In addition to optimizing the computer, you can optimize your Lightroom preferences and catalog settings for best performance.
Lightroom Updates
Lightroom is usually updated every 2-4 months, and these updates frequently include performance improvements. It’s worth staying up to date.
The CC app regularly checks for updates. Open the CC app from the system tray (Windows) / menubar (Mac). Clicking the Update Available button takes you to the Updates tab.
Click the Update button to install the update.
If an update has been released, but the CC app hasn’t found it yet, you can check manually. Select the Updates tab, click the … button and select Check for Updates.
Occasionally, an update introduces new bugs that aren’t spotted before release, so it’s also worth knowing how to roll back, just in case you do run into problems. Alternatively, you can wait until the update has been available for a few days, in case any serious new bugs surface.
Delaying an upgrade can be a good idea if it’s a major update that requires a catalog upgrade (usually the October/November release). Keep an eye on our What’s New blog posts, as we update the release blog post with significant new bugs.
Optimize the Catalog
Over the course of time, the data in Lightroom’s catalog can become fragmented and spread across the whole database. This makes Lightroom jump around to find the information it needs. The File menu > Optimize Catalog command “tidies up” and sorts it all back into the right order, bringing it back up to speed.
It’s worth running the catalog optimization whenever you’ve made significant database changes, such as removing or importing a large number of photos. It’s also worth running if you feel that Lightroom has slowed down. To save you having to remember, there’s a checkbox in the Back Up Catalog dialog.
Use Graphics Processor pop-up
We’ve already mentioned the important of the GPU in previous posts. The related settings are found under Edit menu (Windows) / Lightroom menu (Mac) > Preferences > Performance tab. As a reminder, the default setting of Auto is a great choice for most systems. If you want to experiment with the Custom settings, there’s more detail in our previous blog post.
Auto-write XMP off
In the first post in our Lightroom Performance series, we said that all of the work you do in Lightroom is stored as text instructions in the Lightroom catalog. If you need to make the metadata available to other programs, you need to store it in/with the files using a metadata format called XMP. For example, some photographers also use XMP as an additional (but incomplete) backup of edits.
If you frequently edit your photos in other software such as Bridge, writing changes automatically saves you having to remember to do so. However, writing to XMP can have an impact on performance, especially if the photos are stored on a slower drive. To set your auto write preference, go to Edit menu (Windows) / Lightroom menu (Mac) > Catalog Settings > Metadata tab > Automatically write changes into XMP. If you choose to turn auto-write off, you can manually write to XMP at any time by selecting the photos in Grid view and selecting Metadata menu > Write Metadata to Files.
Render the Best Previews & Cache Settings for Your Needs
Finally, Lightroom uses a number of different types of previews and caches. It’s worth gaining a basic understanding so you can optimize the settings for your own workflow. We’ll discuss this in the next post in the series.
For extensive information on Lightroom Classic, see Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ.
Note: purchase of these books includes the first year’s Classic or cloud-based Premium Membership (depending on the book purchased), giving access to download the latest eBook (each time Adobe updates the software), email assistance for the applicable Lightroom version if you hit a problem, and other bonuses.
We also have a special bundle offer for the two books. This includes Premium Membership for the first year as described above for the whole Lightroom family!
Originally posted 3 October 2016, updated May 2021.
I have a question regarding metadata settings in Lightroom Classic. I understand why it makes sense to exclude writing to XMP files if not using Bridge or similar software which requires this metadata to accurately render the modified image. What is puzzling me is why develop settings in metadata should be recorded inside JPEG, TIFF, PNG and PSD files (particularly TIFF and PSD). Is this not even more computationally intensive given the sometimes large file sizes involved? One of the unfortunate side effects of this activity is that even a minor change can result in a large file being flagged as modified which will trigger a backup. Given the limitations of upload bandwidth, this can be problematic if several large files are similarly affected.
On the assumption that frequent and effective catalogue backups are being performed and the File Export function is used to pass images to other applications, is it both safe and effective to uncheck that box too, or am I, (as is all too often the case) missing something fundamental?
Hi Paul
If you don’t have the XMP box ticked then Lightroom won’t write XMP data to any files. For ra files XMP is a sidecar, for rendered (TIFF, etc) it’s in the file header – but without the box ticked it won’t write it to there either.
The additional box you’re referring to is for actual Develop settings inside rendered files. These will only be written if the second box (Write XMP) is ticked or you manually write (Ctrl+S / Cmd+S)
Looking to implement this “Enable Graphics Processor checkbox” and can’t see the performance tab when opening preferences. Any idea what it could be?
Which version of Lightroom are you using?
> Nothing that is critically important is omitted
I’d have to respectfully disagree. Virtual copies are not included in XMP, and if your “final” version of an image was a VC, that’s a pretty important thing to omit. Develop module panel switch settings are also omitted, which could significantly change the look of a photo. Flags are also important to many users, but omitted from XMP.
Nothing that is critically important is omitted. The XMP format covers all develop settings as a snapshot of the last edit so you can pass the raw file and xmp on to someone else or another application and reproduce the result.
If this was not the case, it would be a pointless exercise and useless file to have.
As an XML-type file, the more there is to describe the work needed to reproduce the result, the larger the file will be. Hence why historical changes are not stored in XMP, they are stored in your software’s catalogue.
You can also tag the raw/original file in EXIF for things like rating, to keep that metadata if you need it when passing files on.
I enabled write to XMP because I use DXO Optics Pro, but I’m thinking now that it’s not necessary. Is there a way. To safely remove the XMP files?
No (other than searching for *.xmp files with your OS and deleting them), but they can safely stay there. It’s only the automatic writing that affects performance, so you could update them manually from time to time as a belt-and-braces backup.
Just saw a remark that increasing the Camera RAW Cache Settings (in preferences > file handling) speeds up LR. Another option is to purge the cache in the same screen. Since I’m running low on disk space I did the latter. After purging the cache LR is fast again, just as it was after I installed it on a new PC.
Yes, that’s actually in the next post in the series here: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-performance-previews-caches/
You don’t need the Camera Raw Cache to be huge, but 5-10GB can help if you’re using a workflow that utilizes it (also explained more in the next post).
Purging the cache doesn’t usually help with speed, but if you’re running low on disk space, that would certainly explain why it’s suddenly become faster for you. The OS and Lightroom both need a bit of elbow room on the drive.
Thanks for the tips. The last year or so I have had an issue on my Mac that Lightroom can not be updated via the CC-app. It says LR is up to date, even if that’s not the case.
The only solution I have found that works is to uninstall and re-install Lightroom. Anyone who knows about a better way that actually works?
Does it continue to happen even after you’ve uninstalled/reinstalled? If so, run the CC Cleaner app between uninstall/reinstall.
A question on XMP: you mention that it’s an incomplete backup of edits. What kinds of edits are missing from the sidecar files? Thank you!
Flags, virtual copies, collection membership, uncommitted location data, Develop history, stacks, Develop module panel switches and zoomed image pan positions are currently only stored in the catalog itself, and not the XMP sections of the files.
This latest CC update has introduced a couple of problems for me. One is that the ‘new features’ box keeps popping up on LR load. I can find no way to get rid of it. It is not only annoying that I must click on one of 2 buttons to remove it before LR finishes loading, but the whole load process is slower. Also I can’t get rid of the splash screen. When i click off the check in edit/preferences, and then click OK, it still reappears next time I load LR.