10 GB of music you're not even listening to — clearing Spotify's hidden cache

Updated September 2026 · 6 min read

Spotify is a fantastic music app, but it has a habit that catches people off guard: it caches enormous amounts of audio data to your Mac's disk. This is by design — cached songs play instantly without buffering — but on a Mac with a 256 GB SSD, a 5–10 GB Spotify cache is a meaningful chunk of your storage.

Here's how to find it, clear it, and keep it from growing back to the same size.

Why Spotify's cache gets so large

Every song you play gets cached locally so that if you play it again, Spotify doesn't need to re-download it. This includes:

• Songs you've streamed recently (even once counts).
• Songs Spotify pre-fetches based on your listening habits.
• Podcasts you've played or partially played.

The cache doesn't clear itself aggressively. If you listen to a wide variety of music over weeks and months, the cache just keeps growing. On a Mac that's been running Spotify for a year, 5–10 GB is completely normal.

How to check Spotify's cache size

Open Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G, and go to:

~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client

Right-click the folder and choose Get Info to see its total size. You might be surprised.

How to clear Spotify cache on Mac

Method 1: Through Spotify settings

Spotify has a built-in way to manage storage:

1. Open Spotify.
2. Click Spotify in the menu bar, then Settings (or press Cmd + ,).
3. Scroll to Storage.
4. Click Clear cache.

This removes all cached audio files. Your playlists, downloads (if you have Premium), and account settings are unaffected. The only difference: the next few songs you play will take a moment to buffer as Spotify re-downloads them.

Method 2: Delete the cache folder manually

1. Quit Spotify completely (Cmd + Q).
2. In Finder, go to ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client.
3. Delete the contents of the folder (or the folder itself — Spotify will recreate it).
4. Empty your Trash to actually free the space.

How to keep the cache from growing back

Spotify doesn't offer a native cache size limit on Mac, so the cache will grow back as you listen. A few practical approaches:

• Clear the cache periodically — once a month is plenty for most people.
• Quit Spotify when you're not using it. If Spotify runs in the background, it may pre-fetch content.
• Use the web player for occasional listening. The web version streams without building a local cache (your browser handles caching separately, and browser caches are easier to manage).

Downloaded songs vs. cache: what's the difference?

If you use Spotify Premium's offline mode, you have two types of stored music:

• Downloads: songs you explicitly saved for offline playback. These are intentional and shouldn't be deleted unless you want to.
• Cache: songs Spotify saved automatically as you streamed. These are safe to delete — Spotify will just re-stream them next time.

The built-in "Clear cache" button only removes the automatic cache, not your intentional downloads. The manual Finder method removes everything in the cache folder, including downloads.

If your Mac is generally low on space, Spotify is usually just one piece of the puzzle. Check what else is hiding in System Data — browser caches, Time Machine snapshots, and app leftovers often account for much more.

FAQ

Will clearing Spotify cache delete my playlists?

No. Your playlists, liked songs, and listening history live on Spotify's servers, not in the local cache. Clearing the cache just removes temporary audio files from your Mac.

How much space does Spotify use on Mac?

The app itself is about 400 MB. The cache, however, can grow to 5–10 GB depending on how much and how often you listen. Heavy listeners who leave Spotify running daily may see even more.

Does Spotify cache podcasts too?

Yes. Podcasts you play are cached the same way as music. Long podcast episodes can be particularly large — a single hour-long episode can cache 50–100 MB of audio data.