How do I increase the file size of a photo on export from Lightroom?

[taridonohue]

My agency requires photos to be a minimum of 5Mb file size, and a natural export of jpg files doesn't accomplish this.

I suspect it might be that I am importing the jpg files and not the CR2 files.

If that is the case, how do I import CR2s into Lightroom?

[Per Berntsen]

The file size of a jpg depends largely on image content.

Images with predominantly flat, smooth, or out of focus areas will have a much smaller file size than images with lots of sharp, busy detail, or noise. This is how jpg compression works, and the difference in file size can be quite dramatic.

So requiring a minimum file size is meaningless, the file size of a jpg is not an indicator of image quality.

You import CR2 files the same way that you import jpgs.

But you will probably get similar results exporting from the raw files.

[DS256]

Just some thoughts:

• It's surprising the agency wants a certain size and not a certain dimensions. You may want to check.
• If you have your camera setup to take both RAW and JPG images, then there is a setting for the quality of the JPG that is saved. Here's a link to a Canon page with an explanation for a EOS Rebel T7.
• As Per identified, importing RAW (CR2) files is done the same way as JPG. Lightroom can be configured to recognize the JPG associated with the CR2.
• The JPG has already gone through some processing in the camera. This was done using the CR2 file. This is needed because any RAW file is only a recording of sensor information and not an actually image yet.
• If you import the CR2 file, then you will have to process it using the Develop module in Lightroom otherwise you will have flat looking picture.
• You can export a JPG version of the CR2 file from Lightroom.

[dj_paige]

My agency requires photos to be a minimum of 5Mb file size, and a natural export of jpg files doesn't accomplish this.

Is the requirement 5 megapixels instead of what you wrote which is 5 megabytes?

I agree with the others, 5 MB is meaningless. On the other hand 5 megapixels is reasonable. So please check.