Google Photos compressed my images, what’s the best way to retrieve the originals?

If Google Photos compressed your photos, you can get the originals back by first making sure they are still on your device or in a different backup place.

If the "High Quality" storage setting is turned on in Google Photos, files may be compressed by default. This won't happen if you change the settings to "Original Quality." This will store future uploads in full quality.

If you share photos in "High Quality," Google Photos doesn't keep the uncompressed versions of those photos. If you saved the full-size pictures on your phone, computer, or a USB drive, though, try getting them back from there.

Also, if you changed your settings not long ago, you might still find photos that are not compressed in the "Recently Deleted" area. For pictures that are important to you, you might want to keep backups on Google Drive or another cloud storage service in "Original Quality."

This is the information we have, but if you have more insights from your experience, please share in the comments.