What is mediaanalysisd on Mac?

mediaanalysisd analyzes photos and videos on your Mac, for example to find text and objects for search, Live Text and Visual Look Up. It's part of macOS and safe.

Key points

• mediaanalysisd finds text, objects and scenes in your photos and videos.
• It gets busy after you add many photos or videos.
• Quitting it doesn't help for long: macOS starts it again.

What mediaanalysisd does

Searching Photos for "beach" or "receipt", copying text out of a picture, or identifying a plant with Visual Look Up all use what mediaanalysisd found. The analysis happens on your Mac. It works alongside photoanalysisd, which finds people, places and Memories.

Why is mediaanalysisd using so much CPU?

After adding many photos or videos. Like photoanalysisd, it does most of its work while the Mac is idle, and a big library can take days on a laptop that's often on battery.

In one reading of a MacBook Pro (M1 Max, 64 GB) on October 10, 2026, mediaanalysisd was using 0.0% of the CPU and 100.8 MB of memory.

Does mediaanalysisd use storage?

It keeps the results of its analysis in a cache on your Mac. Don't delete its folders by hand: leave the Mac plugged in and idle so it can finish, and restart if it seems stuck.

Can I quit mediaanalysisd?

Stopping it doesn't help for long: macOS starts it again when it's needed.

How to check it

1. Open Activity Monitor: press Command-Space, type "Activity Monitor" and press Return.
2. Type mediaanalysisd in the search field at the top right.
3. Look at % CPU and Memory.

Questions

Is mediaanalysisd a virus?

No. mediaanalysisd is part of macOS: it analyzes photos and videos for search and Live Text.

Why is mediaanalysisd using so much CPU?

You've added many photos or videos, or just updated macOS. It settles when the analysis is done.

Can I delete mediaanalysisd's files?

Don't delete them by hand. Let it finish its analysis; restarting the Mac helps if it seems stuck.