Synology Photos

• A smart and flexible photo management system
• Rich photo-sharing options including password protection and expiration dates
• Automatic photo grouping using face and object recognition and other categorizations
• iOS and Android platform support to allow management from mobile devices

Compatibility

• Node.js v12 and Synology Application Service are required to run Synology Photos
• The original DSM 6.2 packages must be running the following versions for their data and configurations to be migratable:
  • Synology Moments: 1.3.0-0691 and above (minimum DSM version: 6.2.1-23824)
  • Photo Station: 6.8.0-3456 and above
• Recommended web browsers: Chrome, Safari

All-around Browsing and Managing

• Supports photo and video display in chronological order or by folder structure
• Supports changing the thumbnail size in Folder view
• Provides intuitive move, copy, and download features
• Supports editing dates, times, descriptions, tags, and ratings of photos and videos
• Supports adding photos to multiple albums without creating duplicates
• Supports conditional albums that automatically add matching photos
• Supports the exclusion of uploading and displaying specified file extensions
• Supports converting photos to JPEG on download if needed

Dynamic Sharing and Collaboration

• Supports sharing albums with customizable permissions
• Allows users to view and manage albums shared with/by others
• Supports uploading photos and videos via public Photo Request links (See limitation 1)
• Shared Space can be opened to selected users for collaboration
• Supports Public folder links that allow users to share portfolios with others
• Supports limiting the sharing ability of non-admin users

Quick Searching

• Provides the following Quick Filters: File type, Date taken, People, Geolocation, Tag, Rating, Camera, Lens, Focal length, Exposure time, Aperture, and ISO
• Supports search by keywords using: file names, dates, and special formats such as 360° photos/videos or Live Photos

Auto-created Albums

• Automatically groups photos into six albums: People, Subjects, Places, Tags, Videos, and Recently Added
• Facial recognition enables users to name, hide, or merge detected faces in People albums (See limitation 2)
• Object recognition enables users to remove recognized photos and hide subject categories in Subjects albums (See limitation 2)

Easy File Upload

• Supports drag-and-drop upload of photos, videos, and folders (See limitation 3, 4, 5)
• Supports thumbnail generation via browsers to reduce server load and boost display speed
• Supported File Formats:
  • Image formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG, PNG, RAW (arw, srf, sr2, dcr, k25, kdc, cr2, cr3, crw, nef, mrw, ptx, pef, raf, raw, 3fr, erf, mef, mos, orf, rw2, dng, X3F), TIF, TIFF, WebP (See limitation 6)
  • Video formats: MOV, MP4 (See limitation 6, 7)
  • Formats that need to be downloaded for playback: FLV
  • 360° photos and videos

1. Due to iOS system limitations, HEIC files are automatically converted to JPEG format when uploaded through Photo Request links
2. To ensure system performance, face and object recognition is only supported on certain models. Please refer to this article for the full list
3. Folders can only be uploaded via drag-and-drop on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge
4. Drag-and-drop only supports 5,000 files per upload
5. Folders will not remain in their original tree structure when uploaded via drag-and-drop
6. You will need to install Synology Image Assistant to generate additional previews or compressed videos for the following formats:
   • Image formats: HEIF, HEIC, HIF
   • Video formats: 3G2, 3GP, ASF, AVI, DivX, M4V, MOV (HEVC) including Live Photos, MPEG, MPG, MP4 (HEVC), MTS, M2T, M2TS, QT, WMV, XviD
7. You can use Synology Image Assistant to generate additional lower-resolution (compressed) videos for the HEVC format. However, for optimal playback in original quality, we recommend using Chrome 107, Safari 13, or Edge 79 (on macOS only) or later. Alternatively, you can download the video for playback
8. For more information on the supported metadata standards, please refer to this article