Where Are Photos Stored on Mac | Find and Recover Photos

Dany updated on Oct 24, 2024 to Mac File Recovery | How-to Articles

Where are photos stored on Mac? This post will also introduce how to find photos stored on Mac with the Photos app. If you cannot see photos there, try to use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to recover deleted photos.

Users like taking photos, but few have a clear idea of where imported photos are saved on Mac. In fact, your photos will be stored in Photo Library by default. You can type the following path in the Finder to quickly locate the folder: ~/Pictures/Photos Library. photoslibrary/Masters/

Are you a new Mac user? You may have just bought a new MacBook Air or MacBook Pro for work. When you download some important pictures from the internet, you will need to know where are photos stored on Mac and how to find photos stored on Mac. Don't worry! This article will offer straightforward tutorials to help you access the photos on Mac.

Mac Photos Location: Where Are Photos Stored on Mac

Have you used an iPhone or iPad before? Photos will be stored in the Photos app by default. For Mac users, you can find photos in iPhoto or Photos app. You can find photos in the Photos app if your Mac device runs macOS Monterey or macOS Ventura. If you are using old macOS versions, you may use iPhoto to access your photos stored on Mac.

What's the difference between iPhoto and Photos applications? The new Photos app is iPhoto's successor rather than an iPhoto alternative or replacement. Apple no longer sells or updates iPhoto and has discontinued developing it, and only the macOS Photos app is included with the latest Mac devices.

How to See All the Photos on Mac

You may want to know the specific location where photos are stored on Mac, and we can tell you that the photos are stored in the System Photo Library. Here is a simple tutorial to help you find it on your Mac:

Step 1. Open the Finder by clicking the Finder icon from the Dock. Or you can also find the Finder from the menu bar.

Step 2. Then, you can see the "Pictures" folder from the folder contents and click on it.

Step 3. Right-click the "Photos Library.photoslibrary" and choose "Show Package Contents".

Step 4. You can access all the photos on Mac by opening the "Masters" folder. If you try to delete some items in this folder, the photos will also disappear in the Photos app.

How to Access Imported Photos on Mac

The photos imported from iPhone, iPad, and iCloud will be stored in the Photos app by default. If you want to delete photos on Mac, you'd better not perform any operations without the Photos app, which will not cause unnecessary data loss on your Mac.

If you connect a USB flash drive or an SD card to your Mac and upload the photos to iCloud, other Mac devices using iCloud photos will not be able to access these photos.

If you want to clear system storage on Mac, you can delete photos and videos in the Photos app or try to move the Photos Library to an external hard drive.

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Where Are Photos on Mac: How to Find Photos Stored on Mac

Can't find the photos you want in the Photos app? There are two possibilities: your photos are still on your Mac device, or your photos are accidentally deleted somehow. Check the solutions below to find your photos stored on Mac.

How to Find Specific Photos on Mac in Photos App

Where are iCloud photos stored on Mac? Finder is an important tool on a macOS base system. When Mac users can't find a file on Mac, they can use the Finder to access the files quickly. But you cannot access the images in the Photos app with the Finder. If you don't know how to find specific photos on Mac in Photos app quickly, we will show you how:

Step 1. Open the Photos app by clicking the icon from the Dock, or you can use Spotlight. (Do you know Mac Spotlight shortcut? You can use Command + Space to bring up the Spotlight.)

Step 2. You can find specific photos from different albums. The Photos app will automatically put different photos into different albums, and you can find the photos according to the features of the images.

Step 3. If you find it is still hard to find the photos, you should try the search box. It is in the right corner of the Photos app window, and you can put in some keywords for the photos, such as cats, dogs, specific dates, streets, etc.

How to Find Photos on Mac with Software

Fail to find photos stored on Mac in the Photos app? Your photos may be deleted because of a macOS update or malware attack. Maybe you just delete the photos with the move to Trash shortcut Mac and then empty the Trash. How to find these photos on Mac? Try a reliable photo recovery program, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. Click the following buttons to download this Mac photo recovery software, and we will introduce what you can do with this program.

Now, let us start to find lost photos stored on Mac with this photo recovery software from EaseUS:

Step 1. Scan for lost photos

Select the location where your valuable photos were lost and click the "Search for lost files" button.

Step 2. Select wanted photos

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately start a scan on your selected disk volume. Meanwhile, the scanning results will be presented in the left pane. By Path and Type, you can quickly filter the photos you've lost earlier.

Step 3. Recover lost photos

Select the target photos and click the "Recover" button to get them back at once.

Summary

Now you should know where are photos stored on Mac and how to find photos stored on Mac. If you cannot find some essential photos on Mac, try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac today before it is too late to recover these missing photos.

Where Are Photos Saved on Mac FAQ

Find extra information about where are photos stored on Mac in this section:

1. I Can't find photos on Mac. How to recover them?

If you cannot find some photos on Mac, these photos are probably deleted, and you don't know that. You can recover deleted photos on Mac with the EaseUS photo recovery program:

  1. 1. Choose the internal disk to scan, and the software will search for the missing files.
  2. 2. Select Photos in the Filter option content and all the missing photos will show up.
  3. 3. Select the deleted photos on Mac and choose a destination to store these photos.

2. How to find photos stored on Mac quickly?

The quickest way to find photos stored on Mac is to find them in the Photos app. All the photos will be settled in different albums. If you don't remember your photos are in which album, you should try to enter the dates, locations, or other features of these photos in the search box to find them quickly.

3. How to delete photos on Mac?

You can delete photos in the Photos app manually. Select the photos you want to delete, and use the shortcut, such as Command + Delete, to erase these chosen photos. Or you can drag them to the Trash folder directly.

4. What are the exact location photos stored on Mac?

The photos are stored on Mac in the Pictures folder. You can find it by following this tutorial:

  1. 1. Open the Finder by clicking the Finder icon from the Dock. Or you can also find the Finder from the menu bar.
  2. 2. Then, you can see the Pictures folder from the folder contents and click on it.
  3. 3. Right-click the Photos Library.photoslibrary and choose Show Package Contents.
  4. 4. You can access all the photos on Mac by opening the Masters folder.