How to Free Up Storage Space on Google Photos – Guide

If you upload photos in original quality to Google Photos, they will be counted towards your storage quota. You can quickly release up space in Google Photos by converting all uploaded photos from original quality to high quality. This can be done on the web.

If you have a lot of photos and videos taken over the years, be sure to recover storage space by converting them into high-quality files. This will help you keep all your memories in one place.

Google is changing its storage policy. Starting on June 1, 2021, all high-quality photos and videos uploaded to Google Photos will count towards your account’s storage quota. You can export your existing photos and videos from Google Photos at full resolution before compressing them in your account to save space. ..

Disable Photo Backup for WhatsApp and Other Device Folders

Google Photos may come back automatically up photos and videos from WhatsApp, Instagram, and other folders on your device. While this may be useful for some, these media backups also take up storage space. If you get a lot of unwanted media on WhatsApp or you just don’t want your Instagram posts to come back up for Google Photos, it’s a good idea to disable backing up these folders on your device to save storage space. ..

To backup photos on Android, open the Google Photos app on your device, tap your profile picture in the top right, and choose Photos Settings. Then go to Back up & sync > Back up device folders and disable all irrelevant folders which you don’t want any media backups to happen. Unfortunately, this is not an option on iOS due to system limitations. As a workaround, you can open the app you don’t want to backup photos to (like WhatsApp) and turn off auto-save media so that these images don’t sync to Google Photos. ..

Delete unsupported videos

Google Photos supports a wide variety of photo and video formats. This includes RAW files from select Canon, Sony and Nikon cameras, MKV videos and much more. If you use multiple cameras or upload videos from multiple sources, it is possible that some of the media files are not supported by the platform. All unsupported media files will continue to occupy space in Google Photos, so it’s best to delete them. ..

To delete all incompatible videos from Google Photos, open the Google Photos website on your computer and click the Settings icon in the upper right corner next to your profile picture. On the Settings page, you will see Unsupported Videos option from where you can delete all incompatible videos for free up space in Google Photos. Be sure to empty the trash after that if you delete particularly large files.

Remove useless screenshots

If you’re using Google Photos to store screenshots of your devices, it’s a good idea to delete them too. You may have accumulated a lot of screenshots that are no longer relevant. To find all screenshots uploaded to Google Photos by searching for “Screenshots”, you can use the following command: git grep -q “Screenshots”

empty the trash

Google Photos lets you delete photos and videos for up to 60 days, after which they go into the trash. If you want to release space in Google Photos quickly, empty the trash to recover a decent amount of media. This is especially important after deleting useless screenshots, photos and videos from your photo library. ..

Resize photos before uploading

If you want to keep your photos and videos in high resolution, resize them before uploading them to Google Photos. By doing so, you will save space on your Google account and make them more useful for backup.

Delete files from Google Drive and Gmail

If you want to free up storage space on your Google Drive, you should delete files that are no longer needed and also support files that are stored in Google Drive. You can also transfer files from your primary Google Drive account to a secondary account without resending them and save space in the process. ..

If you’re using Gmail for work or for personal use, be sure to keep your email files organized and free of large attachments. However, you can always delete old emails with large attachments for free if you have enough space in your Google account.

Final note

How to Free Up Storage Space on Google Photos If you have a Google Photos account, you may be wondering how to free up storage space on your account. Here are some tips to help you do just that:

  1. Delete old photos and videos: If you have photos and videos that are no longer needed, delete them. This will free up space on your account.
  2. Optimize your images: When you upload images, make sure they are optimized for web viewing. This will reduce the amount of data that is used when displaying them on your account.
  3. Use less storage space: If you use a lot of storage space on your Google Photos account, try using less of it. You may find that some photos and videos end up being deleted while others are stored in an unused folder.