What's inside a download
Originals, print-ready JPEGs, XMP sidecars and the manifest: what you get and how it's arranged.
Every download keeps what your library knows about each photo, so you can take your photos to another app without losing anything.
Your photos
With Originals, you get each file exactly as it was uploaded: same format, same quality, same camera details.
With Print-ready JPEG, you get a full-resolution JPEG of each photo, ready to send to a print shop:
- HEIC, PNG, WebP and other formats are converted to JPEG. Transparent areas become white, like paper.
- Photos are turned upright.
- Camera details are kept.
- JPEGs that are already upright are included as they are.
- Videos and RAW camera files are included as originals.
Live Photos keep their video: the short clip sits next to the photo with the same name.
XMP sidecars
Next to each photo is a small .xmp file with the same name, such as IMG_0042.xmp. It holds:
- The date and time the photo was taken, with its time zone.
- The place.
- The title and description.
- Keywords and people.
- The rating.
Lightroom, Bridge, Capture One, darktable and digiKam can read these files, so your details come along when you open the photos there.
The manifest
Every zip file also contains a manifest: a JSON file listing everything in the download. It’s useful for checking nothing is missing, or for moving your library into another service. Big downloads split into several zip files have a manifest in each one.
How the folders are arranged
- By date: a folder for each year, with a folder for each day inside it, by the day the photo was taken.
- By album: a folder for each album. A photo in several albums is saved once, in the first album by name, and its sidecar lists all of its albums. Photos in no album go in a folder called “Not in an album”.
- All in one folder: every file side by side.
If two files would end up with the same name, the second gets a number, such as IMG_0042 (2).jpg, the way your computer does it.