Immich

About Immich

Frequently asked questions

Can Immich replace Google Photos?

Yes, Immich is designed as a self-hosted Google Photos alternative. It provides automatic mobile backup, facial recognition, map view, memories, sharing, and a powerful search. Your photos stay on your own server with no storage limits beyond your disk space.

Does Immich support facial recognition?

Yes, Immich has built-in facial recognition that automatically groups photos by person. You can name faces, merge duplicates, and search by person. The ML processing runs locally on your server — no cloud AI services needed.

How much storage does Immich need?

Storage depends on your photo library. As a rough guide, 50,000 photos at 5MB average = 250GB. Immich stores originals plus generates thumbnails (~10% overhead). For machine learning, allocate 2-4GB extra RAM beyond base requirements.

Does Immich support RAW photos and videos?

Yes, Immich supports RAW formats (CR2, NEF, ARW, DNG, etc.) and most video formats including HEVC/H.265, H.264, and ProRes. It generates previews and thumbnails for RAW files and can hardware-transcode videos on supported GPUs.

Can multiple users share an Immich instance?

Yes, Immich supports multiple user accounts with separate libraries. Users can share albums, individual photos, and create shared links for external sharing. Partners can be linked to automatically share specific photos.