Terminal Hacks - Set Screenshot's Default File Type

Change Default File Type

Open Terminal: Finder > Applications > Utilities

In Terminal, type or paste one of the following…

_{JPG Joint Photographic Experts Group [raster format]}
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG

_{PDF Portable Document Format [vector format]}
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type PDF

_{PNG Portable Network Graphics [raster format]}
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type PNG

_{TIFF Tagged Image File Format [raster format]}
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type TIFF

(return)

_{Originally posted 11 January, 2025.}