Is it safe to delete cache files on my Mac?

Q: Where are cache files on a Mac?

~/Library/Caches: your apps' caches, a folder per app, mostly named by bundle ID ( com.spotify.client) or app name. ~/Library/Containers/ /Data/Library/Caches: the same for App Store apps, inside each app's container. ~/.cache: caches of command-line tools. /Library/Caches: caches shared by all users, written by macOS and some installers. Leave these alone.

Q: Which caches are the biggest?

du -sh ~/Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -15 This lists the 15 largest, biggest last. Give Terminal Full Disk Access in System Settings › Privacy & Security if some folders are reported as unreadable.

Q: Which cache files should I not delete?

System folders: /System, /Library/Caches and /private/var/folders. macOS cleans these itself; a restart clears much of the temporary data. The whole ~/Library/Caches folder at once, with apps open: delete per app, with that app quit. Model and dataset caches, such as ~/.cache/huggingface: they are gigabytes you'd download again. Folders outside Caches that only look like caches, in Application Support or Group Containers: those often hold your data.

Updated November 3, 2026

Caches are copies an app keeps so it doesn't have to download or compute something twice. On the Mac this page was written on, ~/Library/Caches alone held 25 GB, and the advice online ranges from "delete them all" to "never touch them".

The short answer: yes for the folders inside ~/Library/Caches, one app at a time, with that app quit: it rebuilds what it needs. Expect it to be slower the first time, and the cache to grow back over the following weeks. Don't empty system folders, and skip caches that are really downloads you'd have to fetch again, such as AI models.

Where are cache files on a Mac?

~/Library/Caches: your apps' caches, a folder per app, mostly named by bundle ID (com.spotify.client) or app name.
~/Library/Containers/<app>/Data/Library/Caches: the same for App Store apps, inside each app's container.
~/.cache: caches of command-line tools.
/Library/Caches: caches shared by all users, written by macOS and some installers. Leave these alone.

Which caches are the biggest?

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

This lists the 15 largest, biggest last. Give Terminal Full Disk Access in System Settings › Privacy & Security if some folders are reported as unreadable.

How do I delete an app's cache?

Quit the app (an app that's running can write into its cache while you remove it).
In Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder, type ~/Library/Caches and press Return.
Drag that app's folder to the Trash. If the app works normally afterwards, empty the Trash.

Many apps also have their own button for this, usually in their settings under Storage, Advanced or Privacy. That's the better way when there is one, especially for browsers.

What happens when I delete a cache?

The app starts or loads more slowly the first time, while it rebuilds the cache.
Downloaded things come back only when you use them: songs, map tiles, thumbnails, packages.
The cache grows back. Clearing it frees space for a while, not for good.

Which cache files should I not delete?

System folders: /System, /Library/Caches and /private/var/folders. macOS cleans these itself; a restart clears much of the temporary data.
The whole ~/Library/Caches folder at once, with apps open: delete per app, with that app quit.
Model and dataset caches, such as ~/.cache/huggingface: they are gigabytes you'd download again.
Folders outside Caches that only look like caches, in Application Support or Group Containers: those often hold your data.