.xmp files

[cpharm86]

I get .xmp extension when I import into LR. Do I need to continue to save these on my Hard drive along with my raw and jpg files? What are they for?

Thank you

 

[Dan Marchant]

I get .xmp extension when I import into LR. Do I need to continue to save these on my Hard drive along with my raw and jpg files? What are they for?

Thank you

They are for storing processing adjustment (editing) info and metadata - see http://help.adobe.com/en_US/lightroom/using/WS638E3AC9-A04C-4445-A0D3-F7D8BA5CDE37.html

When you process a RAW file in Lightroom the edit info is not written to the actual RAW file. It is saved in the Lightroom catalog and also (optionally) to a side car .XMP file. If you don't want this you need to go into edit > catalog settings > metadata and untick "Automatically write changes to xmp"

Note: Some people like to have the xmp files as a backup in case their catalog becomes corrupted. Of course that won't help in the event of a hard drive failure where you lose the whole disk. For safety you should back up your RAW files and you catalog to a second HD. In fact to protect against fire and theft you should really have another copy stored at different physical location/in the cloud.

 

[cpharm86]

I get .xmp extension when I import into LR. Do I need to continue to save these on my Hard drive along with my raw and jpg files? What are they for?

Thank you

They are for storing processing adjustment (editing) info and metadata - see http://help.adobe.com/en_US/lightroom/using/WS638E3AC9-A04C-4445-A0D3-F7D8BA5CDE37.html

When you process a RAW file in Lightroom the edit info is not written to the actual RAW file. It is saved in the Lightroom catalog and also (optionally) to a side car .XMP file. If you don't want this you need to go into edit > catalog settings > metadata and untick "Automatically write changes to xmp"

Note: Some people like to have the xmp files as a backup in case their catalog becomes corrupted. Of course that won't help in the event of a hard drive failure where you lose the whole disk. For safety you should back up your RAW files and you catalog to a second HD. In fact to protect against fire and theft you should really have another copy stored at different physical location/in the cloud.

 

[hotdog321]

I had gone on deleted several saved .XMP files already. I probably will save them now.

Pete

Might as well, they are tiny and may save some steps in the future.

 

[Ferguson]

I get .xmp extension when I import into LR. Do I need to continue to save these on my Hard drive along with my raw and jpg files? What are they for?

Thank you

And just to add one aspect: if you are post processing raw in lightroom, there's really no need to save the jpg's, as lightroom generates one on demand when you export, publish, print, etc.

 

[Colin K. Work]

I get .xmp extension when I import into LR. Do I need to continue to save these on my Hard drive along with my raw and jpg files? What are they for?

Thank you

.xmp files are sidecar files needed to save editing data with proprietry RAW files, because LR won't write to the RAW. However it can write to DNG.

If you convert your raws to the DNG format, then you have no need for sidecars (and LR won't create them by default).

I know there are differences of opinion on DNG - but this is one advantage IMHO - a little time spent converting saves some hassle later with an extra sidecar file to manage, which may be problematic if/when you change software or systems.

 

[John Motts]

Also useful when you Lightroom process files for other people. You can just send them the xmp files rather than the actual finished image files.

 

[Ferguson]

I know there are differences of opinion on DNG - but this is one advantage IMHO - a little time spent converting saves some hassle later with an extra sidecar file to manage, which may be problematic if/when you change software or systems.

Though to be fair, most of the stuff (develop settings in particular) that it might save there, or in XMP, can't be read by other software either. There are some exceptions, common metadata like titles and descriptions usually are honored, but crops (with some exceptions), white balance, develop settings are generally ignored if you change to another vendor.

 

[cpharm86]

Thanks everyone for all the good advice and input.

 

[digidog]

I get .xmp extension when I import into LR. Do I need to continue to save these on my Hard drive along with my raw and jpg files? What are they for?

Thank you

.xmp files are sidecar files needed to save editing data with proprietry RAW files, because LR won't write to the RAW. However it can write to DNG.

If you convert your raws to the DNG format, then you have no need for sidecars (and LR won't create them by default).

I know there are differences of opinion on DNG - but this is one advantage IMHO - a little time spent converting saves some hassle later with an extra sidecar file to manage, which may be problematic if/when you change software or systems.

 

[digidog]

I know there are differences of opinion on DNG - but this is one advantage IMHO - a little time spent converting saves some hassle later with an extra sidecar file to manage, which may be problematic if/when you change software or systems.

Though to be fair, most of the stuff (develop settings in particular) that it might save there, or in XMP, can't be read by other software either. There are some exceptions, common metadata like titles and descriptions usually are honored, but crops (with some exceptions), white balance, develop settings are generally ignored if you change to another vendor.

 

[Ed Constable]

Another real advantage is portability. I keep my master library in LR on a desktop. I often work with images on a laptop when travelling. I use the images as raw on a usb-c drive or on laptop ssd. When I get back home I only have to copy the tiny xmp files to the desktop library and synchronize. Works for me.

 

[cpharm86]

Another real advantage is portability. I keep my master library in LR on a desktop. I often work with images on a laptop when travelling. I use the images as raw on a usb-c drive or on laptop ssd. When I get back home I only have to copy the tiny xmp files to the desktop library and synchronize. Works for me.

That does sound practical and another advantage. Thank you.

 

[Ferguson]

Another real advantage is portability. I keep my master library in LR on a desktop. I often work with images on a laptop when travelling. I use the images as raw on a usb-c drive or on laptop ssd. When I get back home I only have to copy the tiny xmp files to the desktop library and synchronize. Works for me.

That does sound practical and another advantage. Thank you.

It is worth noting that using XMP's as a bridge to external editing, manually, can work great, but also has a lot of exposure to user error.

When I first started in lightroom I was a heavy Bridge user, and you can move back and forth with (compatible versions) of Bridge and Lightroom as both will use XMP's for everything. However, you have to make sure each handoff is perfect -- when you take something from lightroom to edit outside, you must be sure the XMP is up to date. While you edit outside you must be sure no changes are made in Lightroom. When you bring it back, the first thing you must do is read (or sync) the new XMP back in before making any changes in lightroom. Really worse -- you must make sure no changes accidentally get made -- lightroom does a ton of background processing, so timing can be an issue.

I do as Ed wrote above as well, though usually only one way -- create something with XMP's offline, then bring them into lightroom. It works great, and is a great interchange technique. You can even "debug" it somewhat since XMP's are at least somewhat readable.

But there's no significant amount of process error checking that Lightroom does; it will happily lose a bunch of edits if you bring in an XMP file that is out of sync.

 

[dwight3]

As explained by others, xmp files contain the edit commands that are applied to the raw file to produce the edited image.

Since the edit commands are also stored in the catalog, the xmp files are not needed for Lightroom editing. However, if you send your image to Photoshop, the xmp files will give you the Lightroom edits as a starting point in Photoshop so you don't have to reproduce them in PS. If you never use anything but LR for editing, you can dispense with the xmp files.

In theory, the xmp files could tell any other external editing program what the LR edits are to give you a starting point. However, the editing commands are really specific to the algorithms used in Lightroom, and may not be really applicable to a different editing program.

 

[cpharm86]

As explained by others, xmp files contain the edit commands that are applied to the raw file to produce the edited image.

Since the edit commands are also stored in the catalog, the xmp files are not needed for Lightroom editing. However, if you send your image to Photoshop, the xmp files will give you the Lightroom edits as a starting point in Photoshop so you don't have to reproduce them in PS. If you never use anything but LR for editing, you can dispense with the xmp files.

In theory, the xmp files could tell any other external editing program what the LR edits are to give you a starting point. However, the editing commands are really specific to the algorithms used in Lightroom, and may not be really applicable to a different editing program.

Thank you, that helps