Google Photos Storage Full? Free Up Space Without Paying

You don’t have to buy more storage to keep backing up. Most people can recover several gigabytes in half an hour by clearing a few big videos and years of screenshots. Here’s the order to do it in, so you don’t lose anything you meant to keep.

How Google storage works

Every Google Account comes with up to 15 GB of storage, shared across Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos. A full Google Photos library can stop your email, and a full inbox can stop your photo backups.

• Counts toward storage: Original-quality photos and videos, Storage saver uploads made after June 1, 2021, Gmail messages and attachments, Drive files and Android device backups.
• Doesn’t count: photos and videos backed up in Storage saver (formerly High quality) or Express quality before June 1, 2021, and photos you saved from partner sharing while your partner keeps sharing them.

When you’re out of storage, Google says you can’t back up photos, upload files to Drive, or send and receive Gmail. If your account stays over its limit for 2 years, Google may delete your content, and it says it gives at least 3 months’ notice by email first.

Step 1: See what’s using your space

1. Open one.google.com/storage in a browser, or tap your profile picture in the Google Photos app and choose Photos settings → Backup → Manage storage.
2. Check the breakdown by service: Google Photos, Gmail and Google Drive.
3. If Gmail or Drive is the bigger problem, clean those up too. Our Gmail storage full guide covers email.

Step 2: Download a copy with Google Takeout first

Before deleting anything you might want later, save a copy to your computer or an external drive. Google warns that you can’t recover permanently deleted content with Takeout, so do this first.

1. Go to takeout.google.com and sign in.
2. Google selects every product by default. Uncheck everything except Google Photos.
3. Choose a delivery method, such as an emailed download link, and pick .zip as the file type.
4. Pick an archive size. Large libraries are split into several files.
5. Create the export and wait. Google says it can take from a few minutes to a few days.
6. Download the files as soon as they arrive. Google says archives expire in about 7 days and each one can be downloaded only 5 times.

Step 3: Fix Google Photos storage full by deleting big items

Google Photos has a built-in cleanup tool that groups items you may not want, such as large photos and videos, screenshots and blurry photos.

1. Open the Google Photos app and tap your profile picture or initial.
2. Tap Photos settings → Backup → Manage storage.
3. Under the storage summary, open a category, such as large photos and videos.
4. Tap Select, pick the items you don’t need, then tap Move to trash.

Long videos are usually the quickest win. A few minutes of high-resolution video can take more room than hundreds of photos. Old screenshots of receipts, maps and codes add up too.

Step 4: Empty the trash

Items you delete sit in the trash for 30 days before Google removes them permanently. To get the space back sooner, open the Collections tab, go to Trash, tap More, choose Empty trash and confirm Delete permanently. Only do this once you’re sure you have the copies you want.

Step 5: Convert old backups to Storage saver

If you back up in Original quality, you can shrink what’s already in your library. Storage saver resizes photos larger than 16 MP to 16 MP and videos above 1080p to 1080p.

1. On a computer, go to photos.google.com.
2. Click Settings, then Manage storage.
3. Under Recover storage, click Convert existing photos & videos to Storage saver.

• You can recover storage once a day.
• Some items can’t be compressed, such as some Multi-Picture Format JPGs like portrait photos from Android phones.
• It doesn’t change the quality of future uploads.

Step 6: Back up future photos in Storage saver

To slow down how fast you fill up again, change the backup quality for new uploads. In the app, tap your profile picture, open Photos settings → Backup and choose Storage saver as the backup quality. Google notes that you can’t change backup quality while you’re out of storage, so free some space first.

What to delete first

If you’re not sure where to start, work from the items that give back the most space for the least regret:

1. Long videos you’ve already shared or saved elsewhere. Screen recordings and accidental pocket videos are easy wins.
2. Screenshots. Old boarding passes, receipts, memes and directions rarely need to live in the cloud forever.
3. Blurry shots and near-duplicates. Keep the best photo from each burst and delete the rest.
4. Photos and videos sent to you in chats that also back up to Google Photos, if you don’t need them.

Give yourself a target, such as getting back under 90% of your quota. That leaves room for new backups and stops the warning from coming back next month. A quick monthly check of the cleanup categories keeps it from piling up again.

“Free up space on this device” is a different thing

The Free up space option in Google Photos deletes the copies on your phone that are already backed up. It helps when your phone is full, but it doesn’t touch your Google Account storage. For phone space, see how to free up storage on Android. On an iPhone, your photos may also be in iCloud: see iCloud storage full.

Deleted something by mistake? Check our guide to recovering deleted photos on Android. More Google tips are in our Google section.

FAQ

Sources

• Manage your storage (Google Photos Help)
• Choose the backup quality of your photos & videos (Google Photos Help)
• Delete & restore photos and videos (Google Photos Help)
• Free up space on your device (Google Photos Help)
• How your Google storage works (Google One Help)
• How to download your Google data (Google Account Help)