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Find large files on Mac (Finder, Terminal, and faster ways)

Three methods to find the largest files on your Mac, from a quick Finder search to a one-line Terminal command.

4 min read

The fastest way to free up disk space is usually to find a handful of huge files and delete them. Here are three ways to find large files on a Mac, ordered from easiest to most powerful.

Quick, no Terminal needed.

  1. Open Finder. Press Cmd + F.
  2. Set "Search" to "This Mac."
  3. Click the dropdown that says "Kind" and change it to "File Size."
  4. Set the filter to "is greater than" and enter "1 GB."
  5. Click the eye-shaped column-toggle icon and add "Size." Sort by Size, descending.

Now you’ve got every file over 1 GB. Drop the threshold to 500 MB or 100 MB to widen the net.

Method 2: Storage Settings

The macOS built-in.

System Settings > General > Storage > Documents > “Review Files.” That gives you a sortable list of your biggest files, scoped per category (Apps, Documents, Music, etc.) with checkboxes to delete.

This is actually a clean UI for one specific job: finding and deleting large files you forgot about. Use it.

Method 3: Terminal (the fastest)

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

That lists every file in your home folder over 1 GB. To include sizes and sort:

find ~ -type f -size +500M -exec du -h {} + 2>/dev/null | sort -h

Or to scan your whole disk (slow, but thorough):

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

The 2>/dev/null hides permission errors that clutter the output.

What to look for

Files most likely to be over 1 GB:

The smart twist: large duplicate files

Once you’ve got the list, check whether you have multiple copies. A 4 GB video file showing up in your search is worth checking against /Documents, /Movies, and any external drive. If two copies exist, you’re paying twice.

The fastest way to verify is by hashing. From Terminal:

shasum -a 256 /path/to/file1 /path/to/file2

If the hashes match, the files are byte-identical. Delete one.

For more than a few files this gets tedious. Download Dupe, which does the same SHA-256 hash matching across your whole disk in one scan, groups duplicates, and moves them to the Trash on confirmation. $14.99 once, never permanent deletes, never touches system files.

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