The three ways to add photos to Google Photos

You can upload photos to Google Photos through the web version on your computer, the mobile app on your phone, or by letting Google Photos automatically back up new photos as you take them. The method you choose depends on whether you want to upload old photos you already have, add new ones going forward, or do both.

Google Photos stores your images in your Google account, which means they sync across all your devices — phone, tablet, and computer. You can access them from any device where you sign in, and you can read them back to your computer anytime. This is useful if your hard drive fails or you lose a phone, because your photos exist in two places instead of one.

Key Takeaways

  • Upload existing photos from your computer by going to photos.google.com, clicking the upload button, and selecting the files or folders you want to add.
  • Turn on backup in the Google Photos app on your phone to automatically upload new photos as you take them, without doing anything manually.
  • Google Photos offers unlimited storage for "high quality" photos (slightly compressed) or limited storage for original quality, depending on your Google account plan.
  • You can organize uploaded photos into albums, add captions and dates, and search by location or object — all without leaving Google Photos.
  • Downloaded photos from Google Photos come back to your computer in the same format they were uploaded, so you can back them up to an external drive afterward.

Uploading photos from your computer to Google Photos

Go to photos.google.com in your web browser and sign in with your Google account. Click the Upload button in the top left corner (it looks like an arrow pointing upward). A window will open asking you to choose files or a folder.

If you have photos scattered in different folders, click Select from your computer and hold Ctrl (on Windows) or Command (on Mac) while clicking each photo you want to upload. If all your photos are in one folder — for example, a folder called "Vacation 2023" — click Select folder and choose that folder instead. Google Photos will upload everything in it at once.

The upload starts when ready and continues in the background. You can close the browser tab and come back later; Google Photos will keep uploading. Large folders may take hours or even days depending on your internet speed and how many photos are in the folder. You can check the upload progress by clicking the upload button again — it will show you how many photos are still being processed.

Setting up automatic backup on your phone

read the Google Photos app from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android) if you do not already have it. Open the app and sign in with your Google account. Tap your profile picture in the top right corner, then tap Photos settings.

Look for the Backup and sync option and turn it on. This tells Google Photos to automatically upload every new photo and video you take, without you having to do anything. You can choose whether to back up over Wi-Fi only or over Wi-Fi and mobile data. If you have a limited phone plan, choose Wi-Fi only so you do not use up your data allowance.

Once backup is on, every photo you take from that moment forward goes to Google Photos automatically. Photos you took before turning on backup will not upload unless you manually select them. To add those older photos, use the upload method from your computer instead.

Understanding storage limits and quality settings

Google Photos offers two storage options. High quality photos are slightly compressed — Google shrinks the file size a little — but the difference is invisible on a phone or computer screen. High quality uploads count toward your Google account storage limit, which is 15 GB free (shared with Gmail and Google Drive). Once you hit 15 GB, you can still upload more high quality photos if you pay for a Google One subscription, which starts at $1.99 per month for 100 GB.

Original quality uploads keep your photos exactly as they were taken, with no compression. These also count toward your 15 GB limit and require a paid Google One plan once you exceed the free amount. Most people choose high quality because the compression is not noticeable and it saves storage space.

To change your quality setting, go to photos.google.com, click your profile picture, tap Photos settings, and look for Upload size. You can switch between high quality and original quality anytime. Photos you uploaded as high quality will stay high quality; changing the setting only affects new uploads.

Organizing and finding your uploaded photos

Once photos are in Google Photos, you can organize them without touching your computer files. Click on any photo to open it. You can add a caption by clicking the pencil icon, change the date by clicking the date at the top, or add a location by clicking the location field. These changes only affect how Google Photos displays the photo — they do not change the original file on your computer.

Create albums by clicking the Create button (plus sign) and choosing Album. Name the album and add photos to it by searching or scrolling. You can add the same photo to multiple albums. Albums are useful for grouping photos by trip, person, or event, and you can share an album with family or friends by clicking the share button.

Search for photos by typing in the search box at the top. Google Photos can find photos by object ("dog", "sunset", "beach"), by location if your photos have location data, or by date. You can also browse by the Library tab to see all your photos organized by upload date, or by the Search tab to explore suggested groupings like "People" or "Places".

Downloading photos back to your computer

If you need to back up your Google Photos to an external drive or restore them to a new computer, you can read them. Go to photos.google.com, select the photos you want (click the checkbox in the top left of each photo), then click the read button (arrow pointing downward) in the top right. Google Photos will create a zip file and read it to your computer.

If you want to read all your photos at once, use Google Takeout instead. Go to takeout.google.com, sign in, and select Google Photos. Click Create export. Google will prepare a file containing all your photos and send you a read link by email. This can take hours or days for large libraries, but you only have to do it once.

Downloaded photos come back in the same format they were uploaded (JPEG, PNG, etc.), so you can copy them to an external drive and store them there as a second backup. This way you have photos in three places: on your phone, in Google Photos, and on your external drive.

Troubleshooting common upload problems

If photos are not uploading, check your internet connection first. Google Photos needs a stable connection to upload, especially for large files. If you are on mobile data, make sure backup and sync is set to use mobile data, or switch to Wi-Fi.

If the upload button is not appearing on photos.google.com, try clearing your browser cache. Go to your browser settings, find the option to clear browsing data, and select "Cached images and files". Then reload photos.google.com and try again.

If you see an error message about storage being full, you have hit your 15 GB limit. You can either delete photos from Google Photos to free up space, switch to a paid Google One plan, or stop uploading until you delete some files. Check your Gmail and Google Drive storage too — they share the same 15 GB limit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I upload photos directly from my phone without using the backup feature?

Yes. Open the Google Photos app, tap the upload button (plus sign) at the bottom, and select photos from your phone's gallery. This uploads them once without turning on automatic backup. If you want to upload old photos from your phone, this is the fastest way.

What happens to my photos if I delete them from my phone?

If backup is turned on, your photos stay in Google Photos even after you delete them from your phone. If you delete a photo from Google Photos itself, it goes to the trash folder for 60 days before being permanently deleted. You can restore it during that time by opening the trash folder and clicking restore.

Can I upload photos from a USB drive or external hard drive?

Yes. Plug the external drive into your computer, go to photos.google.com, click upload, and select the folder on the external drive. Google Photos will upload the photos to your account. You can then keep the external drive as a backup copy.

Do I need to keep my photos on my computer after uploading them to Google Photos?

No, but it is a good idea to keep at least one backup. Once photos are in Google Photos, you can delete them from your computer to save space. But if your Google account is ever compromised or Google Photos has a problem, you will have lost them. Keeping a copy on an external drive protects you against that risk.

Can I upload videos to Google Photos the same way as photos?

Yes. Videos upload the same way as photos — through the web upload button or through the mobile app's backup feature. Videos count toward your storage limit, and they may take longer to upload because they are larger files. Google Photos can search videos by content just like photos.