Chrome cache on Mac: where it is and how to clear it

Where it is

What it is

To load sites faster, Chrome saves parts of the pages you visit. On a Mac that cache is in ~/Library/Caches/Google/Chrome, with a subfolder for each Chrome profile: Default, Profile 1 and so on.

Your actual browser data is in a different place, ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome. That folder holds bookmarks, history, saved passwords, cookies and extensions. Do not confuse the two.

Chrome limits how large the cache may get, but each profile has its own, and video and image-heavy sites fill it quickly.

How big it gets

Usually from a few hundred MB to a few GB, more if you use several profiles.

How to clear it by hand

1. In Chrome, open the Chrome menu and choose Delete Browsing Data, or press Shift, Command and Delete.
2. Set the time range to All time.
3. Tick Cached images and files only. Leave cookies and browsing history unticked unless you want those removed too.
4. Click Delete data. Repeat in each profile you use.
5. To do it by hand instead, quit Chrome and move the contents of ~/Library/Caches/Google/Chrome to the Trash. The command below only shows how large the folder is.

du -sh ~/Library/Caches/Google/Chrome

What happens afterwards

Sites load a little slower on the first visit while Chrome downloads their files again, and the cache starts growing back straight away. You stay signed in, because cookies were not touched.

How Diskzy handles it

Diskzy lists browser caches in the Clean up tab, ticked unless that browser is open. What it removes goes to the Trash.

Related guides

• Safari cache~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari/Data/Library/Caches
• Caches~/Library/Caches
• Slack cache~/Library/Application Support/Slack/Cache
• Spotify cache~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client