all the variables... 😉

And like Dave, I always disable all compression.

File sizes are what they are. If your disks fill up, get bigger and more.

[Bill Junk]

The situation really came as a surprise and I was concerned that either something was going wrong or that I had a different set of options selected than I had for the previous version.  I've gone through several iterations of buying larger disk drives so that is certainly an option that I can take at some point if I need to.  Thanks for your input.  It's nice to have resolution in under 10 hours.  

[Bill Junk]

Just out of curiosity what are you using for your external disk storage so that you aren't particularly concerned about file size?

       Bill

[D Fosse]

@Bill Junk 

No externals. I have two desktop machines I built myself, so I just put more and bigger disks in there...currently I have two 18 TB disks for main storage (backed up against each other). Just get a case that has room for a couple of old-fashioned spinning drives, and you can replace them as the need arises, and also put in backup drives.

The only problem is that when replacing a disk for a bigger one, copying all the files over can take a full workday to complete... 😉

Obviously you can't do that with a laptop or an iMac. That's one of the advantages of a Windows desktop machine.

High capacity 3.5" drives are still sold and 18 - 20 TB is fairly mainstream now. The price is roughly the same as a 4 TB M.2 SSD.

[Bill Junk]

I appreciate your perspective. I'm currently using 5 TB external drives for my image file storage. They did take close to 24 hours to copy on the old computer. Hope it will be faster on the new computer.

Bill