Mac OS

How to change the default screen capture format in macOS

PNG JPGconversion 2

The Joint Photographic Group is also referred to as “JPG or JPEG ” and it is a format often used for photography on the internet. JPEG files are web-friendly because the files are smaller than PNG files. There are several online tools that are capable of doing this. Here are some reasons for converting from PNG to JPG format. They are faster, they help decrease bounce rates due to faster load time thereby increasing your google ranking, and reduced storage. Kindly refer to this guide on “how to convert images from PNG to JPG on WordPress, Windows, and Mac“. The default file format for macOS is PNG and this became more of an issue to me due to the file format which led to performance degradation on my blog. Because of this, I have decided to change the default file format to JPG.

The PNG image file is a Portable Network Graphic file which is a raster image and the file builds graphics piece-by-piece. The PNG uses lossless compression, that allows large files shrink into smaller sizes without losing resolution. If a PNG is reverted to its original size the resolution remains the same. PNG is better with limited color images, such as logos, and with images transparency.

Kindly follow the steps below to change the default file format. Click on the “Luanchpad” and from the search window, enter “Terminal”.
– Double click on the Terminal to launch it.

Terminal
Alternatively: You can launch Spotlight by hitting the Command + Space bar to open Spotlight, type in Terminal as shown below and open it.
Spotlight

Regardless of your approach, this will open the terminal as shown below. Please run the following command below followed by your desired file format “JPG, TIFF, GIF, PDF, and PNG”.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG
PNG JPG Conv

Henceforth, your screenshots will appear in your chosen format. Peradventure, if the change does not reflect immediately, please restart your device. In my case, a restart was not necessary and my files are now in JPG format.

To convert this back to the default “simply enter the command followed by PNG as shown below.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type PNG

I hope you found this blog post helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.

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