Where apps hide your files

Finding the Luminar catalog

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Luminar stores your edits in a catalog folder, which Skylum creates in Pictures unless you chose another place. You can reveal it from the app, back it up as one folder, and see what makes it grow.

Where the catalog is

Skylum says Luminar creates its catalog in your Pictures folder by default, unless you chose another place. The catalog is a folder, with the catalog file and its supporting folders inside:

~/Pictures/<catalog folder>/<catalog name>.luminarneo

Luminar Neo was renamed plain Luminar with version 1.28 in August 2026 (the Mac App Store now lists it as "Luminar: AI Photo Editor"), so either name may be on your Mac. Skylum's own pages give the catalog file the .luminarneo extension. To see the folder name on yours:

ls ~/Pictures | grep -i luminar

The surest route is the app itself: File > Catalog > Show in Finder, which Skylum documents as the way to reveal the catalog. It opens the catalog file inside its folder.

For the older Luminar AI, the Mac used for this guide still had a catalog from an earlier install, at:

~/Pictures/Luminar AI Catalog/Luminar AI Catalog.luminarai

Open a folder with Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) in Finder, or from Terminal with open ~/Pictures/Luminar\ AI\ Catalog (adjust the name to yours).

What is inside

This is what that Luminar AI catalog folder contained. The current Luminar's layout is similar by Skylum's description, but check yours.

Item	What it is
Luminar AI Catalog.luminarai	The catalog database itself, small (about 180 KB here). The current app's equivalent ends in .luminarneo.
History/	Edit data for your images. Here it held a resources folder.
Backups/	Automatic catalog backups, each named with a long number (a timestamp) and ending in .lumBackup.
Tutorials/	Sample photos for the app's built-in tutorials (about 21 MB here).
cache_db.db	A small database the app uses as a cache.

Do not open these files in an editor. The catalog and database files are binary, and you cannot read your edits from them.

Where your edits actually are

Luminar edits are non-destructive. Skylum describes the catalog as a database of your images, where they are on disk, their thumbnails and the history of adjustments to each one, so your edits are stored as instructions in the catalog, not inside your photos. Your originals stay in whatever folders they came from. Two consequences:

• If you delete or move the catalog folder, you lose the edits but not the original photos.
• If you move your originals to another folder or drive, Luminar can no longer find them, so move them back or point the app at the new place. Skylum has a page on revealing original images from inside the app, which is the right first stop.

To get a finished picture out, use the app's Export command, which writes a JPEG, PNG, TIFF or other format wherever you choose. Edits do not travel inside an image file.

Other places Luminar writes

The Luminar AI install on this Mac also left app data outside Pictures, in sandbox folders named after Skylum's team ID:

~/Library/Group Containers/RTW788AXG3.com.skylum.luminarAI
~/Library/Group Containers/RTW788AXG3.group.com.skylum.luminarAI

The first contained Library (app support, caches and preferences), Favorites and PRProperties, plus a small accountInfo file that you should leave unread. A preferences file named com.skylum.luminarAI.plist was in ~/Library/Preferences. The current Luminar uses its own names, so list them with:

ls ~/Library/Group\ Containers | grep -i skylum
ls ~/Library/Application\ Support | grep -i -e skylum -e luminar

These print names only. An empty result means that location is not used on your Mac.

Why the catalog gets big, and what not to delete

Skylum's support article on catalog size says most of the weight is the History folder, because it holds the edit data for each image: sky textures, erased areas, LUTs and masks. The more images you edit, the bigger it gets. Those files are removed automatically when you remove the matching images from the catalog in the app, which is the safe way to shrink it.

The same article describes clearing the History folder by hand with the app closed, and warns never to delete the Resources folder inside it, which AI masking needs. Treat that as a last resort: the edit data for any image you still care about lives there. Before trying it, quit Luminar and copy the whole catalog folder somewhere as a backup. Check the size first with du -sh followed by the catalog folder's path.

Moving and backing up

Skylum's guidance is to copy the whole folder that contains the catalog file, one level up from the file, not the file alone. That is the folder Show in Finder takes you to. Copy it to the new location or Mac, then open the .luminarneo file from File > Catalog > Open. Skylum says Mac and Windows catalogs cannot be opened on each other's platform.

The app also backs up its database as you work, and File > Catalog > Backup makes one on demand. Those backups cover the catalog only, so back up your original photos separately. If the originals sit at a different path on the new Mac, expect the missing-original warnings above.

Why a normal search misses it

The catalog is in Pictures, which Finder can search, but the extension .luminarneo means nothing to most people, and the group containers sit inside ~/Library, where Spotlight and Finder searches leave results out.

Finding it again later

Typing luminar into Everywhere lists the catalog folder, the .luminarneo or .luminarai file and the backups together, even for a catalog on a drive you have since unplugged. Pictures, group containers and external drives are all protected folders, so they are covered once Everywhere has Full Disk Access. It matches names only, so it cannot show which photo an edit belongs to.

Common questions

Where is the Luminar Neo catalog on a Mac?

By default in your Pictures folder, in a catalog folder holding a .luminarneo file, unless you chose another location. In the app, File > Catalog > Show in Finder opens it.

Are Luminar edits stored in the photo files?

No. Skylum says edits are stored as instructions in the Luminar catalog, and your original photos stay where they were. Export a JPEG, PNG or TIFF to get a finished image.

How do I back up my Luminar catalog?

Quit Luminar and copy the whole folder that contains the catalog file, not just the file. Skylum advises going up one level from the catalog file and backing up that folder.

Why is my Luminar catalog so big?

Skylum says most of the size is the History folder, which holds edit data such as masks and sky textures. Removing images you no longer need from the catalog removes their files; never delete the Resources folder.