Where Are Camera Pictures, Videos, Screenshots Stored on Android?

It is easy to take a photo, video, screenshot on an Android phone, however, sometimes you just can't find the camera photos, videos, screenshots on Android, especially when connecting the phone with PC, it is hard to find the pictures or videos you need among a bunch of random folders in Windows File Explorer. This guide is to show where the camera pictures, videos, screenshots are stored on Android and help you quickly locate the media files you need on the Android device or computer.

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Where Are Pictures Stored on Android?

By default, after taking a camera photo, the photo should be saved in the Gallery of your phone. If you can't find the photos in the Gallery, you can locate the photos in the memory space via a file explorer app.

The path to finding camera pictures in the phone memory: /storage/emulated/DCIM/Camera
The path to finding camera pictures in the SD card: /storage/sdcard0/DCIM/Camera

What is the DCIM folder?
DCIM, short for "Digital Camera Images", is a part of the Design Rule for Camera File System specifications, which specifies that the camera file system should contain a DCIM directory to hold photos and is adopted by most smartphone, tablet, and digital camera.

What are thumbnails in the DCIM folder?
In the DCIM folder, apart from the camera pictures, screenshots, you may see a thumbnails folder. The thumbnails are small copies of Gallery pictures so that the Android system can open the pictures in Gallery more quickly. You can clear the thumbnails folder if it is eating up your internal storage; however, the Android system will recreate the thumbnails when needed.

Can't find downloaded photos?
Usually, you can find the photos that are saved from Google, WhatsApp or other apps from the Download album in the Gallery. Also, you can access the downloaded pictures from the directory /internal storage/download.

If you can't find the saved pictures, it's likely that the pictures are not saved. For example, if Google Chrome isn't granted permission to use the memory storage, it won't be able to save the pictures on your phone. Go to Settings > Apps and check the app permissions.

Where Are Screenshots Stored on Android?

To find screenshots on your Android phone, open gallery, tap on the hamburger menu icon and select the screenshot folder.

Also, you can find screenshots in the internal storage via the directory /internal storage/Pictures/Screenshots or /sdcard/Pictures/Screenshots with a file explorer or Settings > Storage > Explore.

Where Are Videos Stored on Android?

The videos taken by your phone camera are stored in the same location as the camera photos, which can be accessed via /storage/emulated/DCIM/Camera.

If you can't find some videos when connecting the Android device to the PC, check if the Android device is connected via PTP mode, under which you can only view photos and videos in the DCIM folder when the downloaded videos won't show up. To show all files from Android on PC, choose the MTP mode as the USB option.

If you have more questions about finding photos, videos, or screenshots on Android devices, leave your question below. If the photos or videos are mistakenly deleted, FonePaw Android Data Recovery can help you restore the files.