How to free up space in Google Photos? Several proven ways

The service no longer offers unlimited storage. It happened, from June 1, 2021, Google Photos no longer allows you to store almost unlimited photos and videos in the cloud. Now, each user has only 15GB of space at their disposal, shared by Google Photos, Gmail and Google Drive. The above limit does not include files uploaded to the service before the mentioned date, but there is a chance that you will use it soon or have already done so. So, check out how to quickly free up space in Google Photos. Below are a few ways you can do this.

1. Delete files from Gmail and Google Drive

As I mentioned, Google Photos shares 15 GB of storage space with Gmail and Google Drive. So, if you need space in Photos, first remove unnecessary files from the other two services. There is probably no shortage of these. We are talking about both photos, videos and e-mails with their attachments. Best of all, you don't have to do the above manually at all. All you have to do is go to the Google Photos app or its web equivalent, click on your avatar in the mobile app or the gear icon in the web version, and then select the "Manage storage space" option. There, click on "Organize data in Gmail and Drive". You'll then be taken to a site that allows you to remove unnecessary content with just a few clicks. Organize space in Gmail and Google Drive. | Source: mat. Your own It's also a good idea to create an additional Google account if you don't already have one. You can transfer files from your main account's Google Drive to this account's Google Drive, which has a separate 15GB storage space.

2. Get rid of redundant screenshots and blurry photos

Google Photos automatically backs up the stuff on your phone, including the stuff you don't need to back up at all. So, your Photos is probably full of backed up screenshots and blurry photos that you should delete, because they take up valuable space unnecessarily. Fortunately, recently Google offers tools that allow you to remove screenshots and blurry photos from Photos with one click. To use them, you also need to go to Storage Management. There, in the "Check and Delete" section, you will find specially created folders in which the mentioned file types are automatically grouped. Options to quickly remove screenshots and more from Google Photos. | Source: mat. own Attention, while Google's artificial intelligence is good at classifying screenshots, it has some problems in the case of blurry photos. Therefore, you can safely move the screenshots to the trash without verifying them, but carefully look through the blurred photos folder and only then select the photos that really should go to the trash.

3. Remove Unsupported Videos

There's a chance that for some reason your Google Photos uploaded videos in a format that is not supported by Google Photos. Thus, these cannot be recreated by you, and as a result take up valuable file space. You can easily find a list of such videos in Photos. To do this, go to the Service Settings (by clicking on your avatar in the mobile application or the cog icon in the web version) and click on the "Unsupported videos" option. If the materials you find there are valuable to you, download them, convert them and re-upload them to Photos, and if not, just delete them. Remove unsupported videos from Google Photos. | Source: mat. own

4. Purge Trash

What happens to each file deleted from Google Photos? It goes in the basket. There he stays for 60 days and only then disappears forever, finally freeing up space in the service. In total, Google Photos' trash can store up to 1.5 GB of data. Empty Trash in Google Photos. | Source: mat. own If you are close to the 15 GB limit, empty the trash now, because this way you can gain a lot of space. Be sure to do this if you have previously removed unnecessary photos, videos or screenshots from Google Photos.

5. Change the quality of stored materials

Google Photos allows you to back up files in one of two variants - in original quality (without reducing the quality of photos and videos) or high quality (i.e. in a slightly reduced quality compared to the original). If you use the first option and you are very concerned about the space for data, you can compress the previously uploaded materials to the service from original to high quality. It's very possible that you won't even notice the difference in quality. To compress files in Google Photos, click on your avatar in the mobile app or the cog icon in the web version and in the settings that appear, click on the banner that says "Free up space". In the window that will appear, use the "Compress" option. Compressing files in Google Photos Source: mat. own

6. Stop backing up Messenger and other apps

Do you use apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook or Messenger? It's very possible that the photos and other content you receive through them are also backed up in Google Photos. You can check if this is really the case by going to "Photo Settings" in the service's mobile application (after clicking on your avatar), and then to the "Backup and sync" menu.There, select the option "Back up folders on the device". Only synchronize materials from folders of selected applications. | Source: mat. custom If any folders are selected in the resulting list of folders, deselect them. Then you will disable the synchronization of materials from the application to which this folder belongs.

7. As a last resort: get a Google One subscription

Have you used the above methods, but the amount of free space a for data in your Google Photos is staggeringly low? If you do not want to look for an alternative to this service and still want to store your photos and videos in the cloud, you have no choice but to subscribe to Google One. Google offers monthly and annual subscriptions. As part of them, you can access additional 100 GB, 200 GB or 2 TB of space in Google Photos, Gmail and Google Drive. Note that you can download the Google Photos app through our software database. Source: mat. own, photo title mat. ownDo not miss similar news → Follow us on Google News.