Your File System and Mylio Photos

One of the key benefits of Mylio Photos is that, in addition to viewing all of your media inside of the application, you retain access to all of your photos and videos via your computer’s file system.

What files does Mylio Photos create?

In order to facilitate Mylio Photos’ device syncing, the application creates a variety of files and folders on each connected device. On computers, external drives, and cloud services, these files are visible in the file system. On smartphones and tablets, these files and folders are hidden as part of the application.

Mylio Photos has three photo-quality sizes that can be stored on your devices:

Thumbnails – A Thumbnail file is a small version of your photo (less than 1% the size of the Original) that is used for referencing your full library.
Optimized Images – An Optimized Image is a medium-quality version of your photo (approximately 5% of the original’s size) that accurately represents your photo while taking up a fraction of the storage space necessary for the Original.
Originals – An Original photo is a full-quality image file. File sizes can vary widely, depending on the resolution and pixel dimensions of the photo.

*TIP: Click here to learn more about Photo Quality Settings.

Mylio System Folder

Mylio Photos creates a Mylio System Folder on every device. On a computer, this folder is accessible in the file system under Users/~username/Mylio. You can move the location of this folder anywhere. On a Mobile device, this folder still exists, but it is hidden and not accessible to users.

The Mylio System Folder contains all Thumbnails within the Generated Images Folder (Windows) or Generated Images.bundle (macOS). The Generated Images Folder/Bundle may also contain some or all Optimized Images, depending on your sync settings.

Mylio Library Folder

The first time you install Mylio Photos on your computer you’ll be asked to pick your Mylio Library Folder. This folder can be an existing folder where you currently store images or a new folder. Your Mylio Library Folder becomes the default location for any future imports into your Mylio Photos Library.

*NOTE: If you don’t choose an existing folder or create a new custom folder for your Mylio Library Folder, Mylio Photos will propose a folder called Mylio Pictures located in Users/~username/Mylio inside of your Mylio System Folder.

Mylio Photos’ Files on Windows

Installing Mylio Photos on a computer running Windows will create a Mylio System Folder *in your user folder at *Users/~username/Mylio. This folder will contain the following files:

• Generated Images Folder – this folder contains thumbnails for every image in your Mylio Photos Library and, depending on your sync preferences, may also contain Optimized Images.
• Folders that mirror all top-level folders you’ve added to your Mylio Photos Library – These folders contain .XMP files for all your images. Depending on your sync preferences this folder may also contain Original-quality files or files that are waiting to sync to other devices.

*NOTE: Folders linked from this device (e.g. the Pictures folder on your computer) will not be duplicated in the Mylio System Folder.

!WARNING: Tampering with the files inside the Mylio System Folder and Generated Images Folder can cause your catalog to become corrupt and may cause data loss.

Mylio Photos’ Files on macOS

Installing Mylio Photos on a computer running macOS will create a Mylio System Folder in your user folder at Users/~username/Mylio. This folder will contain the following files:

• Generated Images.bundle – this file contains thumbnails for every image in your Mylio Photos Library and, depending on your sync preferences, may also contain Optimized Images.
• Folders that mirror all top-level folders you’ve added to your Mylio Photos Library – These folders contain .XMP files for all your images. Depending on your sync preferences this folder may also contain Original-quality files or files that are waiting to sync to other devices.

*NOTE: Folders linked from this device (e.g. the Pictures folder on your computer) will not be duplicated in the Mylio System Folder.

!WARNING: Tampering with the files inside the Mylio System Folder and Generated Images.bundle can cause your catalog to become corrupt and may cause data loss.

If your computer is configured as a Vault

If your computer has a lot of storage space, you may choose to designate it as a Vault. This means that a complete copy of every Original-quality image will be stored on your internal hard drive. They may be located in your designated Mylio Library Folder, other folders within the Mylio System Folder located at Users/~username/Mylio, or in their original location as Linked Folders.

Mylio Photos’ Files on an External Drive or NAS

Adding an external drive or NAS as a Mylio Device will create a Mylio_XXXXXX folder in the top level of the drive where the XXXXXX is a series of random numbers and letters (e.g. Mylio_6A1d09). This folder will contain the following files:

• Generated Images Folder (Windows) or Generated Images.bundle (macOS) – this file contains thumbnails for every image in your Mylio Photos Library and, depending on your sync preferences, may also contain Optimized Images.
• Folders that mirror all top-level folders you’ve added to your Mylio Photos Library – These folders contain .XMP files for all your images. Depending on your sync preferences this folder may also contain Original-quality files or files that are waiting to sync to other devices.

*NOTE: Folders linked from this device will not be duplicated in the Mylio System Folder.

If your external drive or NAS is configured as a Vault

If your external drive or NAS has a lot of storage space, you may choose to designate it as a Vault. This means that a complete copy of every Original-quality image will be stored on your external hard drive or NAS. They may be located in the Mylio_XXXXXX Folder, or in their original location as Linked Folders.

!WARNING: Tampering with the files inside the Mylio_XXXXXX folder and Generated Images Folder (Windows) or Generated Images.bundle (macOS) can cause your catalog to become corrupt and may cause data loss.

Mylio Photos’ Files on a Cloud Service

Adding a cloud service, such as Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive will create a Mylio folder in the top level of the cloud drive. This folder will not have a folder structure and is intended for use with the Mylio Photos application only.

If you choose to add Mylio Photos to a Cloud Service using the encrypted option, all data will be readable by Mylio Photos only.

If you choose to add Mylio Photos to a Cloud Service using the unencrypted option, the service will be able to read image files and images will be visible by the user when browsing those drives directly. However, these image files should not be moved or modified and are intended for view through the Mylio Photos application only.

If your Cloud Service is configured as a Vault

If your Cloud Service has a lot of storage space, you may choose to designate it as a Vault. This means that a complete copy of every Original-quality image will be stored on your Cloud Service in the Mylio Folder.

!WARNING: Tampering with the files inside the Mylio folder on a Cloud Service can cause your catalog to become corrupt and may cause data loss.

Where are my photos?

The first time you install Mylio Photos on your computer you’ll be asked to pick your Mylio Library Folder. This folder can be an existing folder where you currently store images or a new folder. Your Mylio Library Folder becomes the default location for any future imports into your Mylio Photos Library.

*NOTE: If you don’t choose an existing folder or create a new custom folder for your Mylio Library Folder, Mylio Photos will propose a folder called Mylio Pictures located in Users/~username/Mylio.

Mylio Photos also lets you choose how to add your media to your Mylio Photos Library. Linked Folders remain in their original location while choosing to move or copy media places that media into a folder you choose – by default, this is the Mylio Library Folder you chose when you first set up Mylio Photos.

The best way to keep track of all of your Original-quality media is to designate a device or drive as a Vault. Any device with enough storage to hold a complete copy of every image in your Mylio Photos Library can be designated as a Vault. A fully-synced Vault gives you access to all of your media in one place, regardless of how you added your photos and videos to Mylio Photos. Users who have two or more vaults have the benefit of extra protection against device failure or theft.

Designating a device or drive as a Vault is not required in Mylio Photos (but it is highly recommended). For users who choose not to designate a drive or device as a Vault, your Original-quality files may reside in several locations or several devices (e.g. external hard drives, different computers, etc.) instead of a central Vault.

To find your Original-quality images:

1. Open Mylio Photos and double-click on the Folders view. This will take you to the top level of the Folders view.
2. Right-click on a Folder and choose Show in > Explorer/Finder or External.
   1. Explorer/Finder – This will bring up a Windows Explorer or macOS Finder window showing you the location of that folder on your current device in your Mylio Library Folder. Typically this will be inside Users/~username/Mylio.
   2. External – If your Originals are located on an external drive, choosing External will open a Windows Explorer or macOS Finder window showing you the location of that folder on your external drive.

If I stop using Mylio Photos, what happens to my photos and videos?

We truly believe you’ll love Mylio Photos. We even provide a 30-day evaluation period with a 30-day money-back guarantee. However, if you ever decide to leave Mylio Photos, you’ll find your photo library is in even better shape than when you started.

• Mylio Photos is not a closed ecosystem. All photos remain fully accessible on any computer or external drive you added to your account.
• Any organization you’ve done to remove duplicates or organize folders is reflected right on your hard drives.
• All metadata you’ve added (such as face tags, ratings, labels, and keywords) is stored as industry-standard metadata that other applications can see and use.
• Any GPS or map locations you’ve added will transfer as well.

The only items that are specifically stored in Mylio Photos are the Albums and Calendar Events you create. While we’d be sad to see you go, we never want you (or your photos) to feel that Mylio Photos did not add a benefit to your organized and protected photo library.