How to Clear Spotify Cache on Mac (2026 Steps)

To clear Spotify cache on a Mac, open the Spotify desktop app, click your profile picture at the top, choose Settings, scroll down to Storage and click Clear cache (Spotify Support: Spotify storage information). Spotify rebuilds the cache as you listen, so this is safe to do whenever the app feels slow or is taking too much disk space.

The rest of this guide covers what the cache actually is, how it differs from downloads, how to move it to another drive, and why deleting Spotify’s folders by hand is riskier than most guides admit.

What the Spotify cache is (and what downloads are)

Spotify’s help centre describes two separate uses of your Mac’s storage (Spotify storage information):

Cache: parts of songs and podcasts that Spotify stores so playback starts without lagging.
Downloads: albums, playlists and podcasts you saved on purpose to play offline.

Downloads need Premium for music; on the free plan you can only download podcasts. You can download up to 10,000 tracks on each of up to five devices, and you need to go online at least once every 30 days to keep them (Spotify Support: Listen offline).

Spotify also recommends keeping at least 1GB of free space on your device for the app.

How to clear Spotify cache in the desktop app

This is the method Spotify documents, and the only one that does not involve guessing at folders.

Open the Spotify app on your Mac.
Click your profile picture at the top of the window.
Choose Settings.
Scroll down to the Storage section.
Click Clear cache.

Some older guides send you to Spotify > Preferences. Spotify’s current instructions use the profile picture and Settings instead.

The steps are the same on a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac or Mac mini, and on macOS Sonoma, Sequoia, Tahoe and macOS 27 Golden Gate, because the setting lives inside Spotify rather than in macOS.

Does clearing the cache delete my downloads?

Spotify treats cache and downloads as two different things, and for desktop it says that if you are short of storage “you need to free up space by manually removing downloaded tracks” (Spotify storage information). That points to downloads being separate from the Clear cache button. Spotify’s page does not state outright that the button leaves downloads untouched, though, so if you rely on offline playlists for a flight, check them in Your Library after clearing.

Move the cache to another drive

In the same Storage section, Spotify offers a Change location button that lets you store the cache somewhere else (Spotify storage information). This is useful on a MacBook Air with a small internal SSD and an external drive you keep plugged in.

Can you limit Spotify’s cache size?

Spotify’s current help pages do not document a cache size limit for the desktop app, and we could not find one in its official instructions. Some forum posts suggest editing a hidden preferences file to cap the size. Spotify does not support that method, so we leave it out.

What you can control is the location (above) and how much you download.

Remove downloads you no longer need

If Spotify is still using a lot of space after clearing the cache, the downloads are the likely reason. Spotify’s steps (Listen offline):

Open Your Library.
Open a downloaded album or playlist you want to remove.
Click the green arrow (download) button to turn the download off.

Spotify warns that you also lose downloads if you reinstall the app, stay offline for more than 30 days, or download to more than five devices.

Where Spotify keeps its cache on a Mac

Spotify does not publish its folder locations for macOS. Users on the Spotify Community forum and most third-party guides point to two places:

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

We could not check these ourselves because Spotify was not installed on the Mac we used, so treat them as reported locations rather than confirmed ones. There is also a catch. One user on the Spotify Community forum reported that offline downloads were stored inside the com.spotify.client folder under Caches. If that is true for your version, deleting that folder by hand removes your downloads along with the cache.

Check the size in Terminal (read-only)

To see how much space these folders take, if they exist on your Mac, open Terminal and run:

du -sh ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Spotify/PersistentCache"

du only reads sizes and changes nothing (see man du). A “No such file or directory” message means that folder is not on your Mac.

Should you delete the folders by hand?

We don’t recommend it. The Clear cache button does the same job and Spotify knows which files are downloads. If you do delete anything manually, quit Spotify first, never delete the whole ~/Library folder, and accept that you may need to download your playlists again. Files removed with rm in Terminal skip the Trash, so there is no undo.

Spotify cache and cleaner apps

When downloads fail, Spotify’s own troubleshooting list tells you to “Turn off any cache clearing/battery-saving apps” (Listen offline). Any tool that empties ~/Library/Caches in bulk can reach Spotify’s folder there. Review what a cleaner proposes before you confirm, and leave Spotify’s items alone if you keep offline music.

For a wider look at what else is filling your disk, see how to clear cache on Mac and how to check storage on Mac.

The faster way: MacWipe

MacWipe has no Spotify-specific rule. Its Cleanup tool looks at user caches in ~/Library/Caches older than 7 days, which includes a Spotify folder there if one exists. It does not touch Spotify’s folder in Application Support.

Because Spotify may keep downloads under Caches, check the Spotify items in the list before you clean, and untick them if you rely on offline playlists. MacWipe shows every item and why it is safe, and nothing goes without your say. Caches are deleted, since apps rebuild them.

If you are done with Spotify, the Apps tool uninstalls it along with its leftover files, which go to the Trash.

Download MacWipe and run a free scan.

FAQ

Is it safe to clear Spotify cache on Mac?

Yes. The cache holds parts of tracks Spotify streamed earlier, and the app downloads them again as you play. Use Settings > Storage > Clear cache inside Spotify.

Why is Spotify taking up so much space on my Mac?

Both the cache and your downloads use disk space. Clear the cache in Settings > Storage, then remove downloaded playlists you no longer need from Your Library.

Can I change where Spotify stores its cache on Mac?

Yes. In Settings > Storage, click Change location and choose another folder or drive.

Where is the Spotify cache folder on a Mac?

Spotify does not document it. Users report ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client and ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify/PersistentCache, but the first may also hold your downloads, so use the in-app Clear cache button instead of deleting folders.

Cache

Skip the manual steps next time.

MacWipe's Smart Scan finds caches, logs, app leftovers and browser data in one pass, and shows every item and why it's safe before anything is removed. Scanning and your first clean are free.

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MacWipe	£23.99 a year for up to 3 Macs
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Competitor prices from their own stores, checked on 27 October 2026. Both include features MacWipe doesn't have. See the sourced comparison

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