Web Photo Export Settings — Lightroom and Generic Workflows

I watched a photographer export an entire wedding gallery at full resolution, quality 100, Adobe RGB, then complain the website builder "ruined" the photos. The builder didn't ruin anything — it crushed 45 MB files into upload limits and sRGB thumbnails. The export settings were built for print shop USB drives, not a 1200 px blog column.

Export for destination is the whole game. Lightroom (and Capture One, Photoshop Export As, Apple Photos) can be precise — if you save presets and stop clicking randomly.

Quick answer

I watched a photographer export an entire wedding gallery at full resolution, quality 100, Adobe RGB, then complain the website builder "ruined" the photos. The builder didn't ruin anything — it crushed 45 MB files into upload limits and sRGB thumbnails. The export settings were built for print shop USB drives, not a 1200 px blog column.

The three-layer web photo stack

1. Archive master — RAW or TIFF, untouched, backed up
2. Web export — sized and formatted for intended slot
3. Delivery optimization — optional second pass in Compress Image or WebP Converter before CDN

Never upload layer 1 to WordPress. Never delete layer 1 because layer 3 looks fine on your phone.

Lightroom export preset (web standard)

Create a preset named Web — Blog Inline with:

| Setting | Value | Why | |---------|-------|-----| | Format | JPEG | Photos on web | | Color space | sRGB | Browser default | | Quality | 80 | Starting point; tune per image | | Resize | Long edge 1600 px | Fits most columns + 2x headroom | | Resolution | 240 ppi (metadata only) | Irrelevant to web; harmless | | Output sharpening | Screen, Standard | Compensates resize softening | | Metadata | Copyright only | Strip GPS for client privacy |

Duplicate preset Web — Hero at 2400 px long edge, quality 82–85.

Duplicate preset Web — Thumbnail at 800 px, quality 75–78.

Apply preset on export — don't hand-tune forty images unless one is hero billboard.

Generic editor equivalents

Photoshop (Export As / Save for Web legacy mindset):

• JPEG, progressive optional (marginal win)
• Quality 60–80 in Adobe slider ≠ Lightroom numbers — visual check
• Resize to target width
• Convert to sRGB if document is Adobe RGB
• Metadata: minimize

Capture One:

• JPEG QuickExport with recipe: sRGB, longest edge 1600, quality ~80

Apple Photos / Preview:

• Export JPEG, Medium quality, width cap — crude but fine for quick blog

Phone:

• Avoid "Actual Size" email export; use resize apps or desktop handoff

Then browser Resize Image if CMS ignored your dimensions.

Sharpening: input vs output

Lightroom output sharpening applies on export for intended medium. For screen/standard at web sizes, it's appropriate. Don't stack aggressive creative sharpening in Develop and high output sharpening — halos on JPEG export (JPEG artifacts waiting to happen).

When in doubt, softer develop sharpening + standard output sharpening for web.

Step-by-step export to publish workflow

1. Cull in catalog — flag picks only; don't export rejects.
2. Edit in sRGB-minded Develop — soft proof optional if brand colors critical.
3. Assign preset by slot — hero vs inline vs thumb.
4. Export to dated folder — 2026-08-26-blog-export/
5. Spot check — open three random files at 100% zoom; faces and sky.
6. Optional second pass — Compress Image if over byte budget (e.g. hero must be < 250 KB).
7. Convert heroes to WebP — WebP Converter for site; keep JPEG fallback generation if stack requires.
8. Upload to CMS — disable plugin "auto smash to quality 60" if present.
9. Verify on staging — retina phone + retina 2x srcset if theme supports.

For cutout products, export JPEG doesn't apply — see remove background e-commerce.

Metadata and privacy

Wedding and real estate shoots often embed GPS. Strip location on client-facing exports unless intentional. Copyright and credit can stay.

Browser re-encoding on social upload won't restore privacy — remove before export.

When to deviate from presets

Fine art portfolio — longer edge 3000 px, quality 88, WebP delivery; still not RAW upload.

Photo journalism with crop room — export wider for editor; web team crops in Crop Image.

Screenshots mixed in gallery — export PNG separately; don't force JPEG on UI captures (PNG vs JPG).

Print + web dual delivery — two export presets, two folders, never one compromise file.

Common mistakes

Quality 100 everything — slow site, zero visible win.

Adobe RGB to web — muddy reds on phones.

No resize — 6000 px wide blog image; CMS scales in CSS, bytes still full.

Re-exporting JPEG repeatedly — edit copy, export new from RAW/TIFF master.

Skipping resize mistakes education — team stretches in CMS.

Trusting CMS alone — plugins can't invent lost highlight detail from brutal first export.

One size for OG and inline — crop OG ratio separately.

Browser handoff after Lightroom

Lightroom isn't on every collaborator's machine. Free browser tools close the gap:

• Resize Image — fix wrong export width without reopening catalog
• Compress Image — hit byte target post-export
• WebP Converter — modern format without plugins
• Crop Image — social or OG reframing

All run client-side on Vertex Solutions — fine for client selects under NDA if policy allows local processing.

Read image compression for web for deploy-stage thinking.

Alternatives to Lightroom export

• Batch via XnConvert / ImageMagick — scriptable teams
• CDN auto-optimize on upload — mind double compression
• CMS native resize — convenient, inconsistent quality
• Capture One sessions — same preset philosophy

Related tools and articles

• Image Compression for the Web — after export optimization
• Resize Images for the Web — dimension targets
• How Image Compression Affects Quality — quality slider reality
• JPEG Artifacts Explained — avoid stacked lossy saves
• Resize Image · Compress Image · WebP Converter · Crop Image

Key takeaways

• What Lightroom export settings are best for web photos: Resize long edge to 2000–2400 px for heroes or 1600 px for blog inline, JPEG quality 75–85, sRGB color space, output sharpening for screen at standard amount, and strip location metadata if privacy matters.
• Should I export PNG or JPEG from Lightroom for the web: JPEG for photographs.
• Does export quality 100 mean best for web: No.

Conclusion

Web photo export settings come down to sRGB, right long edge, quality 75–85, screen sharpening, metadata stripped where needed — saved as presets so you don't negotiate the dialog per image. Lightroom or generic editors get you 90% there; browser tools finish byte budgets without another subscription.

Export for the slot the photo fills, not for the printer you'll never call. Archive the RAW. Ship the right-sized JPEG. Sleep.