If you’re not sure what to do, the video below demonstrates setting the file type of screenshots on Mac to JPEG format by issuing the appropriate command string into the Terminal of a Mac: Now if you take a screen capture, it’ll appear as whatever file type you specified. Want to return back to the default PNG format? No problem, use the following command string in terminal:ĭefaults write type pngįor Macs running macOS Big Sur or newer, the change is immediate after executing the command and the next screen shot will be in PNG format.įor Macs running earlier system software versions, you will need to kill the SystemUIServer for changes to take effect: Nonetheless, here’s how to set it as the primary format if desired:ĭefaults write type tiff killall SystemUIServer Set the Screen Shot File Type Back to Mac Default of PNG TIFF is generally best used for print purposes, and is generally not recommended to use for most individuals because the resulting screen shot file sizes can be quite large (10MB or more, per screen shot).

TIFF is a large high quality and entirely uncompressed image format. GIF is generally lower quality with less colors, but it can be chosen if necessary:ĭefaults write type gif killall SystemUIServerĬhanges will take effect automatically on the next screen captures.

PDF is another optional format for screen captures, though it’s less common:ĭefaults write type pdf killall SystemUIServer Setting Screen Shot File Type to GIF Be sure to place them onto a single line when executed at the command line. You can set the screenshot file type to JPG, PDF, TIFF, GIF, or PNG, commands for the other screenshot file formats are listed below as well. JPG is perhaps the most popular alternative, since it’s compressed by default while still retaining fairly decent image quality, and it’s also an extremely common type of web graphic.įor many of us, switching the screenshot format to JPEG is the primary objective. Now take a screen shot as usual in Mac OS X (Command+Shift+3) and locate the file on the desktop to verify the change has taken place, the file extension should now be. Hit the return key to execute the command. For macOS Catalina and earlier, use the following command in Terminal:ĭefaults write type jpg killall SystemUIServer

Os x image capture