Optimising Lightroom Classic: Previews & Performance Tips

Lightroom Classic has undergone significant upgrades over the past 2-3 years, especially with masks and AI enhancements. Although maintaining a single catalogue is beneficial for managing your portfolio effectively, large catalogues can significantly slow down Lightroom’s performance, particularly noticeable since updates to versions 13 and 14.

Upon investigation, Danie realised that when Lightroom previously crashed, he had to rebuild his entire catalogue. Unfortunately, he hadn’t rebuilt his standard and smart previews afterward, leading to significant performance drops.

Below are practical tips to enhance Lightroom performance, along with clear explanations of the different types of previews.

Recommended Steps to Rebuild Previews:
1. Navigate to the Library Module.
2. Select your photo drive or specific folder from the left panel.
3. Ensure you are in Grid View (G) to easily select all images.
4. From the top menu, choose Library > Previews > Build Standard-Sized Previews. Repeat this step for Smart Previews and other drives or folders as needed.

Preview Types Explained:
– Standard Previews: Smaller JPEG versions Lightroom uses to quickly display thumbnails and preview images, speeding up browsing and sorting in the Library module.
– Smart Previews: Compressed copies of RAW files enabling edits without direct access to original files. Ideal for mobile editing or working remotely.
– 1:1 Previews: Full-resolution previews allowing instantaneous zooming into images at 100% in Loupe view, eliminating delay when examining fine details.
Tip: If Lightroom is set to automatically discard 1:1 previews after 30 days (recommended, as advocated in my Lightroom classes), ensure you regenerate these previews for folders not worked on recently before starting edits. It’s the perfect moment to brew yourself a coffee while Lightroom does its job.

Why Standard Previews Matter: Standard previews are essential for quick image display in the Library module. Without them, browsing images becomes sluggish or impossible.
Smart Previews in Workflow: Smart Previews significantly speed up editing tasks due to their lightweight nature but do not replace standard previews needed for library viewing and management.

Optimising Lightroom Performance:
– Regularly regenerate previews after crashes or updates.
– Keep standard-size previews small to balance quality and performance.
– Store your catalogue and preview cache on the same fast drive.
Additional Performance Tips:
– Temporarily pause “Sync with Lightroom” while editing.
– Disable the “Auto-write XMP” setting in preferences for smoother performance.

By managing your previews strategically, you’ll significantly enhance Lightroom Classic’s speed and reliability.