What is mediaanalysisd on Mac?

What mediaanalysisd does

mediaanalysisd runs from /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MediaAnalysis.framework/Versions/A/mediaanalysisd. It runs Apple’s vision models on the Neural Engine, GPU and CPU to:

• find text in images and paused video for Live Text
• detect objects, scenes, animals and landmarks for Visual Look Up and Photos search
• analyze video for highlights, quality and the scenes Photos and Memories use
• feed Spotlight so searching for “receipt” finds a screenshot of one

Apps such as Photos, Preview, Quick Look, Safari and Messages hand it work. photoanalysisd consumes its output.

Why it gets busy

• Big imports or a new library: thousands of images and long videos to scan.
• A macOS update: new or improved models mean old media is analyzed again. Several Sonoma and Sequoia releases had reports of mediaanalysisd running hot for a day or two after updating.
• Videos: analysis of a long 4K video costs far more than a photo.
• Opening images: Live Text runs when you open an image in Preview, Quick Look or Safari, so a folder of screenshots in Quick Look generates work.

Why it uses the network

In early 2023 users noticed mediaanalysisd contacting Apple even with iCloud off. That traffic is Visual Look Up: macOS computes a description of the image locally and asks Apple’s servers what it matches. See its connections with:

nettop -P -L 1 -p mediaanalysisd

How to make it calm down

1. Let it finish with the Mac plugged in. Like Photos analysis, it backs off while you’re busy.
2. Turn off Live Text in System Settings › General › Language & Region if you don’t use it.
3. Turn off Siri suggestions in Look Up under System Settings › Spotlight (Siri & Spotlight on Sonoma) to cut down Visual Look Up queries.
4. Quit it in Activity Monitor for immediate relief; it will come back.

When to worry

The real one lives inside MediaAnalysis.framework and is signed by Apple:

codesign -dv --verbose=2 /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MediaAnalysis.framework/Versions/A/mediaanalysisd 2>&1 | grep Authority

A file named mediaanalysisd anywhere outside /System is an impostor. Constant analysis for more than a few days, with memory that keeps growing, is a macOS bug rather than a threat: a restart and the next point update are the usual fix.

Seeing it in Stat Space

With Pro, Stat Space shows upload and download per app and which remote hosts each app is talking to (read-only). That makes it easy to confirm whether mediaanalysisd’s traffic is a few small lookups or something larger. The Apps tab’s process inspector also shows its signer, sandbox status and notable entitlements if you want proof it’s Apple’s.