By default the screenshot you capture on Mac is in .png file format. The .png file format supports lossless data compression which means that the screenshot size is on the higher side, well thats not bad for some but for those who are uploading them to web would not prefer it. The good news is that you can change the default file format to any other file format of your choice like gif, jpg or even pdf. In this guide, I will share how you can change the default file format of screen captured on Mac.
Changing screenshot file format
To change the default file format, you need to use the Terminal (also referred as command line) on Mac. To open terminal go to Applications ❯ Utilities ❯ Open Terminal.
To demonstrate I’m changing the default file format to jpg. To change from .png to .jpg type the following command in terminal and hit enter.
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg;killall SystemUIServer
Now verify the change by taking a screenshot, press
Similarly to change in other file formats, type the following commands in terminal.
Change to .gif
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type gif;killall SystemUIServer
Change to .pdf
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf;killall SystemUIServer
You can switch between these file formats any number of times as per your requirement.
Reverting the changes
If at some point you choose to go back to .png file format then type the following command in terminal:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png;killall SystemUIServer
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