export large file

[alice75]

Hello,

I have this really annoying problem. I imported a .psb (very large format from Photoshop, 2.58GB) into my V2 for iPad. Usually, it works fine, and I’ve been working on it for three months. But now, it’s no longer possible to export it—neither the entire document nor even by selection.

This is really frustrating. Do you have a solution and any advice to ensure this never happens again? This issue is costing me a lot of work hours, money, and time.

Warm regards.

[Hangman]

Hi @alice75 and welcome to the forums,

1. Which file format are you exporting to?
2. Can you provide a download link so we can take a look at the file?

[Alfred]

Welcome back to the Serif Affinity Forums, @alice75.

You’ve posted to the ‘Bugs on macOS’ section of the forums instead of the ‘Bugs on iPad’ section, but a moderator will no doubt move it soon.

What are the specs of your iPad? What other apps you running at the same time? Have tried copying a section of the document, pasting into a new document and then exporting from there?

By the way, you don’t appear to have revisited your previous thread where you have a response:

 

 

[alice75]

Hello Alfred, and many thanks for you attention.

Hi @alice75, and welcome to the forums,

Which file format are you exporting to?
I’m trying to export a PSB file to PSD, but the PSD option isn’t available in the export settings.

Can you provide a download link so we can take a look at the file?
I’m not sure how I can share a link to my file. Also, since I work for a private agency, I’m not allowed to share confidential files. It’s a tricky situation.

Everything usually works fine, but this file is particularly large, which seems to be the only difference.

Warm regards.

[alice75]

1 hour ago, Hangman said:

Hi @alice75 and welcome to the forums,

1. Which file format are you exporting to?
2. Can you provide a download link so we can take a look at the file?

 

Hello Alfred, and many thanks for you attention.

Hi @alice75, and welcome to the forums,

Which file format are you exporting to?
I’m trying to export a PSB file to PSD, but the PSD option isn’t available in the export settings.

Can you provide a download link so we can take a look at the file?
I’m not sure how I can share a link to my file. Also, since I work for a private agency, I’m not allowed to share confidential files. It’s a tricky situation.

Everything usually works fine, but this file is particularly large, which seems to be the only difference.

Warm regards.

 

 

 

•  

[Hangman]

Hi @alice75,

1 hour ago, alice75 said:

Can you provide a download link so we can take a look at the file?
I’m not sure how I can share a link to my file. Also, since I work for a private agency, I’m not allowed to share confidential files. It’s a tricky situation.

Completely understand and no problem at all...

I'm assuming the PSD option isn't available because the file is too large to save as a PSD file... PSD files have a maximum size of 30,000 x 30,000 pixels and 2 GB, while PSB files can go up to 300,000 x 300,000 pixels and be much larger than 2 GB...

I believe you would need to reduce the size of the file to be able to save it as a PSD file...

[alice75]

3 hours ago, Hangman said:

4 hours ago, alice75 said:

Can you provide a download link so we can take a look at the file?
I’m not sure how I can share a link to my file. Also, since I work for a private agency, I’m not allowed to share confidential files. It’s a tricky situation.

Completely understand and no problem at all...

I'm assuming the PSD option isn't available because the file is too large to save as a PSD file... PSD files have a maximum size of 30,000 x 30,000 pixels and 2 GB, while PSB files can go up to 300,000 x 300,000 pixels and be much larger than 2 GB...

I believe you would need to reduce the size of the file to be able to save it as a PSD file...

Thanks for your attention.

Since Affinity iPad accepts importing and opening the PSB format, it is VERY surprising that it does not allow exporting after I’ve spent days working on it...

I’m trying to export it as a PSD file, which should reduce the size and be accepted, but nothing works. The export ran all night without ever giving me the option to save it.

I don’t see how I can reduce the size of my document since it needs to be exactly the same size as my original file on the computer. I work in cut-out editing, and precision is crucial—down to individual eyelashes and strands of hair.   

 

Is there another way to export it conserving the quality of the precision of the work in any gof all the layers?

 

thanks in advance

[Hangman]

Hi @alice75,

1. What are the pixel dimensions of the file in width and height?
2. What is the dpi of the PSB document when opened in Affinity Photo?
3. What is the bit-depth of the PSB file, 8, 16 or 32-bit?
4. How and where is the edited file being used, for litho or digital print?
5. What is the reason for needing to export to PSD?

Saving to PSD won't reduce the document file size. PSB is basically an extended version of PSD, designed to overcome the size limitations of the PSD file format both in pixel dimensions and physical file size.

TIFF will likely be your best option, you can maintain your edited, layered Affinity Photo file if you need to make further edits and export to TIFF which supports file sizes up to 4 GB and pixel dimensions of 2^32 -1 or 4,294,967,295 pixels.

When exporting to TIFF you have the option to Save Affinity Layers where the layers in the document are preserved in the exported TIFF image but these layers will only be readable when the file is opened in an Affinity app. You have your original Affinity Photo file for that and including layers in an exported file will increase the file size.

The default compression is set to ZIP with options to apply LZW compression or no compression.

As a test, ensuring you have your Affinity Photo file backed up on an internal Hard Drive (rather than Cloud Drive), I would see whether or not you can export your file to an uncompressed 8 or 16-bit TIFF matching your document bit-depth or your file and using the corresponding pixel format in the export window with Save Affinity Layers unchecked to determine whether or not it exceeds the 4 GB limit.

Let us know how you get on...

[alice75]

Goodmorning and MANY MANY thanks, the TIFF solution seems to works

 

1. What are the pixel dimensions of the file in width and height?                    33650 × 7952
2. What is the dpi of the PSB document when opened in Affinity Photo?      I don't own Affinity Photo
3. What is the bit-depth of the PSB file, 8, 16 or 32-bit?                                 I prefer to work on 16 bits 
4. How and where is the edited file being used, for litho or digital print?      Digital Print
5. What is the reason for needing to export to PSD?                                       I don't necessary need psd format, photoshop decided it was a psd format.. 

[Hangman]

Hi @alice75,

That's really good news, many thanks for letting us know and for confirming the details... I hope the finished digital print looks amazing...

[alice75]

Oppps sorry, 

wrong happiness. The tiff file doesn't have the layers. I've tried different on and of layers content option but none gave me the layers...

I'm sorry I 've did not checked this before the last message.

I'm sure you will have a marvellous solution!

[Hangman]

Hi @alice75,

I hadn't realised that you didn't have Affinity Photo. Which Affinity app are you using?

TIFF is a flattened file format but when exporting a TIFF file from Affinity apps you have the option to include Affinity layers but those layers will only be viewable in Affinity apps...

[alice75]

Hello Hungman, 

nope, I can't afford all the programs and I use already a LOT.

I use affinity designer 2 for iPad to spend hours to cut out manually flowers. I can work two months on a flower. Then I have to export it export it on a psd format .

 

 

the option to include the layers is activated but the layers are not there. 

Also, the icc (prophoto) no matter the options, is always lost. But If you can help me to save the export of this big file it will be really marvellous. 

[Hangman]

Hi @alice75,

Would you be able to provide a link to the file so I can download it? Feel free to DM the link if you'd prefer not to upload it in the forums and I'll take a look to see if it's possible to export it to a Layered TIFF file which you should be able to open in Designer...

[alice75]

Hello,

as I told you before, I don't know how to provide a link from the file I'm working on in off des 2 of the iPad.

Also I don't have designer, since the application offers this option, why is it not possible to get the layers no matter the format? Tiff remains an universal format...

[Hangman]

Hi @alice75,

Only certain apps support Layers, Photoshop, Procreate, Affinity Photo etc., export formats generally don't, PNG, JPEG, TIFF etc.,

You can keep the layers in your file by saving it as an Affinity Designer file on your iPad for continued work but I'm unsure why the company printing the artwork would need a layered file, TIFF or PSD, they would normally request a flattened file, e.g., a flattened TIFF file or maybe even a PDF file...

What is the benefit of having a Layered TIFF file over the Layered Affinity Designer file you are working with?

I'm also unsure why selecting Save Affinity Layers in the TIFF export window isn't saving a layered version of the file, though as mentioned earlier, you would only see the layers if reopening the exported TIFF in Affinity Designer.

Apart from a PSD file, there is no way that I'm aware of to save or export the file from Affinity Designer as a layered file that can be opened in a different app like Photoshop and the only way to save a PSD would be to reduce the size to 2GB or less which as you've already mentioned isn't an option.

What has the company printing the artwork requested?

[alice75]

This is truly very, very regrettable.

I would rather hear that the technical team is working to resolve what I consider a bug. Since the PSB file was successfully opened, it should logically be exportable—just as it is with any other document.

The fact that this does not work, in my humble opinion, falls under a software malfunction, which I deal with professionally.

Regarding your question:

What is the benefit of having a Layered TIFF file over the Layered Affinity Designer file you are working with?

The advantage, dear sir, is that one must continue working on the file.
Once the Affinity stage is completed, 90% of the work remains to be done.
 

That is why it is absolutely essential that all software performs the tasks for which it was purchased.

Warm regards.

( BTW, since the tiff layer option exist, it has to do the work, on TIFF layered, no matter the destination)

[Bound by Beans]

Alice, can you export if you choose a pixel width of less than 10,000 pixels? That is, if your image is larger than that. I had issues exporting a large project on an iPad where the export just got stuck. It was a high-spec iPad, so it should have been able to handle it. When I chose a width below 10,000 (or maybe it was 16,000 – it’s been a while), the export worked fine. I simply couldn’t export at full size.

I believe this is a limitation in Affinity on iPad. I read about the issue somewhere and tried a smaller export size. Bingo. If that really is the problem, then it’s pretty poor that the software doesn’t notify users when they hit a limit. There should be better handling of this issue. That’s when I realized an iPad wasn’t suitable for my work and document sizes.

If that’s the case, the only real solution is to transfer the file to a computer with Affinity and export from there – maybe using a trial version?

[Bound by Beans]

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/196387-generating-export-endless-loading/#:~:text=January 2%2C 2024-,Hi,on Generating Export.  This is true of V1 and also V2,-.

 

[walt.farrell]

On 3/17/2025 at 6:30 AM, alice75 said:

I’m trying to export a PSB file to PSD, but the PSD option isn’t available in the export settings.

Please provide a screenshot of the export options you see, so we can see what you're seeing, and please include the compete screen.

[alice75]

I think we've all ready talk about this together . 

You have a but and I have a huge problem with my work I had to restart with another program.

 

Warm regards

[alice75]

On 3/19/2025 at 2:05 AM, Bound by Beans said:

Alice, can you export if you choose a pixel width of less than 10,000 pixels? That is, if your image is larger than that. I had issues exporting a large project on an iPad where the export just got stuck. It was a high-spec iPad, so it should have been able to handle it. When I chose a width below 10,000 (or maybe it was 16,000 – it’s been a while), the export worked fine. I simply couldn’t export at full size.

I believe this is a limitation in Affinity on iPad. I read about the issue somewhere and tried a smaller export size. Bingo. If that really is the problem, then it’s pretty poor that the software doesn’t notify users when they hit a limit. There should be better handling of this issue. That’s when I realized an iPad wasn’t suitable for my work and document sizes.

If that’s the case, the only real solution is to transfer the file to a computer with Affinity and export from there – maybe using a trial version?

thanks a lot Bound by Beans for your attention,

unfortunately I can't do this, because I need the document I work with on with aff2 iPad, must be exactly the same size to precisely superpose it on the document waiting for the next step. It s a cutout process only I do with the iPad.  Since the document psb or psd is imported and accepted to work with on the aff2, there is absolutely no reason it doesn't not export it right it is. It is a big bug that maybe someone will work on it one day, until there I have to change my program and restart a month of work with no commercial compensations of course...

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, alice75 said:

You have a but and I have a huge problem with my work I had to restart with another program.

You have not provided enough information yet to conclude there's a bug. We need to see what you're seeing, from a screenshot of the export dialog, before we can reach that conclusion. 

But if you no longer want to work on resolving the issue, and to be able to work with the Affinity application, that's your choice.

[Meliora spero]

You’re hilarious. This isn’t the first time someone’s run into this issue, so it’s Affinity that refuses to work with Alice. It’s a mix of bugs, lack of feedback, and downright terrible usability that — once again — drives a customer away. Among people who take their work seriously, the brand is worn down and damaged.

Dead. Brand. Walking.

[Alfred]

49 minutes ago, Meliora spero said:

Dead. Brand. Walking.

Walking, really? From your other recent posts I would expect you to say something like “stumbling” or “shuffling”, or perhaps even “crawling”.