To get the latest features and maintain the security, stability, compatibility, and performance of your Mac, it's important to keep your software up to date. Apple recommends that you always use the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.

Learn how to upgrade to macOS Big Sur, the latest version of macOS.
Faster Installation Time: Installing Snow Leopard on multiple machines takes approx 15 minutes in comparison to around an hour for Leopard. If your Mac is operating at a slow pace, then for that reason alone it is worth the upgrade to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Installation DVD for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. ISO for Boot Camp and DMG for installing on a Mac. Both files were created in Windows 10 and are untested because I only have two MacBooks and none of them work. It could be me being unlucky, but I know for a fact that both machines were bespoke toasters whenever I did something that the CPU had to.
The version of macOS that came with your Mac is the earliest version it can use. For example, if your Mac came with macOS Big Sur, it will not accept installation of macOS Catalina or earlier.

If a macOS can't be used on your Mac, the App Store or installer will let you know. For example, it might say that it's not compatible with this device or is too old to be opened on this version of macOS. To confirm compatibility before downloading, check the minimum hardware requirements:
Safari uses these links to find the old installers in the App Store. After downloading from the App Store, the installer opens automatically.
Safari downloads the following older installers as a disk image named InstallOS.dmg or InstallMacOSX.dmg. Open the disk image, then open the .pkg installer inside the disk image. It installs an app named Install [Version Name]. Open that app from your Applications folder to begin installing the operating system.