Change the screenshot format from PNG to JPG on a Mac

Q: Can I set the JPEG quality for screenshots?

The screencapture manual page lists no quality preference, and the Terminal command takes only the format. If the files are too large or too soft, capture in PNG and convert with sips using the formatOptions value that suits you.

2 October 2026 · 6 min read

There is no format setting in the screenshot toolbar, but one Terminal command changes it: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg. Every capture after that saves as a .jpg instead of a .png, and defaults delete com.apple.screencapture type puts it back. Before you switch, it is worth knowing why PNG is the default, because for most screenshots it is the right one.

Check what is set now

The format lives in the same preference domain as the other screenshot settings, com.apple.screencapture. Read it before you change it.

Open Terminal (Applications, Utilities).
Run:

defaults read com.apple.screencapture type

If Terminal says the domain/default pair does not exist, nobody has set a format and you are getting the default, PNG. If it prints a value such as jpg, someone (possibly you, years ago) already changed it.

To see everything set in that domain at once:

defaults read com.apple.screencapture

You may find location (the save folder), disable-shadow and show-thumbnail there too, if those have been changed. Entries such as last-selection are housekeeping macOS writes for itself and can be ignored. If Terminal says the domain does not exist, every screenshot setting is at its default.

Switch new screenshots to JPG

In Terminal, run:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

Take a test capture with Command-Shift-4 and drag a small rectangle.
Find the file and check the extension. If Finder hides extensions, select it and press Command-I; the Name & Extension field shows the full name.

Many older guides add ; killall SystemUIServer to the end of the command, which restarts the process behind the menu bar so the new value is picked up. On recent versions of macOS the next capture often uses the new format without it, but if your test file still ends in .png, run killall SystemUIServer (the menu bar flickers once, nothing else changes) or log out and back in.

Type the value exactly as jpg. defaults write accepts any word you give it without complaint, so a typo produces no error message; the test capture in step 2 is how you find out.

You will not find this in the Command-Shift-5 toolbar. On macOS Sequoia, in screenshot mode, its Options menu has Save to, Timer, Show Floating Thumbnail, Remember Last Selection and Show Mouse Pointer, and no format choice.

The other formats it accepts

The manual page (man screencapture) says the default is PNG and lists pdf, jpg and tiff among the other options, adding “and other formats” without naming them. In practice:

jpg: smaller files for photographic content, no transparency.
heic: accepted by recent versions of macOS (take one test capture to confirm on yours), usually smaller again, but less widely supported outside Apple devices. Some upload forms and older Windows PCs will not open it.
pdf: each capture becomes a one-page PDF containing the screen image. It is still a picture; the text in it is not selectable.
tiff: lossless and large. Mostly useful if a print or publishing workflow asks for it.
png: the default.

The setting applies to every still capture: Command-Shift-3, Command-Shift-4, window captures and the Command-Shift-5 toolbar. Screen recordings are unaffected and stay .mov.

Why PNG is the default, and when JPG or HEIC is better

PNG is lossless. Most screenshots are text, interface and flat color, and PNG keeps every edge exactly as it was on screen while compressing those flat areas well. JPEG is designed for photographs: it saves space by discarding detail the eye tends not to miss in a photo, and around small text that shows up as faint smudges and halos. A screenshot of a spreadsheet saved as JPG is often barely smaller and visibly softer.

PNG also has transparency. Window captures use it for the rounded corners and the drop shadow, so the window sits cleanly on any background. JPEG has no transparency, so those areas are filled in rather than see-through. If you switch to JPG and capture windows, turning the shadow off as well avoids a fat border around every capture: take Mac window screenshots without the shadow has the one-line setting.

JPG or HEIC is the better choice when:

The content is photographic. Captures of photos, video frames, maps, games and gradients are where PNG files get enormous and JPEG artifacts are hard to see.
Something has a size limit. Support forms, ticket systems and some chat tools cap attachment size, and a full-screen PNG on a high-resolution display can be several megabytes.
You keep thousands of them. A screenshots folder that syncs to iCloud grows more slowly in JPG or HEIC.

If your captures are mostly documents and interface, stay on PNG and convert the occasional heavy one instead.

Converting screenshots you already have

Changing the preference only affects new captures. For existing files there are two built-in routes.

In Finder. On recent versions of macOS, select the images, right-click, and look under Quick Actions for Convert Image. It offers JPEG, PNG and HEIF, and a choice of image size, and writes new files next to the originals.

In Terminal, with sips, which is part of macOS. For one file:

sips -s format jpeg "Screenshot.png" --out "Screenshot.jpg"

For every PNG in the current folder:

for f in *.png; do sips -s format jpeg "$f" --out "${f%.png}.jpg"; done

Both routes leave the originals in place, so check the converted copies before you delete anything. To control the compression, add -s formatOptions 80 (a percentage, or low, normal, high or best) to the sips command.

Undo it

To go back to PNG, delete the key rather than writing png:

defaults delete com.apple.screencapture type

Deleting removes your override, so screenshots follow whatever the system default is, including if Apple changes it in a future version. Writing png would pin the value instead. What defaults write does, and how to undo one safely explains the difference and the habit of reading a key before you write it.

If you are setting up several screenshot preferences together, the ones people usually change alongside the format are the save folder, the shadow and the floating thumbnail. Change where a Mac saves screenshots covers the folder. Mainspring handles those three as one-click, reversible power-ups (a custom screenshot folder, no shadow, no floating thumbnail), and its Screenshot Studio recipe applies a set of screenshot power-ups together and reverts them together. It does not change the file format, so the defaults command above is still the way to get JPG.

Questions

Does this change screen recordings too? No. Recordings from the Command-Shift-5 toolbar are QuickTime movies regardless of the type setting. To shrink a recording, export it at a lower resolution from QuickTime Player with File, Export As.

Can I set the JPEG quality for screenshots? The screencapture manual page lists no quality preference, and the Terminal command takes only the format. If the files are too large or too soft, capture in PNG and convert with sips using the formatOptions value that suits you.

Will the setting survive a macOS update? Preferences in your home folder normally carry across updates. If captures quietly return to PNG after an upgrade, run defaults read com.apple.screencapture type to check, and write it again if it is gone.

I set it to JPG and some screenshots are still PNG. Check where they came from. Apps with their own capture features (browsers, messaging and video call apps) save in whatever format they choose; the preference only governs macOS’s own screenshot shortcuts and toolbar.