Does Archiving Photos Save Space on Google Photos?

Do archived photos count against my storage limit? I am unsure if archiving photos saves me storage space.

Archiving photos in Google Photos does not free up storage space or conserve storage. It only removes the selected pictures from your main view. To actually free up space in Google Photos, you need to delete photos or use other storage management techniques, not just archive them.

If you want to save space while keeping your photos, you can:

- Use the "Storage Saver" option (formerly called "High Quality"), which compresses photos up to 16MP quality.

- Convert existing full-size images to "Storage Saver" versions, but be cautious as this process is irreversible.

- Delete unnecessary photos like blurry ones or screenshots using Google Photos' storage management tool.

- Downloading and storing photos offline on external hard drives or Network Attached Storage (NAS).

- Using the "Free up space" feature in the Google Photos app removes device copies of photos already backed up to the cloud.

It's important to note that since June 2021, even "Storage Saver" quality photos count against your Google storage quota, though they take up less space than original quality photos.

In conclusion, simply archiving photos within Google Photos does not save space. To actually reduce storage usage, you need to either delete photos, compress them, or move them to external storage solutions.

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