DiskLens › Find large files on Mac
Find Large Files on Mac
Storage pressure is almost always ten files, not ten thousand. Here are three ways to name them — starting with the one that takes fifteen seconds.
…or drag & drop a folder. 100% local — nothing uploads.
Where the space went
Top 50 largest files
Duplicate candidates
Way 1 — Visual analyzer (15 seconds)
Drop any folder above. DiskLens sorts every file by size and shows the top 50 with age flags (1yr+ untouched on anything over 100 MB you haven't opened in a year — the strongest "do I still need this?" signal there is). Because it runs locally in the browser, a 200 GB folder maps in under a minute and nothing uploads.
Way 2 — Finder search (built in)
- Open Finder, press ⌘F.
- Change "Kind" to File Size, choose "is greater than", enter 100 MB.
- Set the search scope to your home folder (not "This Mac" — system files shouldn't be touched).
- Click the "+" to add a second rule if you like, then sort by size.
Finder search misses files inside packages (like Photos Library) and can't total folders, but it's built in and instant for loose files.
Way 3 — Terminal
For the fearless: find ~ -type f -size +500M -exec ls -lh {} \; 2>/dev/null | sort -k5 -h lists everything over 500 MB in your home folder. Add -mtime +365 to restrict to files older than a year. Terminal sees everything Finder hides, but double-check each path before acting on it.
Found them — now what?
- Videos you starred or exported: move to an external drive or cloud — see the AI plan's "back up first" list.
- Old installers (.dmg, .pkg): safe to delete; the app you kept installed doesn't need them.
- VM images / Xcode DerivedData: regenerable — delete and the tool rebuilds what it needs.
- Backups of old iPhones: check Settings → Storage → iOS Backups first; if the device is gone, the backup can go too.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find files over 1 GB on my Mac?
Drop the folder into DiskLens and read the Top-50 table, or Terminal: find ~ -type f -size +1G. Finder search with File Size > 1 GB works for loose files.
Is it safe to delete large files found this way?
Regenerable files (installers, caches, build output) yes. Personal media and documents should be backed up before deletion. Browser-based deletion is permanent — no Trash.
Why does Finder say a folder is smaller than it looks?
Finder omits hidden files (dotfiles) and does not recurse into packages. Analyzers and du count every byte.
How much space is "normal" to reclaim?
First real cleanup on a Mac that has never been cleaned typically frees 10–40 GB: installers and caches account for most of it, duplicates the rest. After that, expect a few GB per quarter.