Why Xiaomi Gallery Takes a Lot of Space and How to Free Your Memory Without Losing Photos

You open your storage settings on your Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO, and suddenly you find that the Gallery app takes 5, 10, or even 20 GB of storage — even though your photos and videos weigh much less in total. Where do these gigabytes come from? Why does the space not vacate even after you delete the pictures? And most importantly, how do you regain control of the storage without losing important files?

The problem of a bloated gallery is one of the most common complaints of Xiaomi smartphone users, not only your photos, but also the hidden mechanisms of MIUI, cache, duplicates, cloud synchronizations and even errors in metadata. In this article, we will discuss all 7 key causes of a crowded gallery (including those that are not written in standard instructions), and give step-by-step solutions from basic to advanced.

1.Cash galleries: why it grows to gigabytes

The main reason MIUI Gallery eats memory is its cache. Unlike other applications, Xiaomi Gallery caches not only thumbnails, but also:

• 🖼️ Effects and filters: temporary edit files (even if you didn’t save the changes).

Normally, the cache should be cleaned automatically, but MIUI often fails: the application continues to accumulate data without deleting the old ones. For example, if you watch the same video 10 times, the gallery can save 10 copies of its buffer. Similarly, with a photo, a new thumbnail is created every time you open a picture, even if the original has not changed.

⚠️ Attention: Clearing the cache through the application settings (Settings) → Annexes → gallery → Warehouse → Clear cache only removes a portion of temporary files. Complete cleaning requires additional steps (see Section 3).

How to check the size of the cache gallery:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the Gallery and tap it.
3. Go to the "Storage" section** - the cache volume will be indicated here.

2.Duplicates and "phantom" files: where they hide

The second most common cause is duplicate photos and videos, which are automatically created, and in MIUI, they appear because of:

• 📱 Backup to Mi Cloud or Google Photos (files are saved both locally and in the cloud).
• 🔄 Synchronization with social networks (for example, photos from the VK Telegram is downloaded to the gallery).
• 📲 Editing apps (e.g. Snapseed or Lightroom store copies of edited photos).
• 🤖 File system errors: sometimes MIUI Creates “broken” duplicates with zero size, which take up space in the gallery database.

Especially insidious are phantom files, which are not displayed in the gallery but take up space.

• You delete your photo through a third-party app (like Google Photos), but MIUI does not update its database.
• The file is damaged, but the gallery can't read it, but it doesn't delete it either.
• You're transferring the photo to SD-map, but the gallery retains a link to the old location.

How to find duplicates:

1. Use the built-in tool: open the Gallery, tap on three points → “Manage” → “Duplicates”**.
2. For deep scanning, install Files by Google or CCleaner.

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Before removing duplicates, sort the photos by date (Gallery → Albums → Date). Often the originals and copies are seconds apart, which helps identify them.

3. Cloud syncs: how Mi Cloud and Google Photos are inflating the gallery

If you use Mi Cloud or Google Photos, your gallery can store local copies of all cloud files — even those you deleted from your phone long ago.

• 🌥️ Mi Cloud: By default, syncs photos in the original resolution. → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → Synchronization of the gallery, all photos are duplicated on the device.

The problem is compounded by the fact that MIUI doesn't always correctly display cloud files in the gallery, for example, you can see a photo that's been deleted long ago, but it still takes up space because:

• The gallery shows a thumbnail of cache, and the original is hidden in the /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/.thumbnails folder.
• The file is labeled as “hidden” (starting with a point, such as.nomedia).

⚠️ Warning: If you turn off sync with Mi Cloud, all photos that were only in the cloud will disappear from the gallery.

4. Hidden folders and gallery system files

MIUI uses hidden folders for business purposes, many of which are not displayed in the standard file manager, but take up space.

• 📁.thumbnails – photo and video miniatures (can weigh several gigabytes).
• 📁 MIUI/Gallery — cache and temporary application files.
• 📁 DCIM/.thumbnails — miniatures for quick viewing in the camera.
• 📁 Pictures/Screenshots/.thumbnails — screenshot.
• 📁 Android/data/com.miui.gallery — Application data (including undeleted files).

To see these folders, you’ll need a file manager that supports hidden files (such as Solid Explorer or Solid Explorer). FX File Explorer. In the standard "Conductor»** MIUI You can't see them.

How to clean hidden folders:

Install a file manager with support for root or hidden files (such as Solid Explorer)

Enable the display of hidden folders in the manager settings

Go to /storage/emulated/0/ and find the folders.thumbnails, MIUI/Gallery

Delete the contents of folders (not the folders themselves!)

Reboot your phone so that the gallery can count the cache.-->

Important: Don't delete the.thumbnails folders completely - they will be recreated, but this can cause a gallery malfunction.

5 Gallery database errors: why photos hang in memory

The MIUI Gallery uses a database (SQLite) to store information about files: paths, dates, tags, albums. If the database is corrupted, "phantom" files are created - those that:

• 👻 Displayed in the gallery, but do not exist in the file system.
• 🔄 Removed but still occupied (due to errors in indexes).
• 📊 They are incorrectly sized (for example, 0 bytes, but occupy gigabytes in the statistics of storage).

Causes of base damage:

• 🔌 Abrupt power outage during gallery operation.
• 📱 Interrupting the process of scanning media files (for example, when updating) MIUI).
• 🛠️ Manually modifying files through ADB root-access.

How to fix the gallery database:

1. If the problem persists, use SD Maid (Database Cleanup App).

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Cleaning up the gallery data doesn't delete your photos and videos, just the app settings (albums, tags, favorites) and the media files themselves stay in place.

6. Automatic downloads from messengers and social networks

Many users are unaware that instant messengers and social networks automatically download media files to the gallery.

Even if you don't manually save photos, many apps do so automatically, like WhatsApp by default uploads all media to the gallery, and Telegram caches the photos and videos you've viewed.

How to turn off the auto download:

It is also recommended to regularly clean the folders of messengers from unnecessary files. For example, in Telegram you can delete the cache through Settings → Data and memory → Clear the cache.

7. MIUI Features: Why the Gallery Behaves Differently From Other Androids

MIUI greatly modifies the standard Android gallery, adding custom features that consume extra space:

Besides, MIUI aggressively caches media files to make it work faster, for example, if you're watching a video in a gallery, an app can cache a copy of it -- even if the original is on the cache. SD-map.

How to disable unnecessary functions:

1. Open the gallery → tap on three points → “Settings”.
2. Turn it off: 🔘 «Live photos (if not used). 🔘 «Automatic Album Creation (Reduces Database Load). 🔘 «Show hidden files (if not required).

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In MIUI 14 and later, the gallery uses Smart Grouping technology, which creates additional indexes for photos, which speeds up search, but increases the size of the database by 10-20%.

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi Gallery