Why did my Mac start saving screenshots as HEIC?

macOS Tahoe changed the default screenshot format to HEIC on Macs with HDR-capable displays, so it can preserve extended color and brightness data that PNG cannot store. Older Macs and non-HDR displays are not affected.

Does the screenshot toolbar let me pick PNG from a menu?

No. The Options menu in the screenshot toolbar (Shift-Command-5) only lets you choose between SDR and HDR capture, not a file format. Changing the format to PNG, JPEG, TIFF, or GIF requires a Terminal command.

Why Are My Mac Screenshots Saving as HEIC Instead of PNG?

You press Shift-Command-4, drag a selection, and the file that lands on your desktop ends up with a .heic extension instead of .png. Nothing in your workflow changed. macOS did.

Why Did My Screenshots Switch to HEIC?

macOS Tahoe defaults to HEIC for screenshots taken on Macs with HDR-capable displays. Apple made this change to capture extended color and brightness data that a standard PNG file cannot hold.

If you own a MacBook Pro with a Liquid Retina XDR display, a Studio Display, or a Pro Display XDR, your screenshots are the ones affected. Macs connected to standard SDR monitors keep saving PNG by default, so if you use an external display, that's often why the behavior seems inconsistent between your laptop screen and your desk setup.

The problem shows up fast once you notice it. GitHub rejects HEIC uploads in issues and pull requests. Slack's web app frequently fails to preview them inline. Jira attachments show a blank thumbnail instead of the image. Anyone who pastes screenshots into a Word doc or a ticketing system runs into the same wall.

Is There a Format Option in the Screenshot Toolbar?

No. Press Shift-Command-5 to open the screenshot toolbar, click Options, and you'll see a choice between SDR and HDR capture, not a file format picker. PNG, JPEG, TIFF, and GIF are not listed anywhere in that menu.

This trips people up because past macOS versions at least implied format lived somewhere in settings. In Tahoe, the SDR/HDR toggle controls whether the screenshot captures the extended dynamic range data at all. HDR capture is what triggers the switch to HEIC, since PNG cannot encode that data. Switching this toggle to SDR only affects new screenshots, and on some Macs, it still defaults back to HDR after a restart.

The only place to control the actual file format is Terminal.

How Do I Change Mac Screenshots Back to PNG?

Open Terminal and run this command, then press Return:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png
killall SystemUIServer

The first line tells the screenshot utility to save every future screenshot as PNG. The second line restarts SystemUIServer, the background process that handles the screenshot capture behavior, so the change applies immediately instead of waiting for your next restart or login.

Take a test screenshot with Shift-Command-4 right after running the command. Check the file on your desktop. It should read .png in Finder's file info.

If you want to confirm the setting stuck without taking a screenshot, run:

defaults read com.apple.screencapture type

This should print png back to you. If it prints nothing or shows an old value, re-run the write command and make sure you didn't skip the killall line.

Can I Use a Different Format Instead of PNG?

Yes. The same command works with other formats if PNG isn't what you need. Swap png for one of these:

jpg for smaller file sizes, useful for screenshots you're emailing or uploading somewhere with strict size limits
tiff for uncompressed quality, useful if you're editing the screenshot in a photo app afterward
gif for basic screenshots you plan to convert or embed elsewhere

Avoid JPG for screenshots with text or sharp UI edges. The compression introduces visible fuzzing around letters and window borders that PNG and TIFF don't have.

Will This Setting Survive a macOS Update?

Not reliably. Users have reported the format reverting to HEIC after installing a macOS Tahoe point update, particularly on Macs with HDR displays. Apple's update process resets some screencapture defaults during larger system patches.

If you notice HEIC screenshots again after updating macOS, re-run the same two-line command. It takes ten seconds and there's no downside to running it again even if the setting didn't actually reset.

What if killall SystemUIServer Doesn't Fix It Right Away?

Log out and back in, or restart your Mac. The killall command restarts the menu bar and screenshot service, but on some Macs a background helper process related to HDR capture holds onto the old setting until a full session restart. A log out clears it every time.

If screenshots still save as HEIC after a restart, double check you typed the defaults command correctly. A common mistake is missing the space between type and png, or accidentally quoting the value. The command should run without any error output in Terminal. If it prints anything back besides your next prompt line, the syntax is off.

How Do I Know if My Mac Has an HDR Display?

Check Apple menu > System Settings > Displays. If you see a brightness slider labeled "XDR Display Brightness" or an "HDR Video" toggle, your display supports HDR and is the reason your screenshots switched formats.

MacBook Pro models with the Liquid Retina XDR screen (14-inch and 16-inch, 2021 and later) qualify. So do external displays like the Apple Studio Display and Pro Display XDR when connected to a compatible Mac. A standard MacBook Air, an older Intel MacBook Pro, or a basic external monitor will keep saving PNG by default because macOS has no HDR data to preserve in the first place.

This also explains why the same Mac can behave two different ways. Undock a MacBook Pro from a Studio Display and use the built-in screen instead, and screenshots may switch back to PNG since the display context changed. The defaults write command overrides this behavior entirely regardless of which screen is active, which is why it's the more reliable fix than toggling SDR/HDR in the Options menu.

What About Screenshots I Already Took as HEIC?

The format change only affects new screenshots going forward. Existing HEIC files on your desktop stay HEIC until you convert them.

For a handful of files, open each one in Preview, go to File > Export, and choose PNG from the Format dropdown before saving. This works but gets tedious past three or four images.

For a whole folder at once, use Automator or Shortcuts instead:

Open the Shortcuts app (it comes preinstalled on macOS Tahoe)
Create a new shortcut and add the "Convert Image" action
Set the output format to PNG
Add "Save File" after it and pick a destination folder
Drag your HEIC screenshots onto the shortcut in Finder, or run it from the Shortcuts app and select the files when prompted

This batch-converts everything in one pass without touching Terminal again.

Quick Reference

For anyone who just wants the fix without the explanation:

Open Terminal (Command-Space, type "Terminal", press Return)
Paste: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png
Press Return
Paste: killall SystemUIServer
Press Return
Take a test screenshot to confirm

Bookmark this page or save the command in Notes. If you're on a Mac with an HDR display, there's a real chance you'll need to run it again after a future macOS update.