Where apps hide your files

What is inside the Caches folders

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Caches are the folders Mac apps fill with disposable copies of downloaded and computed data. This page shows where they are, how to find the big ones and how to clear them without breaking an app.

The locations

~/Library/Caches/
/Library/Caches/
~/Library/Containers/<bundle id>/Data/Library/Caches/

The first is your personal cache folder, one subfolder per app, usually named after the app's bundle identifier (com.spotify.client, com.anthropic.claudefordesktop.ShipIt) or its name (Homebrew, pnpm, Google). The second is shared by all users of the Mac and written by installers and system services. Sandboxed apps, including most App Store apps, keep their cache inside their own container, which is the third path.

On the Mac this page was checked on, ~/Library/Caches held 217 entries and 6.5 GB. The largest were Google at 3.5 GB, ms-playwright at 1.2 GB, a Claude desktop updater cache at 833 MB, pnpm at 360 MB and Spotify at 327 MB. Yours will differ, but a few of them are usually most of the total.

Open it and see what is big

In Finder press ⇧⌘G and paste ~/Library/Caches. From Terminal, this lists the largest folders without changing anything:

du -sh ~/Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -15

You may see "Permission denied" for a few protected files, such as an updater log; that only means those items were skipped from the total.

What a cache is, and what it is not

A cache holds data the app can rebuild: thumbnails, downloaded images, compiled code, web content and update downloads. Deleting it costs time (the app re-downloads or recomputes it), not data. Two things look like caches and are not:

• Application Support (~/Library/Application Support) holds real data such as databases and settings. Do not clear it as if it were a cache.
• Containers and Group Containers hold both cache and data in sibling folders. Only the Library/Caches subfolder inside a container is a cache.

What is safe to clear

Safe, with the app quit first:

• Caches of apps you can reinstall or re-sign into, such as browsers, music and chat apps. Expect a slower first launch and sign-in prompts in some cases.
• Developer tool caches, such as package manager and browser automation downloads. They are re-fetched when a project needs them.
• Old updater folders (names ending in .ShipIt) once the app is up to date.

Leave alone:

• Anything starting com.apple. unless you are following a specific Apple instruction. Many belong to running system services, and clearing them while they run can cause odd behaviour until a restart.
• Caches of an app you are using at that moment.
• ~/Library/Application Support, ~/Library/Preferences and ~/Library/Keychains, which are not caches at all.

How to clear one

Quit the app, then in Finder open its cache folder and drag the contents to the Trash rather than the folder itself, because some apps expect the folder to exist. Check the app opens normally, then empty the Trash. If you are cautious, move the contents to a folder on the Desktop first and delete them after a day of normal use.

For a sandboxed app, look in ~/Library/Containers/<bundle id>/Data/Library/Caches. Find the right container with ls ~/Library/Containers | grep -i <part of the app name>. Most container folders are named after the app's bundle identifier; a few have a long random-looking ID instead. On recent macOS releases, Terminal may ask for permission to access data from other apps when you look inside one; you can decline.

Sizes grow back

Cleared caches refill as you use the app. If one app regrows several gigabytes every week, look in its settings for a cache or storage option, which some media and streaming apps offer, rather than clearing it repeatedly.

Temporary folders are separate

The system also has per-user temporary and cache directories under /private/var/folders; the $TMPDIR variable points at the temporary one. macOS manages them and clears out old temporary items on its own, so there is no need to touch them.

A cautious order of attack

If you are clearing space, start from the bottom of the du list, where the biggest folders are, and ask two questions about each. Can the app fetch the data again? Is the app closed? If both answers are yes, clear it. A cache left by an app you have already deleted can simply go. Then check free space in System Settings > General > Storage, and stop once you have enough. Clearing a gigabyte of a browser's cache buys you space today but costs you slower page loads tomorrow, so there is no prize for emptying everything.

If you did clear anything under com.apple. on Apple's instructions, restart afterwards so the services that own it start fresh.

Why Spotlight and Finder hide this

~/Library is hidden by default and Spotlight does not search it, so a cache folder never turns up in a normal search. Reveal Library in Finder from the Go menu while holding ⌥.

Finding the one that is eating your disk

When a disk fills up, the useful question is which app's folder it is. Type part of a name from the du list, such as spotify or playwright, into Everywhere and it lists the matching folders in ~/Library/Caches and the shared /Library/Caches side by side, places Spotlight skips; caches inside ~/Library/Containers join them once Everywhere has Full Disk Access, which macOS requires for app containers. Press ⌘↵ to reveal one in Finder. It matches names, not sizes, so the du command above stays the way to see which is biggest, and it never clears anything for you.

Common questions

Where is the cache folder on a Mac?

Your personal caches are in ~/Library/Caches, shared ones in /Library/Caches, and sandboxed apps keep theirs under ~/Library/Containers/<app id>/Data/Library/Caches.

Is it safe to delete everything in ~/Library/Caches?

Mostly, if apps are quit, because caches are rebuilt. Apps may be slower on first launch, and it is wiser to clear the large third-party ones and leave com.apple. folders alone.

Why is my Library Caches folder so large?

Browsers, media apps, developer tools and updaters store downloads there. List the biggest with du -sh ~/Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail.

How do I show the Library folder?

In Finder, hold Option and open the Go menu to see Library, or press Shift-Command-G and type ~/Library.