What Lightroom export settings should you use for a photography portfolio?

Save the setup as an export preset, then adjust only when a particular project or platform requires something different.

A browser displays pixels. PPI matters when pixels are mapped to physical print dimensions, but changing 72 PPI to 300 PPI without resampling does not add web detail.

A 2560-pixel long edge is a useful general source for large displays without exporting the full camera file.

Use a larger source when the platform publishes larger variants or when you want one reusable web-export master.

Use a smaller source only when the destination explicitly limits dimensions or upload time is a serious constraint.

Do not upscale a small crop merely to hit a target; inspect it at intended display size instead.

Quality 100 creates larger files but rarely produces a meaningful portfolio advantage over a careful 85 to 92 export. The exact result varies with grain, foliage, texture, gradients, and heavy local contrast.

Export one demanding image at quality 80, 85, 90, and 100.

Compare at the size visitors will see, then use 200 percent magnification only to investigate a suspected artifact.

Look for block artifacts around fine detail, banding in gradients, and loss of texture.

Choose the lowest setting that remains visually indistinguishable in the public context.

Keep the edited raw file or high-quality master independently; the web JPEG is not the archive.

sRGB remains the safest general export color space for consistent web delivery. A wide-gamut working file can appear wrong when a destination strips or mishandles its profile.

Soft-proof if the image contains saturated color that changes noticeably on conversion.

Embed the sRGB profile.

Inspect skin tones, deep reds, greens, and smooth skies after export.

Do not assume a bright editing display represents how the photograph appears on typical screens.

Metadata can support attribution and understanding, but exports may contain more location and equipment information than you intend to share.

Keep copyright, creator, title, caption, and contact fields when accurate and useful.

Remove precise GPS data for homes, sensitive species, private sites, or vulnerable subjects.

Remove camera and lens data when it adds nothing or reveals information you prefer not to publish.

Confirm names and captions before export; copying an error across a whole gallery makes it harder to fix.

Treat a rights notice as communication, not a technical barrier to copying.

A useful filename helps you identify the export outside Lightroom. Use a stable pattern such as project-short-title_sequence.jpg or lastname_project_001.jpg. Avoid camera-default duplicates, spaces mixed with punctuation, and filenames containing private client information.

Upload three representative files before exporting a large set: one portrait, one landscape, and one difficult image with fine texture or smooth gradients. Check public color, crop, detail, loading, metadata, and mobile display. If the result works, save the export preset with a descriptive name and use it consistently.

The uploaded file is often a source for several responsive display versions rather than the exact file a visitor receives. Check the service’s accepted formats, upload limit, largest public display size, color handling, metadata policy, and whether original uploads remain private. Export one representative JPEG first and inspect the processed result before committing a whole gallery.