Web size vs full resolution: what to give your couples

What web-size and full-resolution files are each for, why 2048 pixels is the web standard, what prints need, what phones want, and why couples should get both.

Give couples both. Full resolution is for printing, for the album, and for the archive they will still have in 30 years. Web size, which means a long edge of about 2048 pixels, is for their phones, for social media, for texting to family, and for anything that happens on a screen. Neither one replaces the other: full-resolution files are too heavy to live on a phone, and web-size files are too small for a 16 x 20 print. Upload full resolution once and let the gallery make the web copies.

What each one is

Full resolution is the export at the camera’s native pixel dimensions: 6000 x 4000 from a 24-megapixel body, 8256 x 5504 from a 45-megapixel body. Saved as a JPEG at quality 80 to 85, a file is roughly 5 to 8 MB for 24 megapixels and 10 to 16 MB for 45. Across 800 photos that is 5 to 13 GB. Lightroom export settings for client galleries has the export recipe.

Web size is the same photo resized so the long edge is 2048 pixels. A file is usually 500 KB to 1.2 MB. 800 photos fit in under 1 GB. The number 2048 stuck because it is the largest size most social platforms display without downsizing, and it is sharp on a phone, where the screen is roughly 1,200 pixels wide.

“High resolution” is not a size. If your contract says it, define it: “full-resolution JPEG files at the camera’s native pixel dimensions, minimum 4000 pixels on the long edge”. A couple who was promised high resolution and receives 2048 has a fair complaint, and a couple who expected 2048 and receives 12 GB will ask why the download takes an hour.

What prints need

A rule of thumb for a lab print is 200 to 300 pixels per inch of the finished print. The table shows what that means at 250 pixels per inch:

Print size	Pixels needed (long edge)	Web size (2048)	Full resolution (6000)
4 x 6	1500	Fine	Fine
5 x 7	1750	Fine	Fine
8 x 10	2500	Acceptable, slightly soft	Fine
11 x 14	3500	Too small	Fine
16 x 20	5000	Too small	Fine
24 x 36	9000 at 250, 7200 at 200	Too small	Fine at 200 ppi and normal viewing distance

So web size handles the prints most couples make (a 4 x 6 for the fridge, a 5 x 7 for the grandparents) and fails at the ones that matter (the 16 x 20 over the sofa, the album spread). Full resolution covers everything. Parents ordering from the gallery’s print store never think about this because the store prints from the full-resolution file; the problem only arrives when someone takes a web-size download to a drugstore kiosk.

The album is the strongest case for full resolution. A 2-page spread in a 12 x 12 album is 24 inches wide, and any crop for the layout makes the pixel demand worse.

What phones want

A couple who downloads 12 GB of full-resolution files to a phone fills it, then deletes the photos to make room for video of the dog. Web size is what belongs on the phone: the whole wedding in under 1 GB, every photo sharp on the screen, uploads to Instagram at full quality.

Full resolution belongs on a computer, an external drive, and a cloud backup. Say this in the delivery email in one sentence: “Save the web-size set to your phone and the full-resolution set to a computer or a drive.” Most couples will not think of the distinction until you name it. How to get couples to download their gallery covers the rest of that email.

Why both, and why not a middle size

A middle size (3000 or 4000 pixels) looks like a compromise and fails both jobs: still too big for the phone, not big enough for the largest prints. Two sizes with clear names is easier to explain than one size with caveats.

Give web size to guests. A guest wants a photo of themselves to post; web size is exactly that, and it is the size a watermark belongs on if you use one. Give full resolution to the couple and, at the couple’s discretion, their parents. A download PIN on the full-resolution ZIP is a clean way to draw that line without turning downloads off for everyone.

When web size only is right

Sneak peeks, texted the week after the wedding.
Vendor shared sets, unless the vendor is a publication that asks for full resolution for print.
A proof gallery, where the sale has not happened yet.
Guests, always, unless the couple asks for full resolution to be open to all.

And when full resolution only is right: never, for a wedding. Even a couple who says they only want the big files will want a phone copy by the weekend.

What to do

Export one full-resolution set from Lightroom and upload it.
Check that the gallery offers both sizes per photo, what the ZIP contains, and how the download PIN applies to each.
Write the pixel dimensions into your contract and your delivery email.
Tell the couple which set goes where: phone or computer.
Keep the full-resolution export until the couple confirms the download, then archive it.

In FOCL Galleries, with Watermark downloads off, a single photo downloads at high resolution or at 2048px web size, and gallery or section ZIPs contain originals. You can keep Apply watermark on for gallery previews while delivering those clean files. If you turn Watermark downloads on with your gallery and studio watermark enabled, all permitted photo downloads use watermarked web-size copies, including ZIPs. Large ZIPs are emailed as links valid for up to 7 days; changing access or watermark settings can invalidate them sooner. See watermarked previews with clean downloads and the help center’s download controls.

One more distinction couples confuse with this one: full resolution is not RAW. The RAW file is the unprocessed capture, not a size, and can clients have the RAW files is a separate question with a separate answer.