Where apps hide your files
Firefox profile folders have random names, so you cannot guess the path. Here is where they live, the fastest way to open yours, and what is safe to copy or delete.
~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/Inside is one folder per profile, named eight random characters, a dot, then a label, for example abcd1234.default-release. The random part differs on every Mac. A current install normally uses the default-release profile, and an older leftover named plain default may sit beside it: the Mac this was checked on, running Firefox 141, had both, and the default one was an empty 4 KB folder.
You do not have to guess which folder is live. In Firefox, type about:support in the address bar and find Profile Folder under Application Basics, then press the Show in Finder button next to it. The same page opens from Help > More Troubleshooting Information.
To list the folder names in Terminal without reading anything:
ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/ProfilesThe file that decides which profile Firefox opens is profiles.ini:
~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/profiles.iniIt is a short text file listing each profile's name and relative path. Do not trust its Default=1 line to tell you which profile is live: since Firefox 67, each installation of Firefox has its own default, recorded in an [Install...] section of the same file (and in installs.ini beside it). On the Mac checked, Default=1 pointed at the empty leftover while the install section pointed at the real default-release profile.
| File or folder | What it holds |
|---|---|
places.sqlite | Bookmarks and history, in one database |
bookmarkbackups/ | Automatic bookmark backups, .jsonlz4 files with a date in the name |
favicons.sqlite | Site icons |
cookies.sqlite | Cookies |
formhistory.sqlite | Saved form entries |
logins.json and key4.db | Saved logins and the key that decrypts them. Copy them as a pair |
cert9.db | Certificates |
prefs.js | Your settings. A user.js file, if you made one, overrides it |
extensions.json (plus an extensions/ folder once you install add-ons) | Installed add-ons |
storage/ | Data that sites and extensions keep |
sessionstore-backups/ | Tabs Firefox can restore |
containers.json | Your Multi-Account Container setup |
Apart from the extensions/ folder, which only appears with add-ons installed, those names were all present on the checked Mac, alongside permissions.sqlite, handlers.json and search.json.mozlz4. Do not open logins.json, key4.db or cookies.sqlite in an editor: they hold secrets, and they are not meant to be read by hand.
The profile itself was about 112 MB on the checked Mac. Firefox keeps its disk cache apart from the profile, in a "local directory" that Mozilla's documentation places under Caches on a Mac:
~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/about:profiles shows the exact Local Directory for each profile. On the checked Mac that folder had not been created, so do not worry if yours is missing too. When it does exist it is safe to clear after quitting Firefox, but the supported way is Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data > Clear Data with Cached Web Content ticked. The profile's own storage/ and places.sqlite are the usual large files. Do not delete places.sqlite, key4.db or logins.json unless you want to lose bookmarks, history or passwords.
about:logins) has Export Passwords... in its menu. The file is plain text, so delete it after use.Quit Firefox first. Copy the whole profile folder, not individual files, so the databases and their -wal files stay together. To use it on another Mac, put the folder under Profiles, quit Firefox there too, and start the Profile Manager by running:
/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -PChoose Create Profile..., give it a name, and use Choose Folder... to point it at the copied folder. That is safer than editing profiles.ini by hand.
Spotlight does not show results from ~/Library, and the profile folder name is random, so searching "Firefox profile" finds nothing helpful.
Firefox can keep more than one profile, each with its own bookmarks, logins and add-ons. The about:profiles page lists them all, shows each one's Root Directory and Local Directory, and has buttons to launch, rename or remove a profile. Be careful with Remove: it then asks whether to Delete Files, and that cannot be undone. A profile that no longer appears in profiles.ini still exists on disk, which is why the Profiles folder can hold folders Firefox never opens.
Old leftovers are common after reinstalling. If one has a recent places.sqlite modification date in Finder, it may hold bookmarks you thought were lost, so look before you delete anything. Sort the folder by Date Modified in Finder, and the profile in daily use floats to the top, because Firefox writes to its databases every time you browse. Folders untouched for years are the leftovers.
Everywhere finds files by name even inside ~/Library, so typing places.sqlite shows one result per profile on the Mac, old ones included, and typing profiles.ini jumps to the file that ties them together. It matches names only, never the bookmarks inside, and has a free trial. Use ⌘T on a result to open a Terminal in that folder.
In ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/, one folder per profile, each with a random name such as abcd1234.default-release.
Type about:support in Firefox and click Show in Finder next to Profile Folder.
In places.sqlite in your profile folder, together with history. Automatic backups are in the bookmarkbackups folder beside it.
Yes. Quit Firefox, copy the whole profile folder, and register it with the Profile Manager (firefox -P), using Create Profile and Choose Folder. Firefox Sync is the simpler route.
Everywhere keeps track of every file on your Mac — including the folders Spotlight hides and drives you have unplugged. Free for a day, then $19 once.
Version 2.20.3 · macOS 13+ · 4.7 MB · notarised