Video files on a Mac: where they take up space and how to clear them

Updated 2026-10-18

Video is usually the single biggest kind of file on a personal Mac. A few minutes of 4K footage can take gigabytes, and copies collect in places you would not think to look.

Where videos collect

Photos library: videos from your iPhone, if you use Photos. Manage them in the Photos app; the Videos album in the sidebar shows only videos.
Movies folder: exports, downloads and iMovie or Final Cut Pro libraries. Editing libraries are packages that hold their own media and render files.
Desktop: screen recordings made with Shift-Command-5 go to the same place as screenshots.
Downloads: clips from the web, AirDropped videos and files from shared links.
Messages: videos sent and received in Messages are kept by the app. In System Settings, General, Storage, click the info button next to Messages to review large attachments.

Find every large video

Press Command-F in Finder and click This Mac.
Set the rule to Kind is Movie.
Add a File Size rule (under Other) set to greater than 500 MB.
Switch to list view and sort by Size.

Save it as a Smart Folder called Big videos. It updates itself whenever you open it.

Preview before deciding

Select a video and press Space. Quick Look plays it, and you can scrub through it without opening an app. Quick Look also has a trim button for many videos, which saves a shorter version without opening an editor. Use the arrow keys to move to the next file in the folder.

Shrink a video instead of deleting it

Open the video in QuickTime Player.
Choose File, then Export As, and pick a lower resolution such as 1080p or 720p.
Check the new file plays properly.
Move the original to the Trash if you no longer need full quality.

For screen recordings and casual clips, 1080p is usually plenty and much smaller than 4K.

Be careful with editing libraries

An iMovie or Final Cut Pro library looks like one file in Finder but contains your projects and media. Do not delete files from inside it. To reclaim space, open the app and delete unused projects or generated render files from within it, or move the whole library to an external drive while the app is closed.

Find and clear videos in FileSift

FileSift gives videos their own Videos folder on its home view, with a live count and size, and shows each one as a thumbnail you can preview with Space. To focus on the biggest, type videos over 2 GB; FileSift shows the type and size filters it understood so you can change the threshold. The Large Files folder collects the biggest items of any type, and the Duplicates scan finds identical videos saved twice, keeping one copy and sending extras to the Trash.

Common questions

Can I delete videos from the Photos library in Finder?

No. Delete them in the Photos app, so the library stays intact.

Do screen recordings take a lot of space?

They can. Recording a full screen at high resolution creates large files quickly, so export a smaller copy or trim what you keep.

FileSift shows your folders as large thumbnails, searches in plain English and clears duplicates. US$19 once, for macOS 14 or later. See what it does.