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Unlimited Lifetime Photo & Video Storage (up from 2MP to 16MP) @ Google Photos

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Unlimited Lifetime Photo & Video Storage (up from 2MP to 16MP) @ Google Photos
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tightarse on 29/05/2015 - 06:59 9to5google.com (6121 clicks)
Last edited 13/11/2020 - 16:55 by 3 other users

Google Photos gives you a single, private place to keep a lifetime of memories, and access them from any device. They’re automatically backed up and synced, so you can have peace of mind that your photos are safe, available across all your devices.

And when we say a lifetime of memories, we really mean it. With Google Photos, you can now backup and store unlimited, high-quality photos and videos, for free. We maintain the original resolution up to 16MP for photos, and 1080p high-definition for videos, and store compressed versions of the photos and videos in beautiful, print-quality resolution.

More details here.

Mod edit: Prior to the announcement, Google photos counted anything above 2MP towards the free 15 GB quote for content shared between Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. Now it's unlimited Google Photos storage for photos up to 16MP and 1080 HD for videos. This is similar to Dropbox deals.

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closed Comments

  • ciab on 29/05/2015 - 07:05
    +6

    How much is this normally?

    • RubenM on 29/05/2015 - 07:11
      +7

      It's free, but it used to count towards your 15Gb google storage above a certain resolution. It still does, but they just increased the resolution that much that you will rarely ever need to have a higher one.

      • Mobe1969 on 29/05/2015 - 08:56

        Oh nice so they have upped the resolution. I wonder if Picasa has been updated to support the new resolution, and how the heck do I update my existing synced libraries to the higher res…

      • macrocephalic on 29/05/2015 - 10:08

        You might not need a higher res, but if you're using a non-phone camera then you'll almost certainly have to resize the images to get them under the 16mp.

        EDIT: It looks like it will downsize them to 16mp for you.

      • syousef on 29/05/2015 - 11:44
        +4

        "Rarely need" is a relative term.

        I own DSLRs that shoot 16MP and ons that shoot 24MP. There is a difference. Also I've got several TB of photos. I'd have exceeded 15GB on a single day on many occasions - airshows, medieval fayres, birthday parties…shooting RAW+JPG.

        This is nice for casual users that don't take many photos. It's not going to be much use to an advanced photography hobbyist.

        • SBOB on 29/05/2015 - 11:58
          +3

          And how much of that image difference is due to pure 'dot count' compared to lens quality, image processing, sensor sensitivity/size etc etc…

        • syousef on 29/05/2015 - 14:53
          +4

          @SBOB:

          The dot count lets you crop much tighter or print/display larger without losing quality if you know what you're doing. You have to shoot small aperture (f/8-f/11) and fast shutter (varies with subject) or use a tripod for still subjects. You also need as low an ISO as possible. It's quite a balancing act. But yes there is most certainly a difference.

        • MissKitty on 29/05/2015 - 15:56
          +3

          Even though they're 16MP they're also "compressed" versions. This is not for archiving. It's for sharing on the net, and for that 16MP is way more than you need with current screen tech.

        • syousef on 01/06/2015 - 15:06
          +2

          @MissKitty:

          For casual sharing yes. Have you ever tried uploading an image to a stock agency though? Believe me every bit of quality counts.

        • jjcf on 05/06/2015 - 09:25
          +1

          @syousef: Why would you be uploading a web resized version from a google photos account to a stock site… rather than the original tiff on your desktop machine? Seems like a non issue.

          And if you think the high MP count is important so you can crop, wouldn't you only be uploading the cropped final, rather than the original? In which case… seems like a non issue.

          This just comes off as a sad attempt at impressing people with your totes 'advanced photography hobbyist', 'high' MP (ie, 24) photography.

          Just come out and say 'I has full frame. So Profesh'

        • syousef on 05/06/2015 - 11:33
          +2

          @jjcf:

          Someone was talking about using this as a photo backup service and asked what the point of more than 16MB was.

          The beauty of storing the original is that you can crop it later. I have a lot of photos I probably will never edit but the beauty of storing them all is that I can edit to my heart's content if I ever do want to do so. NEVER throw away the original. The number of edits you can get out of a single photo is often astounding.

          The rest of your attack is pointless and lame. No one is trying to impress anyone with a bottom of the line DSLR. The BOTTOM of the line Nikon crop sensor DSLRs are now 24MP. If you're trying to impress anyone with that MP count you're doing it wrong. And by the way I'd love to own a full frame DSLR - they definitely have their uses - but I won't spend that kind of money on a single camera.

        • zealmax on 27/06/2015 - 21:48

          @SBOB: Lens quality, sensor size, allows you to take quality photos. It is no substitute for talent.

  • supbah on 29/05/2015 - 07:06

    Is this automatically enabled, or do we have to sign up?

  • [Deactivated] on 29/05/2015 - 07:07
    +24

    Lifetime storage,eh? That's handy. It'll take me that long to upload them.

    • umadbrahhhh on 29/05/2015 - 09:33
      +21

      Yeah, Hooli's compression is not as good as Pied Pieper's.

      • PVA on 29/05/2015 - 09:40
        +1

        Excellent show.

      • grunge on 29/05/2015 - 10:04
        +1

        It's all about the middle out.

  • WasabiPeas on 29/05/2015 - 07:17
    +4

    Where's the deal?

    • [Deactivated] on 29/05/2015 - 10:02
      -2

      The deal is UNLIMITED FREE LIFETIME PHOTO AND VIDEO STORAGE. Did you read what was posted?

      • muncan on 29/05/2015 - 10:13
        +1

        No need to shout. The deal is up here tessa.

    • barbarella on 29/05/2015 - 11:11

      I just got it from iTunes app store

  • harkoliar on 29/05/2015 - 07:18
    +1

    Does that apply to existing users?

    • Trishool on 29/05/2015 - 13:52
      +1

      Yes. Everyone!

  • CyberMurning on 29/05/2015 - 07:29
    +3

    Wow! No need to pay for extra dropbox, crashplan, box,drive etc. They all give free few gb but not unlimited! Time to do proper backups of my photos.

    Anyone with synology know how to automate easy way the backup process from nas to google storage?

    • Lunchguy on 29/05/2015 - 07:37
      +4

      Would also like to know how to sync with synology nas

      • CyberMurning on 29/05/2015 - 07:56
        +2

        Sync will be best but at the moment I'm only looking how to easily backup all my photos from nas to this

      • ShipShapeRC on 29/05/2015 - 08:08
        +3

        Synology would have to put out an app I think. Being google they might. Hope they do I would use it on my synology.

        • Click_It on 29/05/2015 - 14:19
          +1

          Yeah that'd be great! Automate a lot of manual work for me if they did/do.

        • CyberMurning on 11/06/2015 - 15:58

          There is a thread on syno forum about this maybe you can post something to push it to the top. or maybe email syno team directly i know they are good in replying emails from end users.

    • oringal on 29/05/2015 - 11:57
      +2

      use the desktop uploader https://photos.google.com/apps

    • auna on 11/06/2015 - 15:29

      Microsoft gives unlimited with Office 365

  • dan76n on 29/05/2015 - 07:33
    +2

    Is this the Google+ which all my photos on my phone upload to?

    Lazy question sorry. Yes it seems it is

  • RohBoat on 29/05/2015 - 07:37
    +2

    Looks like you need to download google photo app.
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and…

  • whats up skip on 29/05/2015 - 07:48
    +5

    Important Note: "store compressed versions of the photos and videos"

    This sounds like they are re compressing the images and video, so if image quality is important to you, then keep using Google Drive, Dropbox etc.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/05/2015 - 08:22
      +4

      Yeah only saw this.

      Still not bad as a faux backup of your backup.

    • ryang on 29/05/2015 - 09:57
      +2

      I'd rather compressed vs downsized.. Are there any technical details or is that it?

    • lucksmith on 29/05/2015 - 10:06
      +1

      You could change the settings to "Full Size" photo backups instead of the compressed version. However, this will eat up your available google drive space. Only the compressed versions will be hosted for free.

  • Vieira4 on 29/05/2015 - 07:55
    +1

    So if I already pay for google drive, can I somehow transfer my pics to google photos and stop paying for google drive?

  • bex000 on 29/05/2015 - 07:57
    +2

    I am not if available yet mine still says under 2048x2048 = 4megapixel is free, not the purported 16M

    • fruit on 29/05/2015 - 09:25

      Where do you see this?

  • Kaboda on 29/05/2015 - 08:01
    +1

    Still reckon One drive is the go, but at least now I can get rid of all these photos from my Google+ account.

  • Mister Plod on 29/05/2015 - 08:04
    +1

    So a little misleading, as the unlimited version is only compressed "high-quality" (around 2MP), whereas the 16MP/1080p versions count towards the roughly 17gb of storage everyone gets for free with their Google account. My settings page: http://i.imgur.com/w4T3qkn.jpg

    With Google Photos, you can now backup and store unlimited, high-quality photos and videos, for free. We maintain the original resolution up to 16MP for photos, and 1080p high-definition for videos, and store compressed versions of the photos and videos in beautiful, print-quality resolution

    • ashanrath on 29/05/2015 - 09:02
      +5

      Nope, it's been updated. High-quality is now 16MP or less.

      https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6220791?p=storage&r…

      • Mister Plod on 29/05/2015 - 09:16
        -2

        Point is that the unlimited HQ "deal" still compresses them to ~2MP, so even if you've uploaded at 16MP, it'll only view/download at the lower compressed size; unless you want them to count towards the 17 gb of storage, at which you'd change the setting as shown in my pic

        • ashanrath on 29/05/2015 - 09:19
          +6

          Nope:

          What if I choose High Quality and I back up photos taken with a high resolution camera?

          If the camera takes photos with 16 megapixels (MP) resolution or lower, most stored photos will essentially look the same using either storage option.
          If the camera takes photos with a resolution higher than 16 MP, then photos will be downsized to 16 MP.

          I'm guessing by "compression" they mean that they'll be enforcing a specific JPEG compression level on the files that you upload, but I can't find anything specific yet.

        • Mister Plod on 29/05/2015 - 09:22
          +1

          @ashanrath: huh well colour me wrong I guess. They really need more explanation and change the settings page, but I guess since its new and all…

          Still don't think it's a "deal" though, like that Google earth thing a while back, and dozens of other similar things.

        • terrys on 29/05/2015 - 09:48
          +2

          @ashanrath: "most stored photos will essentially look the same"

          Wow - weasely qualifier on the weasel qualification.

          As "a" back-up on a private corporations U.S. server, it may be useful. As the back-up, a good place for the photocopy of my contract to buy that bridge…

        • ashanrath on 29/05/2015 - 09:50
          +1

          @terrys: Agreed, I won't be racing out to delete all of my original files after uploading.

      • linkii on 30/05/2015 - 13:27

        It'll still compress your image if your image file is 16mp or less.

  • jason101 on 29/05/2015 - 08:19

    Looks like they have taken the Windows photo uploader offline - kind of makes the release a bit lame when allot of people have massive ios or droid photo archives saved to their PC's - perhaps they were worried about bandwidth flood around the release.

    • whats up skip on 29/05/2015 - 09:14
      +1

      It certainly wouldn't be from lack of capacity or bandwidth.

      Not everyone is going to dump their Terra Bytes of pictures and videos on the system in the next few days. Most people don't have the upstream bandwidth.

      • Gfleece on 29/05/2015 - 11:27

        Go to apps within photos to download a Desktop uploader.

        https://photos.google.com/apps

        • jason101 on 30/05/2015 - 07:39
          +1

          Thanks - really appreciate it, I have allot of uploading to do before my plan rolls over on the 1st.

  • Kevan2 on 29/05/2015 - 08:31

    Like money people I have collected from family and heritage family collection 2500+ print photos, so how do I convert these to data quickly rather than use the one picture/slide at a time photo. HP fotomatic copier will do a copy bed full of indivual photos and scan but this works out at 5/6 at a time . Time and skill set poor.

    Will appreciate any suggestions. Thanks. Back up of backup sounds like the way to go. I also like a print copy as it is easy for grand persons, great aunts to write on back who and where and when photo was taken!

    • whats up skip on 29/05/2015 - 09:17
      +8

      A good place to discuss this properly is in photography section of Whirlpool.

      • Kevan2 on 29/05/2015 - 12:08

        Thanks a new adventure for me. Havenot used Whirpool before, perhaps I will learn.

    • macrocephalic on 29/05/2015 - 10:14
      +1

      There are companies that you can pay for this; I don't know how much they cost or how accurate/careful they are.

      • Kevan2 on 29/05/2015 - 12:09

        Will follow up and let know if meets budget$ Thanks

        • macrocephalic on 01/06/2015 - 12:17
          +1

          There's a place near where I work that specialises in format transcription, they advertise 36c per image for bulk negative/slide scanning.

  • iNeedMoreMoney on 29/05/2015 - 08:39

    Sorry I dont get it, am I missing something here? I've been using this for over a year now, whats the deal?

    And no my autobackup photos and videos have had free storage and they did not count towards 15gb. Explain if you're going to neg. I'm asking a decent question.

    • JPic on 29/05/2015 - 09:31
      -7

      Same here. Google Auto Backup had the same feature to upload unlimited lifetime compressed photos.

      • harkoliar on 29/05/2015 - 11:00
        +1

        Used to be smaller resolution I think. They just increased resolution to what they are advertising now.

  • Sergeant Salami on 29/05/2015 - 08:50
    +3

    How is this a deal? It has always been free and will continue to be free since the announcement at the Google I/O event yesterday!
    The only difference now is: emails, photos and drive storage counted towards your 15GB limit but now it is free and doesn't count towards the 15GB limit.

    This should be moved to the forums. No deal here!

    • tightarse on 29/05/2015 - 09:54
      +2

      This should be moved to the forums. No deal here!

      Invalid negative vote…

      http://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/27551/30843/capture.jpg

      • Lord Fart Bucket on 29/05/2015 - 10:18

        Sorry, TA… the reason for the neg would be:

        It has always been free and will continue to be free since the announcement at the Google I/O event yesterday!

        • tightarse on 29/05/2015 - 10:20
          +3

          The report button is there for a reason. There's only 3 cases where the neg should be used, as per the screenshot above.

    • ShamelessBargains on 29/05/2015 - 09:57
      +4

      It's a decent deal for people who don't know about the recent upgrade. Being made a deal gives it more prominence in the community.

  • atlas on 29/05/2015 - 08:52

    Google will also automatically tag faces in your photos. No thanks.

    • muncan on 29/05/2015 - 09:12
      +7

      So, don't take photos of faces.

    • OldBugger on 29/05/2015 - 10:06
      +1

      On my phone I had the option to turn this off. I did try it but it kept tagging my ass instead

      • muncan on 29/05/2015 - 10:20
        +1

        Ain't nobody want to see pictures of some OldBugger's ass

    • ryang on 29/05/2015 - 10:06

      You can turn that off…

      • OzBragain on 29/05/2015 - 11:24
        +2

        The wife would love it if she could turn my ass off

  • Climpton on 29/05/2015 - 08:57
    +3

    Be very careful about divulging too much information to Google and other big companies, they are a big risk to our privacy.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/05/2015 - 10:01

      It's strange how people neg Climpton's comment. People neg things they have no clue about or just don't understand. There should seriously be an IQ test on Ozbargain before people can neg vote.

      • ryang on 29/05/2015 - 10:11
        +2

        Really? Which browser do you use? Phone? ISP? Pretty much everyone is digging into your private info unless you're living inside a cave (or TOR..).

    • some_one_some_where on 29/05/2015 - 18:01

      Too much info…I will say no info….especially not my pictures….I agree that there is no privacy anywhere on the net….TOR is good but pain to use and you need to be skillful to work silently…even when using TOR..end points can read what you are doing…well digressing from the bargain…so let people go back to giving ownership of their picture to some one else…not me….

  • merill on 29/05/2015 - 09:04
    -7

    Doesn't support uploading from Windows. What's the point?

    • Mobe1969 on 29/05/2015 - 09:10
      +2

      There is a Desktop uploader app:
      https://photos.google.com/apps

      Picasa may also be updated now to handle the increased resolution. The existing Picasa handled the sync with the old options.

      EDIT: The current Picasa isnt' showing the updated res, still 2048 pix

    • kudoz on 29/05/2015 - 09:11
      +1

      Um, on the left hand side here… -> https://photos.google.com/apps ?

    • merill on 29/05/2015 - 10:22

      I don't see Windows Phone.

  • ebosh on 29/05/2015 - 09:07
    +1

    Nothing has changed. Taken directly from the app page: "AUTO BACKUP: Keep all your photos and videos safe and accessible from any device. Choose free, unlimited cloud storage available at high quality, or store up to 15GB original size for free (shared across your Google account)."

    • ashanrath on 29/05/2015 - 09:15
      +2

      Photos 16MP or less now don't count against your storage. It used to be anything below 2048x2048 from memory.

      • ebosh on 29/05/2015 - 09:42

        Huh, TIL. Thanks.

        I've got a 16mp DSLR that shoots in DNG so I'm gonna have a go at uploading some RAW files and see what the result is tonight.

  • AtomuKirin on 29/05/2015 - 09:07
    +1

    I'm happy with my Flickr - I've already spent days uploading 20 years of photos… can't be bothered changing over to another server…

    • kudoz on 29/05/2015 - 09:12
      +2

      There's a service called PicBackMan or something similar which allows you to sync across all the cloud apps if you want to cover all your bases…

      • AtomuKirin on 29/05/2015 - 09:18

        interesting - thanks
        can't seem to find whether it's possible for them to migrate everything from one account to another? (Flickr > Google) automatically?

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