How to bulk compress images in iCloud?

charltonfan1 · 2 Feb 2022 at 06:53

I want to keep all my photos and videos stored in iCloud but compress them

Googling doesn't give any suggestions on how to do this so wondered if anyone here had a good idea?

Thanks

Feek · 2 Feb 2022 at 11:15

I think iCloud always stores the full version of the files deliberately so that you never lose the uncompressed versions. That's kind of the point.

BinnsY · 9 Feb 2022 at 19:29

Only way I'm aware of would be to download them somewhere else, compress them with software on another device. Delete them from iCloud, then re-upload the compressed versions back. As mentioned by @Feek the whole point of icloud is that it keeps the full versions for you. Apple only offer the auto compression options for local devices where it's device specific.

charltonfan1 · 14 Feb 2022 at 22:56

Thanks both.

I refuse to pay for more iCloud storage and don't need full Res images as will never print them

Deleted member 77746 · 15 Feb 2022 at 00:07

You can compress them all you like but you do realise you are limited to how much you can store?

You WILL run out eventually. Then what will you do?

charltonfan1 · 15 Feb 2022 at 07:54

Bouton Aide said:
You can compress them all you like but you do realise you are limited to how much you can store?

You WILL run out eventually. Then what will you do?

Yep. Their business model relies on people staying in the ecosystem and building up image libraries ad finitum. If I can delay the inevitable I can save money in the meantime.

Assuming based on the advice above I bulk download them onto my MacBook in Photos app, then delete, compress and re add them to photo library ?

Mesai · 15 Feb 2022 at 08:01

Never looked into it myself, but I’ve read posts about syncing photos to Google drive instead, which has more available storage. Not sure whether there are trade offs.

Deleted member 77746 · 15 Feb 2022 at 09:17

charltonfan1 said:
Yep. Their business model relies on people staying in the ecosystem and building up image libraries ad finitum. If I can delay the inevitable I can save money in the meantime.

Assuming based on the advice above I bulk download them onto my MacBook in Photos app, then delete, compress and re add them to photo library ?

No it doesn't there's other apps you can use but you will still need to purchase more storage if you want to save them all to 'the cloud'.

charltonfan1 said:
Assuming based on the advice above I bulk download them onto my MacBook in Photos app, then delete, compress and re add them to photo library ?

What's this going to solve? You will run out of storage on your next XXX amount of pics uploaded. You then won't be able to compress them any more and you will need to either buy more storage, reduce the amount of photos, move to another app and buy more storage (or get it free) or stop taking photos.

You already get XXX amount of storage. You expect these companies to keep increasing your storage for FREE?

charltonfan1 · 18 Feb 2022 at 20:33

I understand what I am attempting to do here guys

I pay £2.49 presently for 200GB family plan but don't want to jump to 2TB for £7 per month as that's way more storage than I need or want to pay.

I'm on Android now so it's just my wife continuing to take pictures that get uploaded to iCloud

Amazon photos and Google photos have options to upload unlimited medium quality images which suits me much better but won't work on my wife's phone as the iCloud photo storage is the default option and turning it off will just fill up the device

Basically I want the best of both worlds and am happy to put a bit of work in to get there

Deleted member 77746 · 22 Feb 2022 at 21:36

charltonfan1 said:
Assuming based on the advice above I bulk download them onto my MacBook in Photos app, then delete, compress and re add them to photo library ?

What's this going to achieve. You will get to the stage where you can't upload any more without buying more space. So I will say this again - then what are you going to do?

Semple · 22 Feb 2022 at 23:04

I'm surprised no-one has already mentioned, but photos and videos typically compress terribly. So you're going to a lot of effort to save on a very tiny amount of space.

I'd suggest reviewing your media by filesize, delete the biggest X number that you're unlikely to ever view again. Then set your phone to record photos and videos at a lower quality to reduce the size.