Everyone knows that the iPhoto program was written by the most curious programmers in the world, its storage (media library) quickly and infinitely swells on the disk, occupying more and more gigabytes. And swelling, it starts to wind up nerves, slow down and fail.
Personally, I long ago abandoned this program for storing something valuable, but it continues to live on a laptop as an interface for cameras, iPhone, iPad and so on. In other words, I have to use it as a transshipment point.
But even such use does not relieve me of the problem of swelling of the library on the disk.
People come up with a variety of ways to make iPhoto shrink at least a little. But in fact, there is only one truly effective way to reduce the amount of space occupied by the iPhoto Library - to create a new one.
Yes, everything is so simple: when the struggle for gigabytes comes, you need to upload the old library to an external drive, to a server or to the cloud, and in its place (or nearby) create a new, empty one. In it, you can copy everything you need from the old one, but it is better to open it remotely in order to take the missing materials if necessary.
Here’s such a simple life hack, which for some reason doesn’t hit the Web at the request of a la "How to reduce disk space occupied by the iPhoto Library".
return to "Tips and tricks for iOS and Mac OS X»
Reducing the size of the photo library
You can reduce the size of your Photo library by exporting unnecessary photos and videos.
- Select objects in the "Photo" program. Choose File> Export, and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Delete the exported objects. In the Photos sidebar, click Recently Deleted. Then click “Delete All” to remove items from the library that cannot be restored to reduce its size.
Create a new library
You can create a new library in the Photos program that will be used with the iCloud Photos service. Be sure to designate this library as a system library.
- Open the Photos program by holding down the Option key.
- Select Create New.
- Import content from the previous library to create a new smaller library.
Sharing your library with Aperture
If you are using Aperture, you can split the library to create a smaller library that the Photos will open for use with iCloud Photos.
- Open your music library in Aperture.
- Select the content you want to export as a new library.
- Select File> Export> Items as New Library.
After the export is complete, you can transfer this new Aperture library to the Photos program and enable the iCloud Photos service.
Method number 1. Reducing the size of a picture in Paint.NET
Paint is the simplest standard program for editing raster and vector images. Available for all users of Windows operating systems.
The main tools available in the application:
- add labels
- fill elements
- cropping, pasting,
- copying fragments and more.
After changing the width and height of the photo, the size changes.
Follow the instructions to reduce the size of the Paint image:
- Right-click on the desired image and select the Change item. The photo will automatically open in Paint in editing mode,
Opening a picture in the program
- On the main toolbar, find the resize key and click on it. A dialog box opens. To reduce the size of the final file, you need to change the size to a smaller one.
You can edit using percent or pixels. By saving, you will reduce the volume of the picture.
Remember! After changing the width parameter, it is necessary to proportionally change the height. Otherwise, the picture may become too stretched and disproportionate.
Method number 2. Resize in Photoshop
The photo file size can also be reduced in a professional program for editing raster images - Photoshop. Follow the instructions:
- Open the application and import the necessary graphic file for further work,
- Find the Image tab on the main toolbar, click on it. In the drop-down list, select Image Size, as shown in the figure below,
Image tab in Photoshop
- Change the parameters of the image dimension (width and height), also make sure that there is a check mark next to the checkbox Observe the proportions of the photo,
Resize Image
- Try to reduce the photo by 10-15 percent. Thus, its final weight also decreases.
Method number 3. Using MS Office software
The Word 2010 test processor and earlier versions have a picture compression function. In the latest versions of the program this feature has been removed.
Add a picture to the document page, then in the tab that appears, select "Open with", and then the MS Picture Manager application.
In the window that opens, click on the "Image" tab and select "Compress Image". The higher the compression ratio, the lower the size of the final file.
Save the resulting changes.
Photo Compression Control
Important! After compression, the quality of the illustration may deteriorate.
Method number 4. Using online services
An excellent web service for working with photos is the resource irfanview.com. It allows you to work with a huge number of different image formats.
To reduce the size, you can open the image menu and edit its height and width.
Editing photo size on irfanview service
Also in the resize window, you can select additional parameters for better compression: sharpen, sharpen filter, special keys to reduce / increase the size and change the resolution of the picture.
The save option can also reduce the size. The best option to configure them is shown in the figure below.
This window appears while saving the final image.
Optimal save options
Method number 5. Downsizing on Mac devices
For Mac OS users, a free picture and photo app called iPhoto is available.
If the program is not installed on your device, download it from the official store. It is completely free.
The utility allows you to easily work with images of all common formats today.
- Click on the events tab twice,
- Choose the picture you want,
- In the options window, adjust the dimension of the photo: you can adjust the width, height and resolution. The lower these parameters, the correspondingly lower the file size,
- Save the image.
Resize photos in iPhoto
Thematic videos:
Cutting Tool (Crop)
Select a photo by clicking on it with the mouse. Click the "Edit" button in the lower left corner of the screen, and then click "Crop" (or "Crop"). A box will appear in the photo.
Click the Compress button in the lower center of the window, and then click the menu on the right. Select the desired image size from the list of options or click "Custom" to enter the exact proportions that you want for the photo.
Click and drag the corners of the field to select the area you want to keep. You can change the size and proportions of the field or move it by clicking inside it and dragging it with the mouse.
Click the Apply button in the center of the bottom of the window. This will save the clipping, and a new version of the photo will be displayed whenever you see it in iPhoto. You can delete or modify cropping at any time by clicking the cropping tool again.
Export function
Select the photo whose size you want to resize by clicking on it with the mouse. If you want to resize several images, select them by holding the Command button (on Mac) or Ctrl (on Windows) and click on the photos you want.
Click File and select Export. The photo export window will open.
Make sure you are viewing the Export File tab. Use the menu to select file type, quality and size. Set the type to JPEG or Original.
Choose the quality you want: Medium will reduce the size a little, and Low will significantly reduce it. A decrease in quality also reduces file size, but the size remains unchanged.
Choose the size you want for the final images. You can choose one of the most common options or select "Custom" (or "Custom") to enter the desired size.
Click Export. A new window will open asking where the images should be saved. Once you’ve made your selection, click OK. Your photos will be modified and saved in the destination folder.
