# How to Find Large Files on a Mac, Including Hidden Ones

> Find big files on a Mac with Storage settings, a Finder search by size or one Terminal command, and why big folders of small files never show up in a size search.

Canonical: https://bytesweep.app/answers/find-large-files-on-mac.html
Last updated: 2026-11-04

## How do I find large files on a Mac?

Find big files on a Mac with Storage settings, a Finder search by size or one Terminal command, and why big folders of small files never show up in a size search.

- By [Shajeen Ahamed](https://bytesweep.app/about.html#author)
- Updated 4 November 2026
- Steps checked against Apple's documentation

**Short answer**

Open System Settings, General, Storage, click the info button next to Documents and choose Large Files. For more control, search in Finder (Command-F) with File Size "is greater than" 1 GB. Terminal finds hidden ones too: `find ~ -type f -size +1G`. A size search misses big folders made of small files, so check folder sizes as well.

### Where does macOS list large files itself?

Choose Apple menu, System Settings, General, Storage. Wait for the coloured bar to finish, then click the info button (ⓘ) beside **Documents**. The Large Files tab lists your biggest files with their size and the date you last opened them, and you can delete from there. Downloads and Unsupported Apps are the next tabs along and are worth a look while you are there.

It is the quickest place to start, with limits: it covers the files macOS files under Documents, not what is inside app libraries, caches or developer folders, and it does not show folders at all.

### How do I search for files by size in Finder?

1. Open a Finder window and press Command-F.
2. Click **This Mac** so the search covers the whole disk rather than the current folder.
3. Click the first menu (it says Kind) and choose **Other…**. Tick**File Size** in the list and click OK.
4. Set it to **is greater than**, type 1 and choose GB. Use 500 MB if nothing turns up.
5. Switch to list view (Command-2) and click the Size column to sort.

Click Save in the search bar to keep it as a Smart Folder in the sidebar, so the same search is one click next time. Finder searches use the Spotlight index, so they skip folders Spotlight does not index, which includes most of ~/Library and anything you added under System Settings, Spotlight, Search Privacy.

### How do I find large files from Terminal, hidden ones included?

`find` walks the folders itself instead of asking Spotlight, so it sees hidden folders, caches and app data:

```
## files over 1 GB in your home folder, with their sizes, largest last
find ~ -type f -size +1G -exec du -h {} + 2>/dev/null | sort -h

## the same for the whole startup disk (asks for your password)
sudo find / -xdev -type f -size +1G -exec du -h {} + 2>/dev/null | sort -h

## Spotlight's answer, for comparison: indexed files over 1 GB
mdfind 'kMDItemFSSize > 1000000000'
```

`-xdev` keeps `find` on the startup disk instead of wandering into external drives and network shares. Give Terminal Full Disk Access first (System Settings, Privacy & Security), or Mail, Messages and other protected folders are skipped without a word.

### What usually turns up, and what to do with each?

| What you find | Typical place | How to remove it safely |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Disk images and installers (.dmg, .iso, .pkg) | ~/Downloads | Delete once the app is installed; they can be downloaded again. |
| Screen recordings and video exports | Desktop, Movies | Keep the final export, delete the drafts. Final Cut and Premiere caches have their own settings. |
| Virtual machine disks | ~/Parallels, UTM and VMware folders | Delete the machine inside its app; a half-deleted VM keeps its snapshots. |
| `Docker.raw` | ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker | Never delete the file; shrink it from Docker. See [Docker disk space on a Mac](https://bytesweep.app/docker-disk-space-mac.html) . |
| Local AI models | ~/.ollama, ~/.lmstudio, ~/.cache/huggingface | Remove through the tool (`ollama rm`). See [where AI models are stored](https://bytesweep.app/ai-model-storage.html) . |
| Files inside the Photos or Music library | ~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary | Never delete inside the library; delete in Photos, then empty Recently Deleted. |

### Why does a size search miss some of the biggest space users?

Because they are folders of many small files. An iPhone backup in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup can be 60 GB made of tens of thousands of files, none of them large. So can Xcode's DerivedData, a project's `node_modules`, browser caches and Messages attachments. A search for files over 1 GB will never list any of them.

So run both checks: large files, then [folder sizes](https://bytesweep.app/answers/see-folder-sizes-on-mac.html). In Terminal, `du -hd 2 ~ 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -25` shows the 25 biggest folders two levels down from your home folder, which catches most of these in one go.

### Is there one view that shows both?

A disk analyzer does, because it measures folders and files in the same scan. Bytesweep's Storage page on a Mac has a **Biggest files**view and a**Not used for a long time** view next to the folder map, and every item opens in Finder. What it recognises (iPhone backups, Xcode and Docker data, cloud files already uploaded) is named, rated safe, review first or keep, and cleaned with a 7-day undo; actions macOS performs itself, such as deleting local Time Machine snapshots, cannot be undone, and it says so before you confirm. Free to try for 3 days, then $29.99 once per computer.

### Sources

Read on 4 November 2026. If something here has changed, write to [support@bytesweep.app](mailto:support@bytesweep.app) and it will be corrected.

- [Apple, Free up storage space on your Mac](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/free-up-storage-space-sysp4ee93ca4/mac)
- [Apple, Mac User Guide (macOS 27)](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/welcome/mac)

### Keep reading

- [**How do I see folder sizes on a Mac?**](https://bytesweep.app/answers/see-folder-sizes-on-mac.html)
- [**Your startup disk is almost full: what to do**](https://bytesweep.app/blog/mac-startup-disk-full.html)
- [**Disk space analyzer for Mac**](https://bytesweep.app/mac-disk-space-analyzer.html)
- [**All answers**](https://bytesweep.app/answers/)

### See what is filling your disk, and why.

Bytesweep is free to try for 3 days on [Mac](https://bytesweep.app/mac.html), [Windows](https://bytesweep.app/windows.html) and [Linux](https://bytesweep.app/linux.html). Cleaning needs a licence: $29.99 once per computer, no subscription.

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