Where are my Photos and Videos?

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

Where are my photos?

Where your media files live depends on how you added them to Mylio Photos and your subscription plan. Generally, if you copied or moved the files, they would be stored in the Mylio System Folder on your computer or phone. If you link a folder from an external hard drive, the original files stay on the external hard drive, while the optimized versions are stored in the Mylio System Folder on your computer.

Mylio Photos keeps three versions of any picture you add:

• The original, which is the full-size and uncompressed file.
• An optimized version, which is a smaller file (about 5% the size of the original) but still looks just as good on most screens.
• A thumbnail version, which is even smaller (about 1% the size of the original) and excellent for quickly browsing through your pictures.

In the free version of Mylio Photos, any media added using the Copy or Move option is stored on your computer or phone in the Mylio System Folder along with associated metadata and other Mylio-related files. By default, this folder is in your main user folder. So if your username is “yourname,” the folder will be at /Users/yourname/Mylio.

As an alternative to copying or moving media, users can also add Linked Folders. This tells Mylio Photos to watch the folder where your pictures are stored. Mylio will monitor that folder for any changes or new pictures you add. It will generate thumbnails and optimized versions of those images and keep them in the Mylio System Folder, but the original, full-size files will remain in the folders from which they were “Linked.”

With Mylio Photos+, there are additional options. You can add devices like an external hard drive to your Mylio account and designate that drive as a Vault. Any device with a Vault designation holds your entire Mylio Photos Library, including metadata and all Mylio-related files. Having two or more Vault devices creates a backup of your photos and videos and protects your library against device failure or loss.

The best way to keep track of your original-quality media is to designate a device or drive as a Mylio Photos+ 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 device gives you access to all your media in one place, regardless of how you added your photos and videos to Mylio Photos. Users with two or more vault devices benefit from extra protection against device failure or theft.

Designating a device or drive as a Vault is not required (but 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 devices (e.g., external hard drives, different computers, etc.) instead of a central Vault device.

Locating Your Original-Quality Images

1. Click or tap on the Folders icon in the left sidebar.
2. Right-click on a Folder and choose Show in > Explorer/Finder or External.
   • 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.
   • 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 genuinely believe you’ll love Mylio Photos. However, if you ever decide to leave, your photo library will be in even better shape than when you started.

• Mylio Photos is not a closed ecosystem. All photos remain 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 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 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.