Why is Lightroom’s Previews.lrdata so large, and how can I keep it smaller?
Asked 4/13/2013
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When moving my Lightroom catalog to a new computer, I noticed the Previews.lrdata folder is much larger than expected: about 3 GB with over 40,000 files for roughly 8,000 photos. In Catalog Settings I have Automatically Discard 1:1 Previews set to After 30 Days, but the previews package still contains many old files.
Why does the previews folder keep growing, and what can I do to reduce or manage its size in the future?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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AFAIK LR keeps every preview you have. You can only optionaly delete 1:1 previews because of their huge size. But it will keep the little ones.
Previews are kept because when you disconnect HDD with images you still must able to view images in grid view. This is Adobe's idea...
Originally by user9321. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user9321
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Lightroom’s preview cache can grow large because it keeps more than just 1:1 previews. The 30-day setting only affects 1:1 previews; smaller standard/minimal previews are typically retained so you can still browse images, even if the originals are offline.
That also explains why you may see many old files in Previews.lrdata—file dates inside that package aren’t a reliable sign that Lightroom should have removed them all.
If the cache gets too large, the practical fix is often to delete the Previews.lrdata folder/package and let Lightroom rebuild previews as needed. Several users report this dramatically reduces its size.
If you’re migrating to a new computer, you usually don’t need to copy the previews cache at all. Lightroom can regenerate previews on the new machine, which may be better if your display resolution differs.
You can also try Optimize Catalog, though based on the answers it’s not guaranteed to clean up the preview cache.
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