Can Lightroom reduce RAW photo storage in place, or replace them with smaller files?

Asked 1/25/2017

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I imported a set of photos into Lightroom as RAW, then organized and tagged them. For this particular set, I don’t need to keep the original RAW files long-term and would like to save storage space. Is there a way in Lightroom to replace them with smaller files without losing my catalog organization? Ideally I’d like to avoid exporting, re-importing, and redoing metadata if possible.

file-management storage lightroom dng raw

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

9y ago

2 Answers

Select the RAW photos, then do an Export.

In the Export Location section, choose Export To: Same folder as original photo.

Check the Add to This Catalog Checkbox.

Select the file output options you want for the new images.

Export the images. At this point the JPG's will be imported into the same folder, and your RAW files should still be selected, simply delete them.

Originally by user59412. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user59412

9y ago

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Lightroom doesn’t really “resize in place” for RAW files. You generally have two practical options:

Export smaller files, then replace the RAWs:

Select the RAW photos and export them.
Set Export To: Same folder as original photo.
Check Add to This Catalog.
Choose JPEG or other smaller output settings.
After export, the new files will be in the catalog; then delete the original RAW files.

Convert to lossy DNG:

Use Library > Convert Photo to DNG.
Choose the lossy DNG option and, if desired, delete the originals after conversion.

Lossy DNG keeps the original pixel dimensions but reduces file size, while exporting JPEG lets you reduce both dimensions and file size.

So if you truly want smaller dimensions, export new files and remove the RAWs. If you mainly want to save space while keeping full resolution, lossy DNG is the cleaner Lightroom-based option.

Can Lightroom reduce RAW photo storage in place, or replace them with smaller files?

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