Help · Mac storage

How to find large files on a Mac.

By Grant and Brad, who make Pangalin's apps · Updated 11 October 2026

Before deleting anything, find out what's actually using the space. On most Macs, a handful of big files and folders (videos, old projects, disk images, downloads, app libraries) account for most of it. Here are three free ways to find them.

1. Storage settings: the overview

1. Choose Apple menu › System Settings › General › Storage. The bar at the top shows space by category.
2. Click the ⓘ next to Documents. The Large Files list shows your biggest documents, and Downloads shows what's in your Downloads folder, each with its size and when it was last opened.
3. Select files you don't need and click Delete…. This deletes them straight away, not to the Trash, so be sure first.

Storage settings only covers some categories, and it lumps much of the rest into System Data.

2. Finder: search by size

1. In Finder, press ⌘F and choose This Mac.
2. Click the first criterion (“Kind”), choose Other…, tick File Size and click OK.
3. Set it to “is greater than” 1 GB (or 500 MB). Big files appear as you type.
4. Right-click the column headings and add Size and Date Last Opened, then sort. Big files you haven't opened in a year are good candidates to move or delete.

To find big folders, open your home folder in list view (⌘2), choose View › Show View Options, tick Calculate all sizes, then sort by Size. Open the biggest folder and repeat. Finder search finds files, not folders, so this is how you find a folder full of small files.

3. Terminal: the quickest full list

If you're comfortable with Terminal, this lists the folders in your home folder, smallest to largest. It only reads; it changes nothing.

du -sh ~/* ~/Library/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -20

Folders macOS protects (Mail, Messages and others) show as smaller than they are unless Terminal has Full Disk Access.

Then decide, calmly

• Delete what you recognise and don't need: old installers (.dmg, .pkg), duplicate downloads, exported videos you've already shared. Move them to the Trash first and empty it later.
• Move what you want to keep but rarely open: finished projects, footage, archives. See moving folders to an external drive.
• Leave files inside apps' libraries (Photos, Music, Final Cut) and anything in ~/Library you don't recognise. Manage those through the app that owns them.