Finding specific things

Finding files by size

Updated 2026-07-31 · 3 min read

Size is the most reliable filter there is — it does not depend on remembering a name or a date.

Finder

⌘F → + → File Size → is greater than → value and unit. Combine with Kind to answer questions like "videos over 500 MB".

Terminal

find ~ -type f -size +500M
find ~ -type f -size +100M -size -1G

find uses k, M and G. Note that -size +1G means strictly greater.

Sorted, with human-readable sizes:

find ~ -type f -size +200M -exec ls -lh {} \; 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $5, $9}' | sort -hr

mdfind

mdfind 'kMDItemFSSize > 1073741824'

Bytes only — 1 GB is 1073741824.

Size on disk vs actual size

Get Info shows both. The difference is allocation: a 1-byte file still occupies a block. With thousands of tiny files — a node_modules folder, a mail store — size on disk can be substantially larger than the sum of the files.

APFS also does copy-on-write cloning, so duplicating a large file may cost almost nothing until one copy is modified. Two 5 GB files can occupy 5 GB. This is why the numbers rarely add up cleanly.

Zero-byte and suspiciously small files

find ~ -type f -size 0

Usually the remains of interrupted downloads or failed exports, and safe to review.

Common questions

Why does Get Info show two different sizes?

'Size' is the sum of the bytes; 'on disk' is what the filesystem allocated, rounded up to block boundaries.

Why did copying a large file not use more space?

APFS clones the file rather than copying the data. Space is used only when one of the copies changes.