Where in Xiaomi smartphones are stored albums with photos: a complete guide to search and management

Have you ever lost important photos on a Xiaomi smartphone and couldn't find where they went? Or tried to manually transfer albums to a computer but didn't understand where the originals were? This problem is familiar to many users - despite the convenient MIUI gallery, the media storage system in Xiaomi has its own features that are not always obvious.

In this article, we will look at where the photo albums on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones are physically stored, from standard folders in internal memory to cloud backups in Mi Cloud. You will learn how to find hidden directories, why some photos are duplicated, and how to export albums without loss of quality.

The material will be useful for both beginners and experienced users: we will consider not only the basic storage paths, but also technical nuances (for example, working with the folder DCIM/.thumbnails or features of the HEIF/HEIC formats on new models).

Standard folders for storing photos in Xiaomi

By default, all photos taken with the camera of the Xiaomi smartphone are stored in the device’s internal memory in the DCIM folder. This is the standard directory for all Android devices, but in MIUI it has its own structure:

• 📁 DCIM/Camera – This is where the main camera photos are stored (in.jpg,.png or.heic formats on the new models).
• 📁 DCIM/Screenshots Screenshots of the screen (save to.png).
• 📁 DCIM/MIUI are gallery service files, including thumbnails (.thumbnails) and cache.
• 📁 Pictures are photos downloaded from the Internet or saved from instant messengers (e.g. Telegram or WhatsApp).

It's important to understand that the DCIM folder is not just an "album" in the usual sense. It contains physical files, while the Gallery app (com.miui.gallery) only displays them in a convenient way, grouping them by date, event or person (if recognition is enabled). For example, photos from a trip to the mountains may lie in DCIM/Camera, but in the gallery they will be displayed in the album "Mountains 2026" - these are just tags, not individual folders.

To see the actual storage structure, connect your smartphone to your computer in file transfer (MTP) mode and open internal memory through the explorer. Alternatively, you can use any file manager on the device itself (for example, Mi File Manager or Solid Explorer).

Where are the handmade albums kept?

If you create albums directly in the Gallery app (e.g., highlight photos and click Add to Album), there’s a caveat: MIUI doesn’t create separate folders for each album; instead, grouping information is stored in the gallery database, and the files themselves remain in the source directories (e.g., DCIM/Camera).

This means that if you delete the Gallery app or reset the settings, all the manually created albums will disappear forever, even though the photos themselves will remain in place.

• 📌 Export albums to the Mi Cloud (they are synced as separate collections).
• 📌 Use third-party galleries (e.g. Google Photos or Simple Gallery) that create real folders.
• 📌 Manually move files to new directories through a file manager.

For example, if you want the album "Wedding" to be stored separately, create a Pictures/Wedding folder and move the photos to the gallery, and then they will appear in the gallery as a separate collection, but already tied to the physical location.

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To quickly find all the photos from a particular album in the file manager, open the album in the gallery, click "More" → "Details" → "Show in the folder." The system will open the directory where the originals are stored.

Hidden folders and cache galleries: what takes up space?

Many users are faced with a situation where the gallery shows that the device is occupied by 10-15 GB of photos, but when you connect to the PC visible files much less, the reason for this is hidden folders and cache that MIUI creates to speed up the work:

• 🔍 DCIM/.thumbnails — Photo thumbnails (can take up to 1–2 GB).
• 🔍 MIUI/Extra are temporary edit files (e.g., cropped versions of images).
• 🔍 Android/data/com.miui.gallery/cache is the cache of the gallery app.
• 🔍.nomedia files that prohibit folders from being displayed in the gallery (for example, for hidden chats in instant messengers).

To see hidden folders, in the Mi File Manager file manager, turn on the display of hidden files in the settings (three dots in the upper right corner → “Settings” → “Show hidden files”). You can clear the gallery cache through the application settings (Settings → Applications → Gallery → Storage → Clear cache), but be careful: deleting files from.thumbnails can slow down the gallery, as the thumbnails will have to be generated again.

⚠️ Warning: Do not delete the DCIM/MIUI folder completely, as this may cause the gallery to crash. If you need to free up space, clear only the cache through the app settings.

Cloud Storage: How Mi Cloud Manages Albums

If your Xiaomi has Mi Cloud sync enabled, photos are duplicated in the cloud, but it’s not always obvious how they’re organized. Unlike Google Photos, where albums are synced as separate collections, Mi Cloud works differently:

• ☁️ Automatic sync - all photos from DCIM/Camera and Pictures are uploaded to the cloud in the Photos section. Albums created in the gallery are displayed in Mi Cloud only if they have been explicitly exported.
• ☁️ Manual export — when you create an album, you have the option to sync with Mi Cloud, and in this case, the album will appear in the cloud as a separate folder.
• ☁️ Limitations – the free Mi Cloud tariff only provides 5GB, so sync can be interrupted if the seat runs out.

To check which photos are stored in the cloud:

1. Open the Mi Cloud app (or go to i.mi.com).
2. Sign in with the same Mi Account as you do on your smartphone.
3. Go to the Photos section and all synchronized images will be displayed here.

Important: If you delete a photo from the gallery on your phone, it will also be deleted from the Mi Cloud (if sync is enabled).To avoid this, copy the photos to another folder before deleting or turn off automatic sync in the cloud settings.

Features of storage on different models Xiaomi

Depending on the Xiaomi model and the MIUI version, the storage paths for photos may vary slightly.

• 📱 Older models (up to MIUI 12, such as Redmi Note 7 or Mi 9): Photos are saved exclusively in DCIM/Camera in.jpg format..thumbnails folders take up less space.
• 📱 New flagships (Xiaomi 13/14, Redmi K60): support the HEIF/HEIC format (files with the.heic extension) which takes up less space at the same quality. These files may not open on older PCs without additional codecs.
• 📱 Hybrid storage devices (e.g., POCO X5 Pro): If a memory card is used, the default photos can be saved to the memory card in the /storage/XXXX-XXXX/DCIM/Camera folder (where XXXX-XXXX is ID of the card).

On models with MIUI 14+, we have a Smart Grouping feature that automatically sorts photos by event (e.g., "Trip to Sochi" or "Birthday"). These tags don't create physical folders - they're stored in the gallery database. If you want to keep such grouping forever, export the album to Mi Cloud or manually move files to a separate directory.

Also, some devices (such as Xiaomi 12T or Redmi Note 12 Pro+) have the option to save photos to a secure storage (Settings → Privacy → Secure Storage), which is encrypted and stored in the Android/data/com.miui.privacy/files folder, which is only accessible after you enter a password.

Check the DCIM/Camera folder through the file manager

Make sure that the gallery does not have a filter enabled (e.g., "Hidden Files")

Check out the Mi Cloud (Photo section)

Check the memory card (if installed)

Use file search (in Mi File Manager type.jpg or.heic)

Check the Pictures folder - the photos may have been uploaded there-->

How to transfer your Xiaomi albums to your computer or other device?

If you need to copy photos from Xiaomi to a PC, another smartphone or an external drive, there are several ways to choose, depending on which albums you need and whether you need to keep their structure:

Method 1: Through USB-cable (most reliable)

1. Connect your smartphone to your computer using the original cable.
2. On your phone, select File Transfer (MTP) mode (usually a notification appears when you connect).
3. On a PC, open the Explorer and go to This Computer → [Name of your Xiaomi].
4. Copy the folders you need (DCIM/Camera, Pictures, etc.) to your hard drive.

Method 2: Wi-Fi (without wires)

If you do not have a cable, you can use the built-in FTP- server:

1. Open Mi File Manager → "FTP".
2. Click "Run" and the address of the form ftp://192.168.x.x:xxxx appears.
3. On the computer, open the conductor and enter this address in the address bar.
4. Copy the files you want.

Method 3: Through the Cloud (Mi Cloud or Google Photos)

If the photos are already synced to the cloud, you can download them from there:

• 🌐 Mi Cloud: Go to i.mi.com, select photos and click Download.
• 🌐 Google Photos: Open photos.google.com, highlight the pictures and select Export.

⚠️ Warning: When transferring photos in.heic format (on new Xiaomi models), make sure the target device supports this format. If not, pre-convert the images to.jpg via the gallery (Edit → Save as).

What if the photos are missing from the gallery but take up space?

The situation where the gallery does not show photos, but they take up space on the device, is common.

• 🔍 Files are hidden (e.g., in a folder with a.nomedia file).
• 🔍 The gallery has not indexed new files (refresh media base).
• 🔍 Photos are saved in a non-standard folder (e.g., Download or Android/data).
• 🔍 Gallery cache is damaged.

Here is a step-by-step recovery instruction:

1. Check hidden files: In the file manager, turn on the hidden folder display and look for.nomedia files. Delete them if they interfere with the display.
2. Update the media base: install the Rescan Media application from Google Play or enter the command in the engineering menu: am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE -d file:///storage/emulated/0/DCIM/
3. Clear the cache of the gallery: Settings → Apps → Gallery → Storage → Clear the cache.
4. Check the memory card: if it is installed, the photos may have been saved to it.
5. Use Search: In Mi File Manager, type.jpg or.heic to find all images on the device.

If the photos were deleted by mistake, try to restore them with specialized utilities such as DiskDigger or Recuva (this will require root access or a PC connection), however, the chances of recovery are higher if the deletion time has passed and new files are not written to the device.

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The.nomedia file in the folder blocks the image from being displayed in the gallery, so if the photos are missing but take up space, look for them first and delete them.

FAQ: Frequent questions about photo storage in Xiaomi