--- title: "Screenshots taking up space on Mac: find and clean them" description: "Mac screenshots save to the Desktop by default and screen recordings can be gigabytes. Find them all with Spotlight, change where they save, clear old ones." url: https://tidymac.space/guides/screenshots-taking-up-space-mac/ updated: 2026-10-17 --- [Home](/) [Guides](/guides/) Screenshots taking up space on Mac # Screenshots taking up space on your Mac: where they go and how to clean them up Mac screenshots save to the Desktop by default and screen recordings can be gigabytes. Find them all with Spotlight, change where they save, clear old ones. 4 min readUpdated October 16, 2026By the Tidy Mac team Short answer Mac screenshots and screen recordings save to the Desktop unless you changed it. To find all of them, run mdfind "kMDItemIsScreenCapture == 1" in Terminal, or search Finder for “Screenshot”. Screen recordings (.mov) are the big ones. Change the save location with Shift-Command-5 › Options › Save to. The steps 1. Press Shift-Command-5, click Options and check Save to: that’s where new screenshots go. 2. Find every screenshot with Spotlight’s screen-capture attribute or a Finder search. 3. Sort by size: screen recordings are usually most of the space. 4. Move old ones to the Trash, then empty it. 5. Pick a dedicated folder under Save to so they don’t pile up on the Desktop. ## Where screenshots go By default, macOS saves screenshots (Shift-Command-3, Shift-Command-4) and screen recordings (Shift-Command-5) to the **Desktop**, named like "Screenshot 2026-10-17 at 09.41.12". Press **Shift-Command-5**, click **Options**, and look under **Save to** for your current location. If Desktop & Documents are in iCloud Drive, your screenshots are uploaded there too. [How that works](/guides/optimize-mac-storage-icloud/) ## Find all of them macOS tags every screenshot as a screen capture, wherever you moved it: ``` mdfind "kMDItemIsScreenCapture == 1" | head -50 ``` Or in Finder: press **Command-F**, search for "Screenshot", and switch to List view sorted by Size. ## Screen recordings are the big ones A screenshot is usually 0.5–5 MB. A screen recording is often hundreds of megabytes, and a long one several gigabytes. Search Finder for "Screen Recording" or kind **Movie** in the same folder. [Find large files](/guides/find-large-files-mac/) ![](/img/brand/tidy-128.png) ### Let Tidy Mac do this for you See every part of your storage explained, and clear junk to the Trash with Undo. $9.99 once, 2 Macs. [Download](/download/TidyMac.dmg) [Buy for $9.99 once](/buy/) ## Clean up Select the old ones and move them to the Trash. [Empty the Trash](/learn/empty-trash-mac/) once you're sure. ## Stop the pile-up Create a folder such as **~/Pictures/Screenshots**, then in **Shift-Command-5 › Options › Other Location** pick it. To skip saving and copy to the clipboard instead, add Control: **Control-Shift-Command-4**. ## Where Tidy Mac fits Tidy Mac's Find › Screenshots lists every screenshot and screen recording with its size and date, wherever it is, and you can search in plain English, like "screenshots older than 30 days". Whatever you remove goes to the Trash with Undo. [Pricing](/#pricing) ## Frequently asked questions Where are screenshots saved on a Mac? On the Desktop by default. Press Shift-Command-5 and open Options to see or change the Save to location. How do I find all screenshots on my Mac? Run mdfind "kMDItemIsScreenCapture == 1" in Terminal, or search Finder for “Screenshot”. Spotlight finds them even if you moved them. Is it safe to delete old screenshots? Yes, if you don’t need them. They’re ordinary image files. Check for receipts or confirmations you captured before you delete. How do I take a screenshot without saving a file? Hold Control as well: Control-Shift-Command-4 copies the selection to the clipboard instead of saving it. ## Keep reading [How to find large files on your Mac](/guides/find-large-files-mac/)[The Trash on Mac](/learn/empty-trash-mac/)[Optimize Mac Storage and iCloud Drive: how it frees space, and when it doesn’t](/guides/optimize-mac-storage-icloud/)[How to find duplicate files on a Mac, with Finder, Photos or Terminal](/guides/find-duplicate-files-mac/)[Apple Mail taking up too much space on your Mac: how to shrink it safely](/guides/apple-mail-taking-up-space-mac/)[Chrome’s code\_sign\_clone folder on Mac: what it is, and what it really costs](/guides/chrome-code-sign-clone-mac/) Share:[X](https://x.com/intent/post?text=Screenshots%20taking%20up%20space%20on%20your%20Mac%3A%20where%20they%20go%20and%20how%20to%20clean%20them%20up&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftidymac.space%2Fguides%2Fscreenshots-taking-up-space-mac%2F)[Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftidymac.space%2Fguides%2Fscreenshots-taking-up-space-mac%2F&title=Screenshots%20taking%20up%20space%20on%20your%20Mac%3A%20where%20they%20go%20and%20how%20to%20clean%20them%20up)[Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitlink?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftidymac.space%2Fguides%2Fscreenshots-taking-up-space-mac%2F&t=Screenshots%20taking%20up%20space%20on%20your%20Mac%3A%20where%20they%20go%20and%20how%20to%20clean%20them%20up)[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftidymac.space%2Fguides%2Fscreenshots-taking-up-space-mac%2F) #### On this page [Where screenshots go](#where-screenshots-go)[Find all of them](#find-all-of-them)[Screen recordings are the big ones](#screen-recordings-are-the-big-ones)[Clean up](#clean-up)[Stop the pile-up](#stop-the-pile-up)[Where Tidy Mac fits](#where-tidy-mac-fits)[FAQ](#faq) **Tidy Mac** See this on your own Mac in under a minute. $9.99 once, 2 Macs. [Download](/download/TidyMac.dmg)