Where on Xiaomi are stored photos: a full guide to folders and hidden directories

Have you taken hundreds of photos on your Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 or POCO X5 Pro but can’t find them in your phone’s memory? or accidentally deleted important photos and want to recover them through the file manager? In this article, we’ll take a look at all the possible photo storage locations on Xiaomi devices, from standard DCIM folders to hidden directories of system applications.

The manufacturer uses multiple locations to save images depending on how they were created, from a standard camera, screenshots, downloads from instant messengers or cloud services, and we show you the exact paths to these folders, explain why some photos may disappear from the gallery, and give you instructions on how to work with them, from simply viewing to recovering deleted files.

Importantly, if you use MIUI 14 or later, some of the paths may have changed due to the data retention policy updates, and we have taken these nuances into account and provided up-to-date information for 2026.

Previous articleStandard folders with photos on Xiaomi: where to look first

Most of the photos on Xiaomi are stored in three main internal memory directories, and can be found through any file manager (e.g. Embedded Files or Total Commander).

• 📷 DCIM/Camera — And here are all the images that you've taken with the standard Camera app, and the folder is automatically created when you first start the camera.
• 🖼️ Pictures is a universal directory for images downloaded from the Internet, saved from social networks or created by other applications (for example, photo editors).
• 📱 Pictures/Screenshots — screenshots of the screen. MIUI They are automatically saved here with a prefix. Screenshot_ date.

To open these folders:

1. Launch the Files app (an icon with a blue folder).
2. Go to the Device (or Internal Memory) tab.
3. Open the DCIM or Pictures folder.

If you connect your phone to your computer via USB, these folders will be available in the Internal Storage section. Note: on some models (such as the Xiaomi 13 Ultra), the path may be duplicated in /storage/emulated/0/ – this is normal, since Android uses a virtual file system.

💡

If the DCIM folder is empty, but the photos are displayed in the gallery, check the settings for displaying hidden files in the file manager. In MIUI, you need to click on three dots in the upper right corner and select Show hidden files.

Hidden folders with photos: where Xiaomi hides system pictures

In addition to the standard locations, Xiaomi creates hidden directories for service images, which you can't see in the default gallery, but they take up space on the disk.

To see the hidden folders:

1. Open a file manager (such as Solid Explorer).
2. Enable the display of hidden files in the settings (usually called Show hidden files).
3. Go to /storage/emulated/0/ and find folders with a dot at the beginning of the name (e.g..thumbnails).

⚠️ Attention: Do not delete the folder Android/data It's completely, and it's going to crash the applications. If you want to make room, clear the cache of specific programs through Settings. → Annexes.

Why photos disappear from the gallery, but remain in the memory

The situation where the pictures are missing from the gallery, but take up space on the disk, for Xiaomi.

• 🔄 Update MIUI — After the update, the system gallery can forget the paths to the old photos. Solution: restart the Gallery app or clear its cache.
• 📁 Transfer to SD-map -- if you moved the photo to an external drive and then retrieved the map, the gallery won't be able to display it. /storage/[SD_CARD_ID]/DCIM.
• 🔒 Hidden albums - in MIUI There is a photo hiding function (through the gallery) → Albums. → Hidden. These images are not displayed in the main stream.
• 🗑️ Recycle Bin - Deleted photos are stored in the basket 30 The file is located along the way. /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/.trash.

To get back the "lost" photos:

1. Check the Gallery Settings → Folders for scanning and turn on all the necessary directories.
2. Use a third-party gallery (like Google Photos or Simple Gallery) – it can find files that the standard app doesn’t see.
3. If the photo was on SD-Plug it back in and wait for indexing.

How to transfer photos from Xiaomi to your computer or cloud

If you need to save a photo from your phone to another medium, there are several reliable ways, and we recommend using a combination of two methods for reliability.

Method 1: Transmission by USB-cable

The fastest and most universal method:

1. Connect Xiaomi to your PC via the original cable.
2. On your phone, select File Transfer (or MTP) mode in the connection notification.
3. On your computer, open this computer and find the Xiaomi device.
4. Copy DCIM and Pictures folders to your hard drive.

Method 2: Cloud services

For automatic synchronization:

• ☁️ Mi Cloud is a built-in cloud from Xiaomi. → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → Gallery. Provides 5GB for free.
• ☁️ Google Photos – saves photos in original quality (up to 15 GB free) Install the app and enable autoload.
• ☁️ Yandex Disk is suitable for users from Russia. Offers 10 GB when registering.

⚠️ Note: When using Mi Cloud, photos are synced in the compressed format by default. To maintain original quality, go to Cloud Settings → Download quality and select Original.

How to find photos from messengers and social networks

Photos from WhatsApp, Telegram or Instagram are stored separately from the main gallery, and their paths depend on the application:

To make these photos appear in the standard Xiaomi gallery:

1. Open the Gallery → Settings → Folders for scanning.
2. Turn on the display of messenger folders (such as WhatsApp Images).
3. If the photos still do not appear, restart the Gallery app.

In MIUI 14+, some messengers (e.g. Telegram) default to save media files to a secure /Android/media/ folder that is not scanned by the gallery. To fix this, change the save path to /Pictures/ in the application settings.

Recovering Deleted Photos on Xiaomi

If you accidentally delete a photo, you can return it within 30 days through a cart or special programs.

Method 1: Basket in the MIUI Gallery

The standard Xiaomi gallery sends deleted photos to the cart:

1. Open the Gallery app.
2. Slip on three dots in the upper right corner and select the basket.
3. Find the right photos, click Restore.

Method 2: Recovery programs

If the cart is cleaned, use the utilities:

• 🔧 DiskDigger scans internal memory for deleted files. Requires root for deep search.
• 🔧 Recuva (for PC) – connect your phone in mode MTP And scan the drive.
• 🔧 Dumpster – a shopping cart application that saves deleted files bypassing the system.

⚠️ Warning: The more you use your phone after you delete a photo, the lower your chances of recovery. New data can overwrite old files. Shut down the Internet and do not install programs until you complete the recovery.

💡

If photos have been synced to Google Photos or Mi Cloud, they can be restored via the web version of the service even after cleaning the shopping cart on the phone.

Optimizing photo storage: how to free up space

Photos take up the lion's share of memory on Xiaomi, here's how to effectively clear a place without losing important shots:

• 🗃️ Transfer to SD-map - move the folders DCIM Use the file manager with the Move (Do Not Copy) function!).
• ☁️ Autoboot to the cloud – set up Google Photos or Mi Cloud to automatically download and delete local copies after syncing.
• 🧹 Cache Clearing – Remove unnecessary thumbnails from.thumbnails and gallery cache in Settings → Annexes → gallery → Memory.
• 📊 Compress Photos – Use apps like Photo Compress to reduce the size of your photos without noticeable loss of quality.

To transfer the photo to SD-map:

1. Open the file manager.


2 Find a folder with a photo (e.g. DCIM/Camera).




3. Press and hold the folder → select Cut.




4. Go to the root of the SD-map and press Insert.




5. Wait for the operation to be completed (do not remove the card!).

If photos are not displayed in the gallery after transferring, restart your phone or update your media base through the Rescan Media Root app (available on Google Play).

FAQ: Frequent questions about photo storage on Xiaomi