Where apps hide your files

Spotify's cache and offline folders

Updated 2026-10-28 · 7 min read

Spotify keeps its streaming cache and its offline downloads in different hidden folders. Here are both, what actually takes the space, and how to clear it without losing your downloads.

The two folders that matter

Spotify's Mac app keeps its cache in one place and its offline data in another:

~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client/
~/Library/Application Support/Spotify/PersistentCache/

The first is the cache. Its Data subfolder holds audio you have streamed, so a song does not have to be fetched twice. Offline downloads (playlists you switched Download on for) belong to PersistentCache: a Spotify community moderator gives PersistentCache/Storage as the default folder for offline songs. The quickest way to see where your copy actually puts downloads is in the app: click your profile picture, choose Settings, and scroll to Storage, where Offline storage location shows the path.

Both folders are inside ~/Library, so Spotlight and an ordinary Finder search will not show anything in them.

Open them

In Finder choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) and paste a path, or from Terminal:

open ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client
open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Spotify/PersistentCache

To see how large they are, read only:

du -sh ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client ~/Library/Application\ Support/Spotify

What is inside

Item	What it is
com.spotify.client/Data/	Streamed audio cache, in many short-named subfolders such as 00, 01, 0a
com.spotify.client/Browser/, Default/ and similar	Cache for the web engine the app is built on: images, scripts, components
PersistentCache/Storage/	Offline downloads, if you have any, plus an index.dat
PersistentCache/offline.bnk	Spotify's index of what is downloaded for offline use
PersistentCache/Users/<account>-user/	Per-account data, including a primary.ldb database
Spotify/Users/<account>-user/local-files.bnk	The index for Local Files you added from your own disk
Spotify/prefs	Settings file

File names inside Data and Storage are internal IDs, not song titles, and the audio is stored in Spotify's own encrypted form. You cannot copy it out and play it in another player, and renaming files does nothing. Downloads are for offline listening inside Spotify only, and Spotify's support page says you need to go online at least once every 30 days to keep them.

What actually takes the space

Do not assume it is all music. On one Mac with light use and no downloads (Spotify 1.3.6), the cache folder was 327 MB, but only 74 MB of that was streamed audio in Data; the largest single part, 124 MB, was the Browser cache of the app's built-in web engine. Application Support was 279 MB, almost all of it the per-account primary.ldb database in PersistentCache/Users, with only 20 KB in Storage. Heavy listeners and big offline libraries will see much larger numbers, so run the du command above before you decide what to clear.

Clearing the cache safely

The cache is temporary and rebuilds itself. Use the app first:

1. Click your profile picture and choose Settings, then scroll to Storage.
2. Next to Cache, click Clear cache and confirm. Spotify's own dialog says this removes the temporary files it has saved and that your downloads will not be affected.

If the app will not open, do it by hand:

1. Quit Spotify (Spotify > Quit Spotify, not just closing the window).
2. In Finder, open ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client and move its contents, or just the Data folder, to the Trash.
3. Relaunch Spotify. It recreates what it needs, and the first plays may load a little more slowly.

Leave PersistentCache alone unless you mean to lose downloads. To remove downloads, use the same Storage section: Remove all downloads clears them from your Mac, or turn Download off on a single playlist. That keeps Spotify's own index in step, which deleting files in Finder does not.

Changing where offline songs go

The same Storage section has Offline storage location with a Change location button. Spotify community threads report that a new location is sometimes ignored, especially on external drives, so check afterwards: run du -sh on the old and new folders after a download to see where the songs really went, and keep the drive connected whenever Spotify runs.

If the goal is just to free internal space, downloading less, lowering the download quality in Settings, or removing playlists you no longer play offline is more dependable.

Moving to a new Mac

There is nothing here worth backing up. Downloads and cache are tied to your account and this device. On the new Mac, sign in and turn Download on again for the playlists you want. Playlists, Liked Songs and your library live in your Spotify account, not in these folders.

The one thing that is yours is Local Files: music files you added from your own folders. Spotify only keeps an index of them, so copy the original files themselves.

Why it shows up in storage reports

When a storage report or a cleaning tool flags Spotify as large, the space is in the two folders above. Dragging Spotify to the Trash does not remove them, so after uninstalling, move ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client and ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify to the Trash too if you want the space back.

Finding the files next time

Because all of this is hidden from Spotlight, typing com.spotify.client into Everywhere jumps to the cache folder, and PersistentCache to the offline data. ⌘T opens a Terminal in that folder, ready for the du check. Everywhere matches names only, so it will find offline.bnk but cannot tell you which song a numbered cache file holds.

Common questions

Where does Spotify store downloaded songs on a Mac?

Under ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify/PersistentCache, in its Storage folder by default. Settings > Storage > Offline storage location in the app shows the exact path, and the files only play inside Spotify.

Where is the Spotify cache on a Mac?

In ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client, with streamed audio in its Data subfolder. Clear it with Clear cache in Settings > Storage, or with Spotify quit by moving the folder's contents to the Trash.

Can I change where Spotify saves offline songs?

Yes, Settings > Storage has Offline storage location with a Change location button. Community reports say the new location is sometimes ignored on external drives, so check where files actually land.

Why is Spotify using so much space on my Mac?

Usually the cache in Caches/com.spotify.client and any offline downloads in PersistentCache, plus a per-account database. Clear cache in Settings > Storage frees the first without touching your downloads.