30 GB of "temporary" files: cleaning Adobe caches on Mac
If you use Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, or Lightroom, your Mac is almost certainly hoarding gigabytes of cache data you don't need. Adobe apps create media caches, render previews, and temp files to speed up your workflow — but they rarely clean up after themselves. On a video editing machine, this can easily reach 20–50 GB.
The safest way to clear Adobe caches is through the apps themselves, not by hunting through folders in Finder. Here's how.
What Adobe caches and where
| App | Cache type | Typical size |
|---|---|---|
| Premiere Pro | Media Cache, Media Cache Database, previews | 10–30 GB |
| After Effects | Disk cache, media cache | 10–50 GB |
| Photoshop | Scratch disk (temp files), Camera Raw cache | 2–20 GB |
| Lightroom | Previews, Smart Previews, Camera Raw cache | 5–20 GB |
Premiere Pro: media cache and previews
Premiere Pro's Media Cache is the biggest offender. It stores decoded versions of your footage so timelines play smoothly. After a project is done, all those cached files are waste.
To clear it: open Premiere Pro → Preferences → Media Cache. Click "Delete" next to "Remove Media Cache Files." You'll get the option to delete all cache files or just files older than a certain age.
For render previews: open your project, go to Sequence → Delete Render Files. This removes preview renders for the active sequence. If the project is done, that's pure free space.
After Effects: disk cache
After Effects stores rendered frames in its disk cache, which can be enormous — especially with composition-heavy projects.
To clear it: open After Effects → Preferences → Media & Disk Cache. Click "Empty Disk Cache." You can also set a maximum cache size here to prevent it from growing unchecked.
A good habit: set the disk cache limit to something reasonable for your drive — 20 GB for a 256 GB Mac, 50 GB for a 1 TB machine. After Effects respects this limit and trims old cache automatically.
Photoshop: scratch disk and Camera Raw
Photoshop uses your startup disk as a scratch disk by default — it writes temporary data there while you work with large files. These files are usually cleaned up when you close Photoshop, but crashes or force-quits can leave orphans behind.
For Camera Raw cache: Photoshop → Preferences → Camera Raw → Cache. You can purge the cache and set a size limit. The default is often generous.
If you're getting "scratch disks are full" errors, that's a separate (and more urgent) problem — we cover it in detail here.
Lightroom: previews
Lightroom generates previews for every photo you import. Standard previews, 1:1 previews, and Smart Previews can add up fast — especially if you shoot RAW.
To manage them: Lightroom → Catalog Settings → File Handling. Set "Automatically Discard 1:1 Previews" to after 30 days (or sooner if you're tight on space). You can also manually delete Smart Previews for projects you've finished: Library → Previews → Discard Smart Previews.
The manual folder approach (when you can't open the app)
If you've uninstalled an Adobe app but its caches are still on your disk, you can find them manually:
~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/Media Cache Files~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/Media Cache~/Library/Caches/Adobe
If the app is no longer installed, these folders are safe to delete entirely — there's no app to use them anymore.
Skip the manual dig
Gigatidy finds Adobe caches alongside everything else on your Mac and shows you exactly how much each cache is costing you — with one-click cleanup.
Meet Gigatidy →FAQ
Will clearing Adobe media cache delete my projects?
No. Media cache contains decoded copies of your source footage — not the footage itself and not your project files. Clearing it means Adobe apps will re-decode footage the next time you open a project, which may take a few moments, but nothing is lost.
How often should I clear Adobe caches?
After finishing a major project is the best time. If you work on video daily, a monthly cleanup keeps things manageable. Setting cache size limits inside each app prevents runaway growth between cleanups.
Can I move Adobe cache to an external drive?
Yes. Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop all let you set custom cache locations in their preferences. Moving the cache to a fast external SSD keeps your startup disk lean without sacrificing performance.