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How to Change the Default Graphic Screenshot Format on Mac OS X

Thursday, October 16, 2008
 

Instructions

Things You’ll Need:

  • Mac OS X
  • Terminal Application
  • Step 1:
    Mac OS X Terminal ApplicationIn an open Finder window, navigate to “Application/Utilities/Terminal” and double-click the Terminal application to launch it.
  • Step 2:
    Change the Screenshot Graphic FormatIn a new Terminal window, type in the following command to change the graphic screenshot format from the default png format to jpg, then hit return/enter on your keyboard to finish entering the command: "defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg."
  • Step 3:
    Terminal Command LineTo change the format to gif, tiff, pdf or any other standard graphic format, change the file type in the terminal command from jpg to the new file format. The following examples will change the format to a tiff and gif file format:defaults write com.apple.screencapture type tiffdefaults write com.apple.screencapture type gif
  • Step 4:
    Screenshot FileYour new Screenshot file in the updated default graphic format chosen in steps 2 and 3, will be saved to your Desktop. Double-click the file to open it.

Photo/Video Credit

John Ford: Apple Computer

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