macOS processes › Photos and media
What is mediaanalysisd on Mac?
mediaanalysisd analyzes images and videos for features like Visual Look Up, Live Text, and searching your photos by what's in them. Most of its work happens on your Mac while it's idle.
What it does
It recognizes objects, scenes, text and landmarks in photos and video frames for Photos and other apps. If Enhanced Visual Search is on in Photos, matching landmarks can also involve Apple's servers. The heavy analysis is scheduled for when you're not using the Mac.
Why it gets busy
- Importing many photos or videos.
- A macOS update, after which newer analysis may reprocess your library.
- Large video libraries, since video takes much longer to analyze than photos.
Why is mediaanalysisd using so much CPU?
mediaanalysisd is scanning photos and videos for search, Live Text and Visual Look Up. It's heaviest after imports and macOS updates and settles once your library is processed.
Is it safe to quit?
macOS restarts it and the analysis picks up later. Quitting doesn't skip it.
How to calm it down
- Leave the Mac on power and idle for a while after a big import or update so it can finish.
- If you don't want landmark matching that uses Apple's servers, turn off Enhanced Visual Search in Photos › Settings › General. That's a privacy choice; it won't stop on-device analysis.
- Keep large video collections you don't need searchable out of your Photos library.
In SystemWatch
SystemWatch knows mediaanalysisd's usual memory footprint and flags when it's running far above it, and History tells you whether it's tapering off.
