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Aug 16, 2010 - 11 Comments
Change the Screen Shot Capture FileFormat in Mac OS XAll
versions of Mac OS X default to saving captured screen shot files
toPNG format, but if youd rather have them save as another file
type, itsactually quite easy to modify the file format and change
the default tosomething new. Whether the desired format is JPG,
TIFF, PDF, GIF, orback to PNG defaults, lets walk through the
process of changing theformat.
Change the Screen Shot File Format in Mac OSXLaunch Terminal,
located in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder but accessible
through Spotlight andLaunchpad as well, and then use the following
command strings to change to the appropriate fileformat.
Set the Screen Shot Type to JPGAfter you have launched Terminal,
typethe following command to change to JPG:
defaults writecom.apple.screencapture typejpg
Hit the return key to execute thecommand. Next, you must issue
anothercommand to restart SystemUIServer sothat changes take
eect:
killall SystemUIServer
Again hit return.
Now take a screen shot as usual in OS X (Command+Shift+3) and
locate the file on the desktop toverify the change has taken place,
the file extension should now be .jpg as will the image
formatitself.
JPG is perhaps the most common alternative, since its compressed
by default while still retainingfairly decent image quality, and
its also an extremely common type of web graphic. For many of
us,switching the screenshot format to JPEG is the primary
objective.
For the remaining file types we will combine the command strings
together making them easier tocopy & paste into the terminal as
a single line of command syntax.
Set as PDFPDF is another optional format, though its less
common:
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defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf;killall
SystemUIServer
Set as GIFGIF is generally lower quality with less colors, but
it can be chosen if necessary:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type gif;killall
SystemUIServer
Changes will take eect automatically.
Set as TIFFTIFF is a large high quality and entirely
uncompressed image format. TIFF is generally best used forprint
purposes, and is generally not recommended to use for most
individuals because the resultingscreen shot file sizes can be
quite large (10MB or more, per screen shot). Nonetheless, heres how
toset it as the primary format if desired:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type tiff;killall
SystemUIServer
Set the Screen Shot File Type Back to the OS X Default of
PNGWant to return back to the default PNG format? No problem, use
the following command string interminal:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png
Again, after the command string has been executed, you will need
to kill the SystemUIServer forchanges to take eect:
killall SystemUIServer
Now if you take a screen capture, itll appear as whatever file
type you specified.
Updated: 4/15/2013
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Related articles:Disable the Window Shadow on Screen Shots in
Mac OS X
Change the Default Screen Shot File Name in Mac OS X
Change the Screen Shot Save File Location in Mac OS X
Screen Capture in Mac OS X
Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Mac OS X, Tips & Tricks
11 Comments Comments RSS Feed
Polarbreeze says:October 23, 2010 at 4:04 pm
This advice appears in numerous places on the web.
Unfortunately, it does not work. I think people
just copy other peoples advice without checking whether it
actually works or not.
Reply
moz says:October 23, 2010 at 7:14 pm
alternatively, it means you are doing something wrong. if you
dont kill SystemUIServer the
changes do not take eect.
i set mine to jpg a long time ago, png is too heavy and oers no
advantages. it works fine.
Reply
Peter says:June 28, 2012 at 9:12 pm
It works perfectly for me in OS X Lion. You need to use killall
SystemUIServer at the end maybe
you forgot to do so.
Reply
Pete says:October 5, 2012 at 9:46 am
Nope. It doesnt work here either.
14
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23
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Tried as sudo too, no change, still saves as TIFF
Reply
plimplam says:April 2, 2013 at 7:12 pm
really helpful!thank you so much!
Reply
OSXDaily says:April 2, 2013 at 8:05 pm
It definitely works. Everything we publish we test and
review.
Reply
Allison says:August 8, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Worked beautifully! Thank you so much! I was actually really
upset that when I updated to Lion OSX,all
of my screenshots were saved at png files, and the only way I
could save them as jpg extensions was
to literally duplicate the screenshot in preview (because Lion
got rid of the save as option =/), and
then save the copy as a jpg and delete the original. Such an
unnecessary hassle. Glad I stumbled
upon this!
Reply
jt says:October 1, 2012 at 10:05 am
If there were only a way to do this in iOS. I dont like the huge
filesize of PNG files. Maybe Ive been
around for so long that I prefer the compressed picture formats
but given the actual size of an iOS
device such as an iPhone or iPod touch, .jpg files are more than
sucient to use as the default picture
filetype for screenshots.
This is a problem when I post screenshots in Twitter and I look
at the size of a PNG file and it disturbs
me the size when and if I export the file to .jpg, its at least
have the file size.
Reply
Dave says:October 10, 2012 at 11:08 am
This does not work for me in Mountain Lion. Anyone know of a way
to make it work in Mountain Lion
or am I the only one unable to change it? Screenshots come out
as .ti files even after doing the
terminal command to change them to .jpg.
Thanks,
Dave
Reply
Gaynor says:February 25, 2013 at 10:24 am
Ive tried various tips but still cant find a way of converting a
screenshot into a JPG in Mountain Lion.
Worked fine in Snow Leopard but now the Save as button has gone,
theres no obvious way to do it.
Reply
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Paul says:February 25, 2013 at 12:02 pm
If you are using Preview, you can use the Export option.
Otherwise, you can re-enable the Save As menu option in OS X
Mountain Lion as described
here:
http://osxdaily.com/2012/08/27/enable-save-as-os-x-mountain-lion/
Reply
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