Top 3 Ways to Find Large Files in Windows 10

Quite often, your computer’s storage is running out or approaching capacity. These can be large multimedia files or unused files, or a large number of files left over from software you uninstalled months ago. However, searching for large files on your Windows 10 computer is easier said than done.

You can use the built-in tools within Windows or use third-party options to find these large files taking up space on your Windows 10 PC. Besides finding, you can also manage large files efficiently.

Read on to learn how to find large files on Windows in a few clicks.

1. Use File Explorer

Probably the simplest way to find large files on your PC is to use File Explorer. It allows you to quickly search for large files on a specific drive or in a folder with several sorting options. Here’s how to do it.

Stage 1: Press Windows key + E to quickly launch File Explorer. Go to This PC to search your entire computer for large files. Similarly, you can also navigate to a specific folder or drive to narrow your search.

Step 2: To include hidden files in your search results, go to the View tab and tick the checkbox that says ‘Hidden items’.

Stage 3: Now go to the search toolbar in the upper right corner. In summer size: gigantic and press Enter. This will show you files larger than 128 MB in size.

Similarly, you can change colossal In the above command (16 to 128) along with other options such as Empty (0 KB), Small (0 – 10 KB), Small (10 – 100 KB), Medium (100 KB – 1 MB), Large (1 – 16 MB), and Large MB) to filter your search accordingly. Alternatively, you can type a command like the following. size:>250MB To search for files smaller or larger than a certain size, enter the search box.

Step 4: To view additional information about each item, go to the View tab at the top and select Details in the Layout box.

Step 5: Switch to the Search tab to filter your search by file size. Similarly, you can use Type, Date modified, and Other properties.

You can also save the search results for later by using the ‘Save search’ option at the top.

Note: If you come across an unfamiliar file or folder while searching for large files, do not unknowingly delete it as it may be an integral part of the Windows operating system.

2. Use Command Prompt

Another way to find large files in Windows is the Command Prompt. Running a command will bring you a list of files larger than the defined size stored on your computer. Here’s how.

Stage 1: Press Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog. In summer cmd and press Enter.

Step 2: Type the command mentioned below and press Enter.

FORFILES /S /C "cmd /c if @fsize GTR 1048576 echo @path"

Note: In the above command 1048576 means 1MB (1024 * 1024 = 1048576 bytes). You can change this number accordingly to search for files larger than the specified number.

As seen in the picture, the command prompt will show you the locations of files larger than 1MB.

3. Use a Third-Party Tool

While the built-in options for finding large files work fine, you can use specialized third-party software to further analyze your storage and find large files with ease. One such popular software is TreeSize. This tool lets you view the space occupied by files and folders at a glance, along with a host of other file management options.

To download TreeSize, go to the download page (link below) and click the Free Download button.

Download TreeSize

After downloading, open TreeSizeFreeSetup.exe and follow the on-screen instructions to install TreeSize on your computer. Make sure you give TreeSize administrative permissions to scan all folders to find large files.

Here the home screen will show you folder information including the space occupied by each file or folder. At the top you’ll find options for switching modes, changing size units, sorting options, and more. TreeSize also allows you to delete or zip files directly from the home screen.

TreeSize also has several paid versions for personal and professional use that unlock additional benefits such as versatile file search, duplicate finder, deduplication and more.

Find Large Files

So these were the best ways to find large files in Windows. Finding large files is an effective way to remove unused files or move them to cloud storage to free up space on your computer.

If you want to free up disk space without deleting your valuable data, try deleting cache files in Windows to free up valuable storage space.