Lightroom Classic is a powerful software for organizing and editing your photos. When you import photos into Lightroom, they are not actually saved within the program itself. Instead, Lightroom keeps track of the location of your photos on your computer or external drives by referencing their file paths.
By default, Lightroom Classic catalogs, which store information about your photos such as edits, metadata, and organizational structure, are located in specific folders. The exact location of these folders depends on the operating system you are using.
On Windows, Lightroom Classic catalogs are typically stored in the following folder: \Users\[user name]\Pictures\Lightroom. The “Pictures” folder is a common location for storing personal photos and Lightroom follows this convention. However, it’s important to note that the specific folder structure may vary slightly depending on your system configuration.
On macOS, Lightroom Classic catalogs are usually located in the following folder: /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom. Again, the “Pictures” folder is the default location for storing photos on macOS, and Lightroom Classic adheres to this convention.
It’s worth mentioning that you have the flexibility to choose a different location for your Lightroom Classic catalogs if you prefer. During the setup process or when creating a new catalog, you can specify a custom folder to save your catalogs. This can be useful if you have a specific storage setup or want to keep your catalogs separate from your default Pictures folder.
In addition to catalogs, Lightroom Classic also allows you to store your actual photo files in a location of your choice. When you import photos into Lightroom, you can choose to either copy them to a new location or simply reference their existing location on your computer. This gives you control over where your photos are physically stored.
By default, Lightroom Classic creates a folder called “Lightroom” within the Pictures folder, and within that, it organizes your imported photos into subfolders based on the date of import. This helps keep your photos organized and easy to find within Lightroom. However, you can customize this folder structure to suit your preferences.
It’s important to note that while Lightroom Classic keeps track of your photos and catalogs their information, it does not alter the original photo files themselves. This means that any edits you make within Lightroom are non-destructive, allowing you to revert back to the original file at any time.
Lightroom Classic catalogs are typically saved in specific folders on your computer. The default locations for catalogs are \Users\[user name]\Pictures\Lightroom on Windows and /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom on macOS. However, you have the flexibility to choose a different location for your catalogs during setup. Additionally, Lightroom Classic allows you to store your actual photo files in a location of your choice, giving you control over where your photos are physically saved.