Every Screenshot Format Your Mac Supports (PNG to PDF)

Every Mac screenshot is a PNG — until you tell it otherwise. One Terminal command switches the system-wide screenshot format to JPG, PDF, TIFF, GIF, BMP, or HEIC, and one command switches it back. Here's the command, what each format is actually for, and the trade-offs Apple's default is quietly protecting you from.

The command

The screenshot system reads its format from a preference key — a real, documented one. To switch to JPG:

# set the screenshot format (jpg, png, pdf, tiff, gif, bmp, heic)
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
# undo: back to the PNG default
defaults delete com.apple.screencapture type

New screenshots pick up the format immediately on modern macOS. If yours don't, restart the process that owns screenshot services and try again:

# nudge the screenshot system (it restarts automatically; no undo needed)
killall SystemUIServer

The change applies to every capture — shortcuts, the Cmd + Shift + 5 toolbar, timed shots — and survives restarts until you delete the key. It changes the container, not the capture: same pixels, different encoding and file size.

Not sure what your Mac is currently set to? Read the key back — if the command errors with "does not exist," you're on the stock PNG:

# check the current screenshot format (read-only)
defaults read com.apple.screencapture type

What each format is for

• PNG (default) — lossless, pixel-perfect text, supports transparency (which window captures use for their shadow margins). The right default; its only sin is size on large captures.
• JPG — a fraction of PNG's size, at the cost of slight fuzz around sharp edges — which screenshots, being mostly text and lines, show more than photos do. Choose it when screenshots are high-volume and destined for chat, email, or web upload, where the size savings compound. No transparency: window-capture shadows sit on a white background.
• PDF — every capture becomes a one-page PDF. Genuinely useful in paperwork workflows — screenshots that get filed, merged, or printed — since Preview can stitch PDFs together without conversion.
• TIFF — lossless like PNG but much larger; some print and archival pipelines request it. If nobody has asked you for TIFF, you don't need it.
• HEIC — modern, efficient, roughly half of JPG at similar quality, and it keeps transparency. The catch is compatibility: Windows machines and older tools still stumble on it. Fine for personal archives, risky for sharing.
• GIF / BMP — legacy corners: GIF flattens your screen to 256 colors (this is still GIF, not animation), BMP is huge and uncompressed. Both exist for the rare tool that demands them.

Converting per-file beats switching for one job

Need one JPG, not a new default? Leave the system on PNG and convert the odd file: open it in Preview → File → Export and pick the format, or right-click the file in Finder and use Quick Actions → Convert Image (choose format and size). Reserve the defaults switch for a genuine change of habit — like a support job where every capture goes straight into tickets.

A sane setup

Most people are best served by PNG plus a per-file converter for the exceptions. The two defensible full-time switches: JPG if you take many screenshots a day and they all travel through chat or the web, and PDF if your captures live in document workflows. Whatever you pick, the change affects only new captures — existing screenshots keep their format — and it's per-user, so your account's JPG habit never surprises anyone else on the Mac. The road back is one command — defaults delete com.apple.screencapture type — and your next capture is a PNG again.