Save screenshots as JPEG on a Mac

For my blog, I often take screenshots, which are saved as PNG files on macOS. If you find that PNG files take up too much space, you can switch your screenshots to JPEG format.

To do this, open the Terminal app and enter the following command:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG


This also works to switch to TIFF, GIF, or even PDF formats.

With Shift-Command-3 or Shift-Command-4, screenshots will now be saved in the selected format.

However, it’s important to note that JPEG does not support transparency, which can be particularly noticeable when taking screenshots of individual windows.

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One Comment

  1. Thank you so much! These giant screenshot PNGs were driving me crazy. This is a wonderful tip and it worked perfectly.

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