General Question

hellolulu's avatar

Can I transfer an iPhoto library (Mac) to a Windows computer and still be able to access the files?

Asked by hellolulu (49points) March 5th, 2011

Hi! I’m in the midst of some confusing computer issues.
I’m new to mac, and I’ve put a huge number of pictures into iPhoto. Now all of my old and new jpeg files exist in the iPhoto Library in Finder.
If a few years down the road I get a Windows laptop, will I be able to transfer my iPhoto Library to my Windows “My Pictures” and still be able to access the files? The Windows computer wouldn’t have iPhoto, so does that mean it wouldn’t be able to view them? I’m really nervous about losing the ability to access my pictures.
Would it be safer not to use iPhoto? I really like the program, but I don’t want to lose accessibility if I need to use Windows. I have two external hard drives that I frequently use to back up my files, and both are Mac/Windows compatible. The issue is just if the iPhoto Library will be transferable or not.
Thank you SO much in advance for any help! Sorry if I was repetitive – I’m trying to wrap my head around this!

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3 Answers

thisisfun's avatar

iPhoto is a bit tricky. You will find iPhoto Library in your pictures folder. You need to get the pictures out of that. Right click (Command click) on it and select “Show Package Contents” In there you will see a folder with the originals. From there you can drag them to a external drive. They will open without a problem on a Windows machine.

hellolulu's avatar

@thisisfun Thank you for your help!! I love the idea of being able to get the pictures out of iPhoto. I followed through and did the Show Package Contents, then clicked on the Originals folder. However, the Originals folder was only 4KB big (and I have about 200GB of pictures) – and didn’t contain pictures. Does this mean iPhoto doesn’t have the originals?
Thank you, again!!

starboyg's avatar

@hellolulu No, it doesn’t nessesarily mean that. If you’ve edited a photo, it puts the original version of it in the original folder. If you haven’t touched it up or anything, it wouldn’t be in the original folder.

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