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How to find large files on your Mac

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In short: You can find large files on a Mac in three ways: in System Settings under General > Storage > Documents, with a Finder search by file size, or in Terminal with the find command. They are usually videos, screen recordings, installers in Downloads, archives and virtual machines. Only delete what you recognise, and move what you want to keep to an external drive. The space is only free once you have emptied the Trash.

How does macOS itself show the largest files?

The quickest way is the storage overview. According to Apple, you choose Apple menu > System Settings, click General in the sidebar and then Storage. Next to the Documents category, the Info button opens a list of the files in your home folder. There you can show the particularly large files and downloads and sort the list by clicking Size; Last Accessed shows when you last opened a file. Show in Finder takes you to where the file is, so you can decide there at your own pace.

How do I find large files with the Finder?

The Finder search can filter by file size, and you can save it for later:

  1. Open a Finder window and press Command-F. The Finder then searches "This Mac".
  2. Below the search field, click the far-left pop-up menu (it shows "Kind" at first), choose "Other", select "File Size" and click "OK". If there is no row of criteria, add one with the Add button (the plus sign) on the right below the search field.
  3. Set the row to "File Size is greater than", for example 500, and choose "MB" as the unit.
  4. "Save" below the search field keeps the search as a Smart Folder, a saved search that fills itself anew each time you open it. If "Add To Sidebar" is selected, it then appears on the left of the Finder.

How do I find large files in Terminal?

Terminal, an app in the Applications > Utilities folder, takes commands as text. This command lists every file in your home folder that is larger than 1 GB:

find ~ -type f -size +1G 2>/dev/null

du -sh ~/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h shows which folders directly in your home folder take the most space, the largest at the bottom. Both commands only read and change nothing. Two quirks: the commands count in steps of 1024, so a "1G" is about 1.07 GB as the Finder shows it. And folders whose name starts with a dot, such as ~/.npm, are not included in ~/*. On the first run, macOS may ask whether Terminal may access folders such as Desktop, Documents or Downloads. If ~/Library or a dot folder is large, the guides System Data on your Mac: what it is and how to reduce it and How to clean up node_modules and package caches on your Mac help.

Where are large files usually on a Mac?

  • Downloads: installers such as .dmg and .pkg that you usually no longer need once the app is installed, plus downloaded archives (.zip).
  • Movies and screen recordings on the Desktop or in the Movies folder.
  • Virtual machines, meaning a second operating system inside an app such as Parallels Desktop or UTM. Their virtual disks can grow to many gigabytes.
  • Old project and export folders from video, photo or audio apps.

How do I decide what can go?

Three questions help with each file: Can I download it again? Is it already in a backup or in the cloud? Will I need it in the coming months? What you want to keep but do not need on the Mac, move to an external drive. An alternative is the Store in iCloud recommendation under General > Storage: according to Apple, it stores your Desktop and Documents in iCloud Drive and keeps only recently opened files on the Mac when space is needed.

What should you not delete?

  • Nothing inside the Photos library. It normally sits in the Pictures folder and is managed by the Photos app; according to Apple, changing its contents in the Finder can damage it. Delete photos in the Photos app.
  • Nothing in ~/Library just because it is large; it holds settings and data your apps still need.
  • Nothing you do not recognise, permanently: as long as a file is in the Trash, you can put it back.

Frequently asked questions

Is the space free as soon as I delete a file?

No. A deleted file first goes to the Trash and keeps taking space until you empty it, in the Finder for example with Shift-Command-Delete. With Empty Trash Automatically under General > Storage, macOS erases items that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.

Why does Terminal show different sizes than the Finder?

The Finder counts 1 GB as 1,000,000,000 bytes, while the find and du commands count in steps of 1024. A "1G" in Terminal is therefore about 1.07 GB in the Finder.

How do I find files I have not opened in a long time?

In System Settings under General > Storage > Documents, sort the list by Last Accessed. In a Finder search, add the criterion "Last opened date".

Where do I see what takes up storage on my Mac?

Under Apple menu > System Settings > General > Storage. According to Apple, macOS shows the space used there by category, such as Applications, Documents, Photos, Trash and System Data.

Faster with SpaceBroom

Large Files in SpaceBroom lists every file from 50 MB in your home folder, filtered by size (50 MB, 100 MB, 500 MB, 1 GB), by when you last opened it and by kind such as video, archive or document. It leaves out ~/Library, hidden files, the insides of apps and libraries, and files that are only in iCloud, so nothing gets downloaded. Space Lens also shows every folder with its size. What you select goes to the Trash only after you confirm. More ways to free up space are in the guide How to free up storage space on your Mac: 9 ways that work.

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