Change the Default File Type to JPG for Screen Captures by Using a Terminal Command

Screen Shot 2016-07-15 at 11.07.00 AM

 

You can change the default file type for screen captures by using a terminal command. Every installation of Mac OS X includes the Terminal application in Applications > Utilities. Most major image formats are supported including PNG, PDF, GIF, TIFF, and JPG, we’ll go with JPG since that is a common type of web graphic:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

Then you must kill the SystemUIServer for changes to take effect:

killall SystemUIServer