Where Do Mac Screensavers Live?
Third party Mac screensaver bundles in user and system Libraries, and where Aerial videos differ.
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Third party Mac screensavers are .saver bundles living in Screen Savers folders: user Library for one account, system Library for everyone. Apple ships its own in the system folder. Drop a bundle in, pick it in System Settings, done.
Aerials break the pattern. Those drifting landscapes stream and cache outside the .saver system, with their own documented location. For classic screensavers, the two folders below are the whole story.
Where macOS stores this, by platform
~/Library/Screen Savers
Per user third party .saver bundles; this folder wins over system wide on name clashes. Create it if missing. System wide installs go in /Library/Screen Savers instead. Aerial videos live elsewhere entirely.
Frequently asked questions
How do I install a .saver file?
Double click the .saver bundle and macOS offers to install it for you or all users, landing in the matching folder below. Manual drops work too, but the installer avoids permission tangles.
Where are Apple's own screensavers?
In /Library/Screen Savers, alongside Apple's own. The user folder overrides system wide, so a same named file in ~/Library wins without deleting anything.
Where are the Aerial videos stored?
Elsewhere entirely, in a private video cache documented separately. Aerials stream and cache rather than installing as bundles, so hunting .saver files for them wastes an afternoon.
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