# What's the best way to keep Adobe Photoshop files small in size but maintain image quality

I often find myself in a position where I download large files to use in some of my projects, but at the same need to keep the files small in size but maintain the good quality of the original image. Sometimes scaling the physical size of the image reduces it's quality as well.

##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: almost 7 years ago
- Author title: Lead designer at Rhema Building Systems
- Net upvotes: 1


## Comments
### Comment 1

That's a big question (excuse the pun). The main things that make a Ps file grow raster layers (adjustment layers are more economical) and Smart Objects. 

Every raster layer is the size of an image at that resolution, so it's obvious why they would grow the Ps file's footprint in storage. Smart Objects come in two basic flavors: embedded and linked. An embedded smart object contains the full original image or file (vector artwork, another PSD, etc.), so reducing the image size actually won't reduce the file size: the full size object is still there inside the Smart Object. Linked Smart Objects are raster images of the original, so they don't add as much to the file size, but you won't be able to update your PSD without them.

Scaling the image won't help if your layers are not Smart Objects. You're throwing away pixels that you can never recover, so image quality will suffer.

If you absolutely must have smaller files to work with, consider storing the original PSDs on a separate, large drive and keeping flattened jpeg or png versions in your "live" folders.

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: almost 7 years ago
- Author title: Creative Director, G&G Creative




## Related Product
[Adobe Photoshop](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-photoshop/reviews)

## Related Category
[Photo Editing](https://www.g2.com/categories/photo-editing)

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