Top 3 Ways to Find Large Files on Windows 10

Very often, your PC would run out of storage or almost reach its capacity. It could be large or unused media files or a multitude of leftover software files that you uninstalled months ago. However, finding large files on your Windows 10 computer is easier said than done.

You can use the built-in Windows tools or use third-party options to find those large files that are taking up space on your Windows 10 PC. In addition to searching, you can also manage large files efficiently.

Read on to find out how to find large files on Windows with just a few clicks.

1. Use the file explorer

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

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

2nd step: To include hidden files in your search results, go to the View tab and check the box that says “Hidden Items”.

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

Likewise, you can replace gigantic in the above command with other options such as Empty (0KB), Tiny (0 – 10KB), Small (10 – 100KB), Medium (100KB – 1MB), Large (1 – 16MB) ) and Huge (16 – 128MB) to filter your search accordingly. Alternatively, you can also type a command like size:> 250 MB in the search box to find files smaller or larger than a specific size.

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

Step 5: Switch to the Search tab to filter your search by file size. Likewise, you can also use the Type, Date Modified, and Other Properties options.

Additionally, you can save the search results for later by using the “Save Search” option at the top.

To note: While searching for large files, if you come across a file or folder that you do not recognize, do not delete it unknowingly as it may be an integral part of Windows operating system.

2. Use the command prompt

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

Step 1: Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog box. Type cmd and press Enter.

2nd step: Type the command mentioned below and press Enter.

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

To note: In the above command, 1048576 is 1MB (1024 * 1024 = 1048576 bytes). You can change this number accordingly to find files greater than the number mentioned.

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

3. Use a third-party tool

While the built-in options to find large files work fine, you can use dedicated third-party software to further scan your storage and easily find large files. One of these popular software is TreeSize. This tool allows you to view the space occupied by files and folders at a glance along with a bunch of other file management options.

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

Download TreeSize

After downloading, open the TreeSizeFreeSetup.exe file and follow the on-screen instructions to install TreeSize on your PC. Make sure to give TreeSize administrator permissions to scan all folders for large files.

Here, the main screen will show you the folder information including the space occupied by each file or folder. At the top you will have options to change modes, change size units, sort options, etc. In addition, TreeSize also allows you to delete or compress files directly from the home screen.

TreeSize also offers a few paid versions available for personal and business use, unlocking additional perks like versatile file finder, duplicate finder, deduplication, and more.

Find Bulk Files

So these were the best ways to find large files on Windows. Large File Scan is an effective way to delete unused files or move them to cloud storage to free up space on your PC.

If you are looking to free up disk space without deleting any of your precious data, try deleting cache files on Windows to free up valuable storage space.