Purpose of folder "Ipod Photo Cache"?

What is the purpose of this folder? Should it be deleted automatically by iTunes after syncing? I've seen several posts here suggesting to delete the folder to try to resolve photo syncing issues. A co-worker tells me that this folder on his machine contains 2GB of .ithmb files. That seems to be a lot of space used unnecessarily.
Thanks,
Jack

No, it isn't/shouldn't be automatically deleted. When photos are synced to an iPhone (or iPod), iTunes creates an 'optimized' version of the picture (all the files are of uniform disk size and pixel resolution) and those are stored in the iPod Photo Cache. You can recover that space if you need to, especially if you put a lot of photos on the device that you later removed (by unchecking those albums, for example). If you delete the cache, iTunes will re-create the optimized versions at the next sync (for all the pics on the device).
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1314
@DaVBMan, as to why it's large, regardless of their original size, 'optimized' pics take up the same amount of space in the cache, for a given device.
Note that this means if you sync the same photo to an iPhone and an iPod Classic, there will be two copies of that photo in the cache, totaling ~1.6 MB for that one pic, +even if the original pic is a 1 megapixel jpg that's only 150 KB in iPhoto.+

Similar Messages

  • My husband recently tried to sync my ipod to itunes and in the process he managed to loose all the photos I had stored on the ipod.  When I go to my pictures folder on my (Dell) laptop there is now a folder called ipod photo cache.  How do I view?

    My husband recently tried to sync my ipod to itunes and in the process he managed to loose all the photos I had stored on the ipod.  When I go to my pictures folder on my (Dell) laptop there is now a folder called ipod photo cache.  How do I view these files? They are now show as ITHMB files!

    Those photos taken or bumped photos should bi in the iPod's Camera Roll album
    - If they are in an iPod backup then restore from that backup. Note however, that the the backup that had the photos may have been overwritten by a subsequent backup that did hot have the photos on the iPod.See the restore topic of:
    iOS: How to back up
    - If you used PhotoStream then try getting them from your PhotoStream. See that topic of:
    iOS: Importing personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer
    - Have you looked on the computer? Maybe they were imported to the computer and then deleted from the iPod. Since the photos were not synced to the iPod they are not in the iPod Photo Cache folder .

  • Photo folder / album on phone and pc dissapeared? replaced with ipod photo cache folder? how do i get those photo's back?

    i was just syncing pics and it managed to sync 2 folders with around 190 pics then i synced the rest it deleted those 2 folders and those 190 pics dissapeared and in the folder on my pc was ipod photo cache? i really want those photos back since there really special ( friends , family ect.)

    The ipod is not a backup/storage device.
    You need to copy everything from your old computer to your new one.
    The Apple store will do this for you,  you can call apple support and they will help you, you can use google.

  • HT204478 Photos for Mac and iTunes create significantly larger "iPod Photo Cache" folder compared to iPhoto and iTunes combo

    When I used iPhoto, my iPod Photo Cache folder was like 4-5 GBs. After cleaning my library once upgrading to Photos (deleting about 1200 pics, yes I should have done this before..) my new iPod Photos Cache folder was 13 GBs!!! I am already low on disk space as it is and I haven't synced videos or anything. Any ideas? Bug?
    I am going to try deleting the folder and resyncing.
    Some info:
    iPhoto 9.6.1
    Photos 1.0 on 10.10.3

    This is not okay... I've never had the iPod Photo Cache folder go over 5 GBs with iPhoto.

  • Why does iTunes use an iPod Photo Cache at all?

    Hi,
    When iTunes is used to synchronize photos to a device, it creates an "iPod Photo Cache" folder.  Why does this folder even exist?
    For users that have multiple devices with multiple resolutions (e.g., iPad 3rd Generation, iPad Mini, iPhone 4S, iPhone 3G), the iPod Photo Cache is grow to approximately four times the original size of the photo.  If I have 15 GBs of photos and a 250 GB hard drive, then the combined usage of 75 GBs (15 GB photos + 60 GB cache) is extremely unreasonble.
    Device resolutions change often enough (these days) such that having multiple devices is probably more common than having more than one of a single product.  iTunes should be designed to do the real-time conversion (which it already does), but not save it to the hard drive.
    Also allowing the ability to change the location of the "iPod Photo Cache" folder would help many users, but not myself since I do not have an external drive.
    Any help is appreciated.
    Thanks.

    Thank you for your response. I should have clarified. When trying to delete from the library, it gives me the option to delete them from the computer or just from the library. I choose not to delete them from the computer, just the library. As a result, I would not expect the deletions to free up room on the hard drive, but I don't see how it actually increases the space used up on the hard drive. If I delete a song from the library, but not the computer, does iTunes save the song again someplace else (such that there are now two copies of the song somewhere on the system)? That seems to be the only explanation for why the free space on my hard drive would decrease after deleting a song from the library.
      Windows XP Pro  

  • TS1314 How do you change the default location address (in My Pictures) of the IPOD Photo Cache ?

    How do you change the default location address (in my pictures) of the IPOD Photo Cache ?

    You do no specifically. It sounds like you are syncing a folder to the iPod. In that case:
    From a Folder on Mac OS X, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
    The iPod Photo Cache will be located in the folder you selected to sync with. 
    Thus, you have to change the location of the folder you sync with.

  • Deleting iPod Photo Cache fixes iPhoto syncing error 208

    Thanks to some buried posts, I learned that deleting the "iPod Photo Cache" in the iPhoto Library folder fixes the -208 error that occurs when syncing an iPod Video with images in iPhoto. Instead of manually deleting this folder, however, I used OnyX to clean all the caches.
    I wish I tried this first before going through the iPod Restore process...
    Regards,
    Ira
    15 PowerBook   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   Soon to be a new MBP Core 2 Duo!

    Hi Paul,
    I followed your advice and I simply deleted the contents of the iPod Photo Cache folder, after having backed up the entire iPhoto Library.
    Before doing it tried to solve the problem by I restarting iTunes, iPhoto and PowerBook a few times, hoping that it would have trigger the clean-up of the cached photo files. It did not.
    So far I have not noticed any problems with iPhoto or iPod after the "forced" deletion. However, I am a little surprised that the cached files are not cleaned up automatically when the user reduces his selection of photos to be synced to iPod. Maybe the logic is that it is good to have even unused cached copies of the photos is case they are needed later (creating them is quite slow). Also I would have wanted to keep them, but I run out of disk space
    - Mikko

  • HT4236 Is it possible to change the location of the ipod Photo Cache?

    Is it possible to change the location of the ipod Photo Cache?  At the moment it is created in my photos folder in win 8 which saves to my SkyDrive so I have duplicates and wasted space on the drive.
    I would like to change the location to a location which is not saveed in the cloud.
    thanks

    The logo is in it's own table cell - so css will not work (can't change the order of table columns using css). You could possibly replace the logo image on the server with a single white pixel (create a custom skin if you want), then add a new background image to the table (class is HeaderTopBar) aligned right and no repeat using CSS. You would need to pad out that right side somehow to make it align (the last cell has class HeaderPageStatus and contains the status image).
    Regards,
    Robert

  • IPod Photo Cache

    In my Pictures folder there is another folder called iPhoto Library then another one called iPod Photo Cache. It's size is 71MB.
    What is this folder and is there any point in deleting it? I know that since it's a cache it will come back eventually, but . . .
    Thanks.
    Chip

    Does this article contain anything useful?
    (19356)

  • Trouble with ipod photo cache

    Hi.  Another newbie question.  I have a a folder in my photos called ipod photo cache.  I can't figure out how to get rid of it.  I read that I have to go into itunes, go to my device, go to photos and uncheck a box that says photo sync or something like that, and the folder will go away.  I did that (i think) and the folder is still there.  Can anyone help me get rid of this folder?  I'm old school when it comes to my photos.  I like to manually drag them to the folders on my pc that I want them in.  Thanks for any help you can provide.

    Take it to the iPod store. They're not going to give you a nano - they're going to fix or replace yours - unless of course, they decide it's not under warranty because you don't have a receipt?

  • TS1314 how do i open my ipod photo cache

    please help how can i open my ipod photo cache when i sync my iphone4 a file appear on my library picture but i can't open it

    I'm not sure if you are asking about the iPhone side of the synching, but in MacOS 10.7.x you can reveal the iPod Photo Cache like this:
    Your iPod Photo Cache is stored in a folder inside your Aperture Library Package. To view the iPod Photo Cache in the Finder select your Aperture Library, ctrl-click it, press "Show Package Contents"  from the opo-up menu. This will open a Finder Window with the folders inside the package, and one of these is  the iPod Photo Cache and you can browse it from the Finder. If you need access to this folder from a file chooser dialogue, drag this folder to the Finder sidebar for easy access.
    Regards
    Léonie

  • How do you delete the ipod photo cache?

    I added photos to my Ipod and it came up with a folder called "Ipod Photo Cache", It also came up with a folder called "Photo Library". When I enter both folders the only option I am given is to edit the picture but not delete it. Could someone please tell me how to delete the two folders?
    Thankyou

    Hello ladies and gentlemen,
    QUICK TIP to delete annoying ipod photo cache
    Check list:
    1. Make sure you connect your device on the computer
    2. Connect to Itunes
    3. Click on iphone or ipod device
    4. Select "photo" located slightly at the top right centre
    You will notice a check mark beside "Sync Photos from" which the folder your cache is located in your computer synced to your phone
    5. Make sure to DESELECT "All Folders" by clicking "Selected folders"
    6. Lastly, click on the "SYNC" button below the window screen located on the right side.
    EASY!!!

  • How to get rid of the iPod Photo Cache?

    When exploring the iPhoto folder using Finder, there is a folder called "iPod Photo Cache"
    I barely have any photo's stored on my iPod and yet the folder is 6GB! this is because i used to sync my entire library to my Ipod, but not anymore, yet the folder is still huge
    i tried to remove it once, but that messed up my ipod and wouldnt let me sync any photos at all
    how do it remove this folder or at least reduce its size without messing up my ipod?

    andy
    The only way to do it is to drag it out of there and into the trash.
    Next time you sync it will take longer as the cache is re-created.
    Standard Warning: Back Up First!
    This file does get out of hand on some folks machines, and it removing it will not affect syncing.
    Standard Warnng: Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
    Removing the iPod cache is one of the exceptions.
    Regards
    TD

  • Please make ipod photo cache go away...

    Every time I sync my iPhone, a iPod Photo Cache folder is generated onto my desktop. The 'Sync Photos From' block on the iTunes 'photo' tab is unchecked. I've sent the folder on my desktop to the trash, but it re-appears after I sync. How do I make this stop?

    That folder is for the 'optimized' pics that are transferred to the iPhone. Have you changed the location of your iPhoto Library? The iPod Photo Cache folder should be in there: ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library/iPod Photo Cache. Try moving it to that location instead of deleting it.

  • IPod photo cache file - how do I locate it?

    Hi all,
    On my iPod nano I keep getting the "some of your photos were not copied because they cannot be displayed on your iPod" message, but the photo albums I am syncing do not contain the photo mentioned in the warning.
    I have had a look around and noticed that one member said there is an iPod photo cache file that does not get updated. So, I want to delete that and then resync my iPod, in the hope that this warning message will not re appear. The problem is I don't know where it is located.
    For the record, I have also recently restored my iPod using iTunes 7.1.1 and this still occurs.
    Thanks in advance,
    Anthony.
    Intel iMac 20" Rev A   Mac OS X (10.4.9)  

    ok well i dont have the exact same problem...but mine still deals with photos
    well i recently restored my computer, and all photos and music were deleted, but they r still in my iPod, well i learned how to get my music out, but not my photos, so do u know how to do that?
    well any suggestion would b appreciated, thanks!

Maybe you are looking for