What is Original quality in Google Photos? Full-size backups

What does Original quality keep?

Google's help text says photos and videos are stored in the same resolution you took them, with no change to their quality. In practice that means the camera's full-resolution JPEG or HEIC, the RAW file if you back up DNGs, and 4K or 8K video at its recorded resolution. Metadata such as the date and the camera model stays with the file, and a download later gives you back the file the camera made.

That makes it a real backup of your camera roll rather than a viewing copy. If your phone is lost, what you restore is the original.

Edits are handled separately. When you crop or filter a photo in Google Photos and save it, the app stores the edited version and keeps the original so you can revert, which means one picture can occupy space twice if you save a copy.

How fast does it use storage?

These estimates ignore Gmail and Drive, which share the same pool. Video is usually the heaviest item, and a single long 4K clip can use as much space as hundreds of photos.

Phones with 50 MP or 200 MP sensors usually save binned 12 MP files by default, so most users never fill the quota as fast as the middle row suggests. The large figures apply when a full-resolution mode is switched on, often in the camera's Pro settings.

When should you choose Original quality?

• You edit photos later or shoot RAW.
• You print, crop heavily or zoom into detail.
• Google Photos is your only backup.
• You pay for Google One and have room to spare.

If none of these apply and your quota is tight, Storage saver fits more into the same space.

How do you keep Original quality affordable?

Back up less junk. Bursts, duplicates, forwarded images and expired screenshots are uploaded at full size too. Turning off backup for chat folders and removing failed shots before they upload keeps the quota for photos you care about. GalleryJury, launching soon on Google Play, clears that kind of clutter from the phone with your OK, so less of it reaches the cloud in the first place. See what to delete when Google One is full for cleaning what is already there.

It also helps to back up only the folders you need. In Google Photos, under Backup, you can choose which device folders upload; leaving out Download and chat folders stops memes and copies from reaching the cloud at full size.