Out of Google Photos storage? Simple ways to free space without losing your memories

Your Google Photos library can quickly become crowded, especially if you regularly back up screenshots, short videos, memes, and images from different apps. Large videos can be particularly difficult to spot, while years of screenshots and similar photos can quietly consume your available storage.

Google Photos shares storage with Gmail and Google Drive, so once the space starts running low, cleaning up your photo library can also help prevent problems across other Google services. A recent Android Authority experiment found that a combination of simple clean-up methods helped recover more than 20GB of storage.

Start with screenshots and similar photos

Screenshots are often among the easiest files to remove because many are temporary. You can open Google Photos on a computer and select large batches of screenshots before deleting those you no longer need.

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Google Photos also groups similar images into photo stacks. While it does not have a dedicated duplicate-photo finder, stacks can help you identify multiple versions of the same moment. Check each stack carefully before deleting anything, as some grouped photos may still be different.

Look for large photos and videos

One of the quickest ways to identify storage-heavy files is through Google Photos' storage management tools. Go to your account icon, select Clean up space, and look for Large photos and videos. On the web, you can select your storage quota and open the same section.

Videos deserve special attention because even short clips can accumulate over time. Old unboxings, social-media clips, WhatsApp or TikTok videos, and unnecessary recordings can consume several gigabytes.

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Consider storing photos on a pendrive

If you have important photos that you do not want to delete permanently, consider buying a small USB flash drive, USB-C pendrive, or portable SSD and keeping an additional offline copy. Move older photos and videos to the hardware after verifying that the files have transferred correctly. This gives you another backup option instead of relying entirely on cloud storage.

What if your photos are missing?

Before assuming a photo is gone, check the correct Google account, backup settings, Archive, and device folders. Google also recommends searching by dates, keywords, or locations if a photo seems to have disappeared.

If you deleted it recently, open Google Photos > Collections > Trash/Bin, select the photo, and tap Restore. Backed-up photos remain there for 60 days, while non-backed-up photos generally remain for 30 days. Permanently deleted items cannot be restored.

So, before deleting anything to make room, make sure you have checked whether it is important and keep another copy of your most valuable memories.