[HOWTO] Change screenshot format in Tiger

cybergoober · #1 June 23rd, 2005, 01:14 PM

Screenshots in Tiger default to .png format. This can be changed now by opening a Terminal window and typing:

for pdf

Code:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf

for jpg

Code:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

for gif

Code:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type gif

then log out and log back in.
Command-Shift-3 etc should now produce the format of your choosing. To go back to png use

Code:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png

Zammy-Sam · #2 June 24th, 2005, 04:50 AM

nice! Thanks for sharing

Bottlelot · #3 June 30th, 2005, 05:23 PM

Cool beans! Just the thing I'm looking for!

snipper · #4 July 8th, 2005, 09:51 AM

When I make a screenshot (CMD-SHIFT-3 or CMD-SHIFT-4), Tiger makes PNG files on the desktop of them, even after typing your code in the Terminal.. What do I do wrong??

bobw · #5 July 8th, 2005, 10:51 AM

Copy/Paste this into Terminal;

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

Then log out and back in and try.

super_claret · #6 October 24th, 2005, 11:34 AM

Hi Bob

I've tried the above and had success changing from png to pdf, but I can't manage to get the jpg option to work ! Any thoughts ?

Cheers

Mark

Robn Kester · #7 October 24th, 2005, 11:40 AM

Good info to know. Anyway to tell it where to send the shots instead of the desktop?

snipper · #8 October 28th, 2005, 05:44 PM

Often this is even better: After pressing CMD-SHIFT-4 and while dragging over the part of the screen you want a dump of with the mousebutton pressed, keep the CTRL key pressed before you let go the mousebutton.

Instead of saving it to a file on your desktop, OS X will put it on your clipboard and you can paste it in photoshop, illustrator, etc.