Could not save.. ..the document is bigger than 2 gigabytes

[RP-Jeremy-]

If I uncheck the 'maximum compatibility' mode, the file size is 48.7MB. If the 'maximum compatibility' is checked, then it cannot save the document at all giving me an error message about it being larger than 2 GB. 

Really?

I need to send this file into a printer and I cannot guarantee what version of photshop they are using, so I want maximum compatibility to make sure they can open it.

What am I missing? that is a pretty HUGE difference in file sizes.

[Noel Carboni]

What does the document have in it?  How many pixels?  How many layers?  Lots of text/shapes/etc.?

Maximum Compatibility causes a flattened layer to be created that ensures any old version of Photoshop that can read pixels can read it.

Perhaps you should consider flattening the document or sending it as a TIFF.

-Noel

[RP-Jeremy-]

Yes, text layers, a few shapes, a few pixel images, on a large print (70"x38" @ 100ppi)

Send a flat doc? For printing, and color matching they want layers.

I sent them the non-max compatible and they can read it fine, but that still begs to question -

50MB to over 2GB??

[Noel Carboni]

It's possible you've invoked some kind of bug; normally files don't grow that much when you choose "Max Compatiblity".

If you make a copy of the file available online I'll be happy to try to save the file with Max Compatibility and see if the same thing happens here.   If it IS a bona fide bug, providing the file so that maybe an Adobe guy can download it and reproduce the problem is a pretty good way to see to it the problem will be fixed.  I'm sure they're watching the forums very carefully about now.

-Noel

[RP-Jeremy-]

Here is one of the filesthat was giving me problems.

http://www.rareparts.com/images/hk/try-turning-on-max-compatability.psd

[Noel Carboni]

Thanks for the opportunity to try to reproduce the problem on your file.

I set up Photoshop CC 14.1 for Maximize Compatibility: Always, and tried to save the file as tried-turning-on-max-compatibility.psd.

It's even worse here than what you described.  Photoshop got into a loop, stuck at 50%, and has so far written 586 GB  of temporary files, nearly filling my drive array.  It never did finish, having written only about 23 megabytes of the file.  I finally had to kill the Photoshop.exe process to stop it, before it filled the volume.

Looks like your document causes some pretty nasty bugs in Photoshop CC 14.1!

I suspect Adobe would very much like to test with this file, so please leave it online for a while.

FYI, after Layer - Flatten, the file can be saved as a PSD that's a mere 21 megabytes in size.

-Noel

[RP-Jeremy-]

Wierd stuff, huh? The file was created in Photoshop CS6 (13.0.1 x64)

[Marijan_Tompa__tomaxxi_ · Accepted solution]

Jeremy,

This hang is caused by layer: template>Header>TIMELINE options>timeline TODAY (shape layer)

It looks like it was copied from Illustrator along with guides.

When you remove that layer, or delete paths that represents guides, everything saves as expected.

Hope that helps.

--

Marijan (tomaxxi)

http://tomaxxi.com

[RP-Jeremy-]

Thank you for pinpointing the problem. For now, I will make sure and remove guides before copying over shapes from illustrator. Maybe Adobe can look into fixing this to where it doesnt cause files to baloon up 10,000 times its size because of guides.

[Marijan_Tompa__tomaxxi_]

RP-Jeremy- wrote:

Maybe Adobe can look into fixing this to where it doesnt cause files to baloon up 10,000 times its size because of guides.

Completely agree with you!

I believe that they will look into this problem.

--

M.

[SG...]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick work on this, Marijan and Noel. I'm logging the bug now and will look to see if we are already tracking it.

regards,

steve

[SG...]

Hi,

I wanted to follow-up and ask if you have the same issue with Ps CS6?

regards,

steve

[Noel Carboni]

If you mean does Photoshop CS6 lock up while trying to save this file with Max Compatibility: Always, the answer is yes.

-Noel

[SG...]

Hi Noel,

Yes that's what I was wondering. I'm seeing similar problems saving from Ps CS6 on OSX so I want to confirm this isn't a new 14.1 specific issue. (the save with Maximize Compatibiity ON issue).

We'll keep digging to see how the layer bounds on that shape layer are getting so large.

regards,

steve

[RP-Jeremy-]

I created this file with PS CS6, and the timeline was imported from Illustrator CS6, so CS6 definitely has the issue

[SG...]

Hi Jeremy,

Can I contact you offline and get the source AI file as well? I'll send you a private message.

regards,

steve

[Marijan_Tompa__tomaxxi_]

Steve,

You don't need any special file.

This is how I tested it:

- open new document in Ai

- add few objects

- add few guides

- unlock guides

- select all

- copy

- open new document in PS

- paste copied content from Ai as Shape Layer

(if you switch to Path/Direct Selection Tool, you will see actual guides pasted as shapes)

It works while the PS canvas size is low size and document is in low resolution.

If you start scaling the document up, everything becomes slower and slower until it breaks.

--

Marijan (tomaxxi)

[Chris Cox]

The vector data you pasted is 285k by 285k pixels (about 75 Gig as a single channel mask).  It even takes several seconds to build the layer thumbnail for that vector layer.

Maximize compatibility tries to render that whole vector mask and include it in the file for apps that can't read the vector data.

Of course, it doesn't work in a PSD file.

This is not a new issue, but it should have some extra error checking applied (to prevent saving something that big in PSD).

But the bottom line is that you are saving exactly the data you copied and pasted - it's just a lot bigger than you realize.

[jamesrftw]

We just ran across this issue.....  4 YEARS later.... Still present in CC 2017.

Glad that CC subscription we pay every month goes to fixing bugs......  oh wait....

Same thing, someone copied a guide from Illustrator and didn't realize it into a 5MB file, couldn't save.  Remove the guides, all is well.

[SS - DK]

This is still an issue nearly a year later in CC 2014...

Never had this issue on 5.5, and even removed the guides, paths still cause a major problem in CC...

[jmvdigital]

Yep! I'm having this very issue right now. On a fresh install of CC 2014 and OS X Yosemite. Copied a simple logo vector from Illustrator to Photoshop as a shape layer. Image size is 1000x323 @ 72dpi.

If I try to save it as a PSD I get the "over 2GB" error. If I save it as a PSB (large format), the file is 190MB. Comparable files (same logo, small vector difference) have saved out at under 1MB as a PSD.

[jmvdigital]

As an update... If I copy over the SAME vector logo, but with Illustrator's guides locked (so they don't copy), and paste into PS the same way as a shape layer... the file successfully saves as a PSD at 348KB.

DON'T copy over Illustrator guides when pasting a vector shape into Photoshop. There is obviously a bug there.

[SS - DK]

yes, it's Illy's guides that cause the issue!!!

[aixxo]

Hi, I'm having also this problem, but I've just put a bunch of DNGs in Layers to Photoshop. No Illustrator at all!

Using PSB saving is possible, but file size is 3.4GB.

regards,

Oliver

[Test Screen Name]

Refer to reply #17 which seems to explain what the problem is, and that it isn't a bug.