Changing the macOS wallpaper is very simple: we can do it from System Settings or even with the secondary mouse click on the background itself to directly access its settings. We will be shown a gallery with all the funds that the system offers us and we will be able to choose one.
But what if we want locate the Finder folder where macOS stores those wallpapers? Apple does not reveal the “raw files” to the user, but you are correct if you think that in some directory they have to be stored. Let’s find out.
The directory where the original images of the Mac wallpapers are hidden
If you want to know the specific folder or the directory in which macOS stores the wallpapers, it is the following:
/System/Library/Desktop Pictures
You can access this directory using Finder (you’ll need to access the system root directory), or by opening Terminal and typing the following command:
open /System/Library/DesktopPictures
What you will find in this folder are the wallpapers in high resolution and HEIC format, occupying from 10 to 40 MB each depending on its complexity. There are also some very small files in .madesktop format that you can ignore, as they are probably responsible for the live wallpapers working properly.
If you can’t find this folder or see it empty, you may have an older version of macOS where wallpapers are stored in the following folder:
/USER/Library/Desktop Pictures
You can open it from the terminal by typing the following command:
open ~/Library/DesktopPictures
An important fact: if you want to extract the wallpapers from those directories better copy them leaving the original file in them, since if you remove them later you can miss them in the System Settings. But having the original directory helps to be able to locate those funds at their original resolutions, which are usually huge to cover the most demanding resolutions.
