Where are Contact photos stored? Do I need to back them up?

Question

In an effort to reduce clutter on my phone -- especially in the instance of photos -- I'm considering deleting the folder in which my Contacts photos are stored.

Where are my Contacts' stored? I've heard they're embedded in my Contacts (and consistently backed up accordingly onto the Google server.) So is it necessary to have these photos themselves stored somewhere? I would like to delete that folder.

Please clarify and confirm. Thank you in advance! :smileyhappy:

Ann154 · Accepted Answer

If your contacts are synced with your Google account, the photos associated with the contacts are stored with the contact information.  For example, I have switched phones at least twice since most of my contacts had their photos added to them.  The photos are still on that original device, but they are no longer on the devices I have activated since then.  The contacts themselves still have the photos associated with them.  Which does make for a challenge when I have to add a new contact that is associated with a certain company I work for since I chose to use that company's logo for the majority of that company's employees.  I have to dig deep into my photos backed up on Google photos to find that one logo image.  Fun times. :smileyhappy: