Where apps hide your files

Finding Viber's downloaded media

Updated 2026-10-28 · 5 min read

Viber's desktop app saves received photos, videos and documents to folders you can see in its settings, and keeps its own data in a hidden Library folder. Here is how to find both, move the media folder and free space without losing anything.

Where Viber puts things

Viber is not installed on the Mac used for this guide, so the two paths below come from Homebrew's uninstall list for the Viber app and from Viber's own help. Confirm them in Viber's settings as shown in the next section.

~/Documents/ViberDownloads
~/Library/Application Support/ViberPC

• ~/Documents/ViberDownloads is the download folder Homebrew's uninstall list names for Viber on a Mac, and the same folder name is widely reported as the default on Windows. Expect your received media here unless someone changed it.
• ~/Library/Application Support/ViberPC is the app's own data: its message database, settings and caches. Nothing here is meant to be browsed, and the files are not in a readable format.

Viber's help describes two separate folders in the desktop settings: Rakuten Viber media files, where all received photos, videos and voice messages are saved, and Rakuten Viber documents, where received documents such as PDF and .doc files go. Whatever those two entries show is the truth for your install.

Check the folders in Viber itself

1. Open Viber and click Settings at the top right, or click your profile picture next to the Search field and choose Settings.
2. Open the Media section.
3. Read the folder shown under Rakuten Viber media files, and the one under Rakuten Viber documents.

To change either one, click the current folder, choose a new destination and click Select folder. Then open the folder in Finder with ⇧⌘G, or from Terminal:

open ~/Documents/ViberDownloads

Swap in the path your settings show if it differs. ~/Library/Application Support/ViberPC is also quickest to reach with Go to Folder, because Finder hides the Library folder.

Give the media folder a folder of its own

Viber's help says the media folder is deleted when you deactivate or uninstall Viber on the desktop. The documents folder is not. So never point the media folder at Downloads, Desktop or any folder that holds other files. There are user reports on MacRumors of a Downloads folder emptied after the Viber media location was set to it, which fits that behaviour. Give Viber an empty folder of its own, such as the default.

What is inside the downloads folder

Expect plain files: photos, videos, voice messages and any PDF or Office documents people sent. You can open, copy and move them like any other file. Viber picks the names itself, so they rarely say who sent them or which chat they came from.

The files in ViberPC are different. The message history lives in a database there, along with caches and per-account data. Do not open or edit those files. Viber's chat backup is a phone feature: Viber's help says backing up and transferring history is done on your phone (to iCloud on iPhone, Google Drive on Android), not on the desktop.

If a photo or file is missing

• Auto-download is off. With Media downloaded automatically switched off in the Media section, Viber downloads a file only when you click it. Viber's help says media you never open is deleted after 14 days, because Viber does not keep your data on its servers.
• Keep media removed it. The Keep media setting deletes received media after one week, one month or one year, or keeps it forever. Deleted files disappear from the media folder and from the chat history on the computer.
• The folder was changed. Check the Media section again for the current location.
• It is a document, not media. Documents go to the separate documents folder.

Freeing space

The media folder grows as photos and videos arrive. To see its size:

du -sh ~/Documents/ViberDownloads

The supported way to trim it is the Keep media setting, which removes old media for you. Be careful deleting by hand: Viber's servers do not keep a copy, so anything not also on your phone is gone for good once you empty the Trash. If you do clear files yourself, quit Viber first and move them to the Trash in Finder so you can change your mind.

Leave ViberPC alone unless you are removing Viber. To uninstall it properly, Viber's help says to deactivate first (Settings > Privacy and security > Deactivate), then drag Rakuten Viber from Applications to the Trash. Deactivating deletes the desktop data and the media folder, and anything that was on the desktop but not on your phone will not come back.

Why searching misses these files

The downloads folder is in Documents, which Spotlight does search, but Viber names the files itself, so a search for the sender or the chat finds nothing. The data folder sits inside ~/Library, and Spotlight and Finder searches leave that out.

Finding Viber's files next time

Since Viber's file names mean little, search for what you do know: the folder or the file type. Typing ViberDownloads in Everywhere finds the media folder, and ViberPC reaches the data under ~/Library/Application Support, which Spotlight skips. Everywhere matches file names only, not what is written in a message, and it covers Documents once it has Full Disk Access. ⌘↵ reveals a result in Finder.

Common questions

Where does Viber save downloaded photos on a Mac?

In the folder shown under Rakuten Viber media files in the Media section of Viber's settings, commonly ~/Documents/ViberDownloads. Documents have a separate folder listed just below it.

Can I change Viber's download folder on a Mac?

Yes. In Settings, Media, click the current folder under Rakuten Viber media files, choose another folder and click Select folder. Pick an empty folder, because Viber deletes the media folder when you deactivate or uninstall it.

Where is Viber's chat history stored on a Mac?

In a database inside ~/Library/Application Support/ViberPC, which is not meant to be opened by hand. Viber backs up chat history from your phone, not from the desktop app.

Is it safe to delete the ViberDownloads folder?

Only for files you can lose. Viber does not keep media on its servers, so anything not also on your phone is gone once deleted. Use the Keep media setting, or move files to the Trash in Finder with Viber quit.