How To Change Screenshots Format On Mac

Tested on Mac OS 14.5, Sonoma, mac is capable of capturing screen shots and customizing the output file type.

The methods of taking screen shots that I have found are:

• Command (⌘) + Shift + 3: Takes a screen shot of the entire screen and saves data typically to the desktop.
• Command (⌘) + Shift + 3 + Control + 3: Takes a screen shot of the entire screen and saves data to the clipboard.
• Command (⌘) + Shift + 4: Llaunches screen snipper tool. Screenshots are typically saved to the desktop.
• Command (⌘) + Shift + Control + 4: Launches screen snipper tool. Screenshots are saved to the clipboard.
• Command (⌘) + Shift + 5: Launches screen shot configuration tool

To configure the file output type the following commands can be run in the terminal:

• To JPG:

  defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg;killall SystemUIServer

• To HEIC/HEIF:

  defaults write com.apple.screencapture type heic;killall SystemUIServer

• To GIF:

  defaults write com.apple.screencapture type gif;killall SystemUIServer

• To PDF:

  defaults write com.apple.screencapture type PDF;killall SystemUIServer

• To TIFF:

  defaults write com.apple.screencapture type tiff;killall SystemUIServer

• To PNG:

  defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png;killall SystemUIServer