This is a serious issue with Proton Drive iOS photo backup that sometimes triplicates my storage space unnecessarily. Simple example:

A photo on my phone is IMG_1806.HEIC. This takes only 1.3MB

When I rotate the photo, iOS does not create another photo; it just notes the transformation in an IMG_1806.AAE file. which is simply an XML that takes around 900 bytes.

But the proton drive backup shows 3 files.

IMG_1806.HEIC -> possibly the original, but takes up 1.65 MB. Where did the size increase come from?
IMG_1806_modified.heic -> possibly the rotated full picture that takes up 1.86 MB.
IMG_1806_modified.jpg -> possibly same as above in JPEG format that takes up another 1.86 MB.

If I ever lose my pictures and want to restore them en masse, it will be a huge pain.

important feature

This is an intrinsic problem with how Apple Photos APP works, when you edit a photo, it creates a duplicate of the original and merges the 2 files into your gallery, but really there are the 2 files locally on your device, taking up space.

The same thing happens if you set your camera for example to take photos in 16:9, it actually takes the photo in 4:3 and crops it and creates two files for you, even though it only shows you one.

I don't want Proton to delete the modified ones, since almost all my photos are in 16:9, but the original ones.

It would be great to have a triple option: keep originals, keep modified or both. And also to have merging options like in the iOS app so that, if you choose both, at least in the app it doesn't appear duplicated...

indeed, very annoying.
Had 200.000 pictures so.......