Downloading a large iCloud Photos library is frustratingly hard due to iCloud’s 1000-Photo Limit: You can select and download only 1,000 photos and videos at a time. This is impractical if you have a lot of photos and videos. Additionally, the built-in export function of the Photos app offers limited flexibility. It also does not preserve the organization of photos.
In contrast, Photos Takeout, a macOS application designed specifically to streamline the export of the Photos library from iCloud and Mac, offers a far more efficient and convenient solution.
Sidestepping iCloud’s 1000-Photo Limit
The big problem with iCloud’s 1000-Photo Limit is that (to paraphrase Apple) it just doesn’t work. So if you have 40,000 photos, it will take 40 downloads! Imagine the time, effort and aggravation – and the manual tracking to avoid duplication or omissions.
Photos Takeout eliminates this constraint by letting you export the entire Photos library (or selected items) in a single operation, regardless of size . This bulk export capability is especially useful for users with large collections, such as professional or hobbyist photographers.
Downloading Optimized Photos from iCloud
When you use iCloud Photos with Optimize Mac Storage setting, it saves full resolution photos in iCloud and smaller versions in Photos on Mac. It frees up storage space in Mac but messes up backups. For example, using Time Machine or copying the Photos library on an external drive will only save the photos’ thumbnails. To back up full resolution photos and videos, you’ll first need to download them from iCloud – and your Mac may not have enough space for that.
Photos Takeout fetches full resolution versions when exporting photos from iCloud, and saves them directly in your specified export location, e.g. external drive or SSD.
Preserving Album and Folder Structure
You may have spent many hours curating your photo collection and organizing it in albums (or a folder/albums hierarchy). When you use the Photos app’s export function for download or back up, it flattens the organizational hierarchy, saving everything into a single folder.
Photos Takeout does this a lot better. It preserves the original structure of your photo library during export. You can choose to transfer photos organized by year, album, or date, mirroring your curated organization within the Photos app. If you have rearranged photos in a particular sequence in an album, Photos Takeout can also maintain that ordering in the exported album.
Exporting Ongoing Backups Incrementally
Backing up or downloading the Photos library isn’t a one-time exercise. You’ll add more photos to your library over time. You’ll edit existing photos, create and modify albums; and maybe edit some dates, descriptions and locations. So you’ll need to update your backup every few months in order to sync these changes.
The Photos app does not have the ability to update your backups incrementally, i.e. export only the assets that you have added or amended since the previous export. The only option it offers is to re-download the entire library each time. A thousand photos at a time!
Incremental Exports is perhaps Photos Takeout’s most powerful feature. It extracts and exports only the photos and albums added or modified since your last backup. Exporting Δx is obviously much faster than x+Δx (exporting everything all over again). This functionality not only saves time but also reduces the risk of duplicate files.
Preserving Metadata, Resolution and Formats
Metadata is a critical component of digital photos and videos – it adds context and facilitates organization. Both Photos and Photos Takeout preserve all image metadata in exports. This includes EXIF metadata (which the camera automatically embeds) and IPTC metadata (which you add, e.g. titles, dates, descriptions, locations, and keywords).
Both Photos and Photos Takeout also preserve image resolution while exporting photos and videos images. This ensures that the quality and integrity of the image assets are maintained. This is vital if you require the highest quality images for editing and archival purposes.
However, when it comes to image formats, there’s something odd about exporting with Photos. It requires you to choose any one of JPEG, HEIC, TIFF and PNG formats. So if you have a mix of these formats, or others such as RAW, BMP, CR3 etc., they are all converted to that one format.
Photos Takeout exports all photos and videos in their original formats.
A User-Friendly, Inexpensive Alternative
For Mac users seeking a more robust and user-friendly solution for exporting photos from iCloud for backups, Photos Takeout is a great option. It offers a compelling alternative to the limitations of iCloud.com and the Photos app. Photos Takeout removes iCloud’s 1000-Photo Limit on the size of a download batch. It preserves album structure, metadata and original formats. It allows incremental backups. Photos Takeout thus makes it easier to safeguard your precious memories. Its intuitive interface and wide compatibility make it an essential tool for your photo management toolkit.
Photos Takeout Official Website
Photos Takeout (Mac App Store)
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