psd-file of 200 MB is said to be larger than 2 GB and can not be saved

[silvan2df]

Dear forum,

we are experiencing a strange behaviour on our graphic workstations on which we recently deployed CC 2014.

During testing, a psd-file of 200 MB containing 3 layers with dimensions of 5400x1957 (72 dpi) could not be saved giving the error message "file could not bei saved because document is larger than 2 GB".

There are 2 strange things which I cannot explain:

a) why is the .psd of 200 MB said to have more than 2 GB?

b) why can it be saved easily using CS6 and not at all saved using PS CC2014 or 2015.3 ?

I know there is .psb for large documents, but this is even more proprietary than .psd and not suitable when using other software.

Is there a hint how this issue could be resolved? I already played with the file options like "compress psd and psb"

Thanks in advance for your help!

Silvan

[davescm]

Three straightforward pixel layers of 5400 x1957 = 95110200 bytes for 8 bit and 190,220,400 bytes for 16 bit.

However there is something which could make the document much bigger.

Is one or more of your layers a smart object?

Whilst a smart object appears to be a certain pixel size, within that smart object container can be another single or multi-layered document with a much bigger size.

Dave

[silvan2df]

Hi Dave,

thanks for your reply- Indeed the images are larger than the dimensions of the psd. But even if I extend the canvas-size to the image size i won't get a file larger than 266 MB as *.psb-file. It is an RGB file with 8 Bit color depth.There are no smart-layers but one masked layer.

Cheers

Silvan

[davescm · Accepted solution]

I can't equate the dimensions you gave in the first post with those in your screenshot (assuming the rulers are set to pixels?).

A couple of things to think about though :

1. For an 8bit RGB image - File size is roughly pixel height x pixel width x 3 channels   (4 channels if there is a layer mask) x layers. Divide the answer by 1048576 to get MB

2. With maximise compatibility switched on Photoshop also saves a flattened version of the layered file within the PSD

If you are reluctant to use psb, you can save up to 4GB as a layered TIFF