How to find large files on a Mac

1. Storage settings: "Large Files"

Open System Settings → General → Storage, then click the ⓘ button next to Documents. The Large Files tab lists big individual files in your home folder, sorted by size, and you can delete them from there.

It's quick, but limited: it lists files, not folders, so a folder of ten thousand 1 MB files never shows up — and it skips app data, caches and system locations.

2. A Finder size search

1. Open a Finder window and press ⌘ F. Choose This Mac as the search scope.
2. Click the first pop-up menu (usually Kind) and choose Other…, then tick File Size in the list.
3. Set the rule to is greater than 1 GB (or 500 MB).

Click Save to keep it as a Smart Folder in the sidebar. Like Storage settings, it finds big single files but not big folders, and Spotlight doesn't index everything (system folders and some app data are excluded).

3. A map of every folder

A disk space analyzer reads the whole disk and shows every folder with its total size — so a folder full of small files is as visible as one huge video. DiskGarden draws it as a bloom:

1. Open DiskGarden and click your startup disk. The scan takes seconds to a couple of minutes.
2. The widest petals are the biggest folders. Hover for the exact size; click to grow into a folder and follow the widest petals down to what's big.
3. Press Space to Quick Look a file, or right-click → Show in Finder.
4. Drag what you don't need into the Waste bin and empty it when you're sure — by default the files go to the Trash first.

What you'll usually find

• Videos, screen recordings and exported projects.
• Old iPhone and iPad backups.
• Developer data: Xcode and Docker.
• Disk images and installers in Downloads.
• App caches and support data — see which caches are safe to delete.