Spotify, Prime Video and other streaming downloads on a Mac

To clear Spotify's cache on a Mac, open Spotify, click your profile picture at the top and choose Settings, scroll down to Storage, and click Clear cache. Those are Spotify's own steps, and the right ones: they remove the music Spotify kept for smooth playback without touching your downloads.

Downloads are usually the bigger part. Songs, albums and podcasts you saved to play offline stay until you remove them, album by album and playlist by playlist, in Your Library. Clearing the cache never removes them, which is why it sometimes frees less than people expect.

Other streaming apps differ. Prime Video's Mac app can download movies and shows, managed inside the app. Netflix can't download anything on a Mac at all, so its only footprint is your browser's cache. Amazon Music, Deezer and Apple's own Music and TV apps each have their own steps.

Clearing a cache frees space, and that's all it does. Your Mac won't run faster, and the music you play next streams again, using data. Downloads you remove need downloading again before you can play them offline.

How to clear Spotify cache on a Mac

Spotify keeps parts of the music and podcasts you play as a cache, so they play without lag, and it keeps your downloads for offline listening. Spotify's settings separate the two, even though Finder can't.

What are the steps?

1. Open Spotify.
2. Click your profile picture at the top, and choose Settings.
3. Scroll down to Storage.
4. Click Clear cache, and confirm if Spotify asks.

That's all. The cache starts filling again as soon as you play something, which is normal.

What does clearing the cache remove?

It removes the pieces of songs and episodes Spotify saved while you listened. Spotify uses them to start playback quickly and avoid stutter, and fetches them again the next time you play the same track.

It doesn't remove your downloads, your playlists or your library. Your playlists and library live in your Spotify account, not in the cache.

Where does Spotify keep its cache on a Mac?

The catalog's Spotify cache and downloads entry names two folders: ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client and ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify/PersistentCache. On a Mac, the cache and your offline downloads can end up in either folder.

Finder can't tell a cached track from a downloaded one, as the catalog entry notes, so there's no way to pick out one from the other there. Spotify's support adds that it keeps downloads in an encrypted form on iPhone.

Why not delete the folders in Finder?

Because you can't choose what goes. Moving either folder to the Trash removes cached music and downloads together, and Spotify then needs you to download everything again. Spotify's own Clear cache knows which files are which.

If you do move a folder by mistake, quit Spotify and use Finder's File › Put Back before you empty the Trash. The post on whether ~/Library/Caches is safe to delete explains why app caches in general are best cleared from inside the app.

Can you move the cache to another drive?

Yes. Spotify's support adds a tip to the same steps: in Storage, click Change location to store your cache somewhere else, such as an external drive with more room.

Keep that drive connected while you listen. Spotify doesn't say whether downloads move along with the cache, so after moving it, check that your downloaded playlists still show as downloaded.

What if Clear cache frees almost nothing?

Then most of Spotify's space is downloads, or the cache was cleared recently. Check the folders' sizes before and after in Finder: if they barely change, the rest is offline music, and removing downloads is the only way to shrink them.

How often should you clear it?

There's no need to clear it on a schedule. Spotify manages its own cache, and clearing it means the next plays stream again. Clear it when space is tight, when Spotify's support suggests it for a playback problem, or once after moving its location.

What	Where it lives	How to remove it
Cache	~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client or PersistentCache	Settings › Storage › Clear cache
Downloads	The same folders	Remove each download in Your Library
Your local files	Your own folders, such as Music	In Finder; Spotify only plays them
Playlists and library	Spotify's servers	Nothing on your Mac to clear

Spotify downloads: usually the bigger part

Spotify's cache comes and goes. Downloads stay until you remove them, and a few offline playlists of high-quality music add up to gigabytes.

What can you download in Spotify's desktop app?

Spotify's support says Premium listeners can download albums, playlists and podcasts, while the free version downloads only podcasts. You can't download a single song on its own, but you can add songs to a playlist and download the playlist.

In the desktop app, go to the playlist and click the download button while you're online. A downloaded playlist shows that its tracks are downloaded.

How do you remove downloads on a Mac?

1. Open Your Library.
2. Open a downloaded album or playlist you no longer need offline.
3. Click the green arrow, the download button, to remove the download.

The album or playlist stays in your library and still streams. Only the offline copy goes, along with the space it took.

Is there a button to remove all downloads?

Spotify documents Remove all downloads for its mobile app, under Storage in Settings and privacy. Its desktop instructions describe removing downloads one album or playlist at a time, as above.

On a Mac with many downloaded playlists, start with the largest: long playlists and whole discographies. Podcasts you've finished are easy wins too.

When does Spotify remove downloads by itself?

Spotify lists the cases where downloads disappear without you removing them:

• you don't go online at least once in 30 days
• you reinstall the app
• you download to more than 5 devices, when downloads go from the device you used least recently
• the app isn't up to date

The 30-day rule exists so Spotify can collect play data to pay artists. Spotify also caps downloads at 10,000 tracks on each of up to 5 devices.

What is Offline Mode for?

Downloads play automatically when you lose your connection. Offline Mode makes sure only downloads play, which is handy for checking what's really on your Mac before a flight. On a Mac, choose Spotify › Offline Mode in the menu bar; anything not downloaded turns grey.

What about podcasts?

Podcast episodes you download sit with your music downloads, and even the free version can download them. Spotify's support puts podcast quality at about 96 kbit/s on desktop, so an hour-long episode takes roughly 43 MB.

They're easy to forget, because a show you follow can keep adding episodes. Remove downloaded episodes you've finished the same way as music: open the download in Your Library and click the green arrow.

Does each user account have its own Spotify cache?

Yes. Both of Spotify's folders are inside your own Library, so another person who uses Spotify in their own macOS account has a separate cache and separate downloads. Each of you clears your own from inside Spotify, signed in to your own account.

How much space does streaming music take?

Spotify's sizes follow from its quality settings. Spotify publishes the approximate bitrate of each one, so the space an hour of music takes is simple arithmetic.

Spotify's quality settings

Setting	Bitrate, per Spotify	An hour of music, roughly
Low	about 24 kbit/s	11 MB
Normal	about 96 kbit/s	43 MB
High	about 160 kbit/s	72 MB
Very high (Premium)	about 320 kbit/s	144 MB
Lossless (Premium)	up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC	Much more; Spotify doesn't say

• Low11 MB
• Normal43 MB
• High72 MB
• Very high144 MB

Worked out from the approximate bitrates on Spotify's audio quality page: bitrate times 3,600 seconds, divided by 8 bits per byte. Real files vary a little with the encoding and the track.

On desktop, Spotify's support says to choose these under Audio Quality in Settings. On mobile it describes a separate download quality, and notes that higher download quality uses more space.

What about lossless?

Spotify describes its lossless setting as up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC. Uncompressed, 24-bit stereo audio at 44.1 kHz runs at about 2,100 kbit/s, more than six times the Very high setting.

FLAC shrinks that without losing anything, by an amount that varies from track to track, and Spotify doesn't publish typical sizes. Expect lossless downloads to be a few times larger than Very high ones, and keep lossless for the playlists where you'll hear the difference.

A worked example: a 500-song offline playlist

Say a playlist has 500 songs averaging 3.5 minutes, about 29 hours of music. At Very high quality, that's roughly 4.2 GB. At Normal, it's about 1.3 GB.

That's the whole decision in one line: quality multiplies the space. For a phone-sized offline library on a small Mac, Normal or High is plenty; for a big Mac at home, Very high costs little.

Do local files count?

Spotify can play audio files already on your Mac: turn on Show Local Files under Library in Settings, and choose the folders it may use. Spotify plays them from the folders you chose.

So clearing Spotify's cache never touches your own music files, and deleting one of those files in Finder removes it for good once the Trash is emptied. Treat them like any other personal files.

When clearing isn't enough: Spotify's clean reinstall

Spotify's support offers two levels of reinstall for playback problems. They're fixes, not space-savers, and the second one removes your downloads.

What's the difference between a quick and a clean reinstall?

A quick reinstall replaces the app: drag Spotify from Applications to the Trash, then download and install Spotify again. A clean reinstall also clears what Spotify left in your Library.

Spotify's clean reinstall steps for a Mac:

1. Quit Spotify.
2. In Finder, hold down Option and choose Go › Library.
3. Open Caches and remove the com.spotify.client and com.spotify.client.helper folders.
4. Go back, open Application Support, and remove the Spotify folder.
5. Restart your Mac, then download and install Spotify.

Move those folders to the Trash rather than deleting them outright, so you can put them back if the reinstall doesn't help.

What do you lose?

Spotify's support notes that you need to download your music and podcasts again after reinstalling. Your playlists and library come back when you sign in, because they live in your account.

Spotify recommends at least 1 GB of free space for the app. If your Mac is close to full, freeing space elsewhere first can stop the same problems returning.

Prime Video on a Mac

Unlike Netflix, Amazon's Prime Video has a Mac app that downloads. Its downloads behave differently from Spotify's.

Can you download Prime Video on a Mac?

Yes. Amazon's help says that to download Prime Video titles for offline viewing, you need a Fire tablet or the Prime Video app for iOS, Android, macOS, or Windows 10 and 11. On a Mac, that's the Prime Video app from the App Store.

In a web browser, Prime Video streams. Amazon's requirements page lists Safari and other browsers for watching, while its download instructions name only its apps and Fire tablets.

How do you download a movie or show?

Open the Prime Video app and find the title. For a movie, choose the download option on its detail page. For a TV show, download a whole season, or click the download icon next to single episodes.

Amazon adds that downloaded titles can't be played over AirPlay. They're for watching on the Mac itself, which matters if you were planning to cast them to a TV.

Where do downloads go, and how do you remove them?

Amazon says you can choose where to save downloads in the Android and Windows apps; it lists no such option for the Mac. It also doesn't recommend saving downloads to USB-connected drives.

Amazon's help doesn't spell out deleting a download on a Mac. Remove them inside the Prime Video app, where you found them, rather than hunting for files: downloads are protected video the app manages, and the files mean nothing on their own.

What if you delete the Prime Video app?

Like most App Store apps, Prime Video keeps its data in its own container in your Library. Deleting an app doesn't always remove its container, so check for one after removing the app. The post on Containers and Group Containers explains how to find a leftover container and decide whether it's safe to remove.

Service	Downloads on a Mac?	Where you manage them
Spotify	Yes, Premium (podcasts on free)	Your Library, the green arrow
Prime Video	Yes, in the Mac app	Inside the Prime Video app
Netflix	No	Streams in a browser only
Amazon Music	Yes, in the desktop app	Inside the app; purchases also as files
Deezer	Yes, paid plans, in the desktop app	Library, the download icon
Apple TV app	Yes	Downloaded, Delete from Library

Netflix on a Mac: no downloads

Netflix is the simplest case. There's nothing to download on a Mac, so there's nothing large to clear.

Why can't you download Netflix on a Mac?

Netflix's help lists the devices that can download: Android phones and tablets, iPhone and iPad, Amazon Fire tablets, and Chromebooks with the Google Play Store. A Mac isn't on the list, and Netflix says downloads aren't available on Windows devices either.

On a Mac, Netflix's help covers watching in a web browser. It asks for macOS 10.15.5 or later, and supports Safari and other current browsers.

Does streaming Netflix take space?

A little, in your browser's cache, like any website with video. Browsers manage that cache themselves and clear old parts as they go. It isn't something to chase for space.

If you want to clear it anyway, do it in the browser's settings, not in Finder. The posts on Safari's cache and website data and Chrome's storage on a Mac walk through each browser.

Can an iPad app download Netflix on a Mac?

Apple silicon Macs can run some iPhone and iPad apps, which the Mac App Store labels Designed for iPhone or Designed for iPad. Not every iPhone or iPad app is available on the Mac that way.

Netflix's help doesn't list the Mac among the devices that download, so don't plan around it. For offline viewing on a trip, download to an iPhone or iPad instead.

What about Netflix downloads on your iPhone?

Those live on your iPhone or iPad, not your Mac, even if both use the same account, so they take no space on your Mac. Netflix's help notes that downloads are available only on the device that downloaded them.

Amazon Music, Deezer and TIDAL

Other music services follow the same pattern as Spotify: a cache that refills, and downloads that stay. Their controls differ.

Amazon Music

Amazon Music's desktop app, Amazon Music for PC and Mac, handles two kinds of download. Music you bought downloads as real files, saved by default to an Amazon Music folder in your Music folder, which you can also play in other apps.

Music from Amazon Music Unlimited or Prime can't be downloaded to a computer as files. You can download it in the app for offline playback, and Amazon says those downloads are only playable inside the Amazon Music app.

How do you clear Amazon Music's cache on a Mac?

Amazon's help offers a few ways to refresh the desktop app's data. The gentlest is to sign out and sign in again, which resyncs your library. You can also reload your music: choose Profile, then Preferences, then Reload My Music? and Start Reload.

Amazon also describes removing the app's Data folder, at ~/Library/Application Support/Amazon Music/Data, using Finder's Go › Go to Folder. Quit the app first and move the folder to the Trash rather than deleting it. Amazon doesn't say what else the folder holds, so check your offline downloads afterwards.

Deezer

Deezer's support says paid subscribers can download albums, playlists and favorite tracks in its desktop app: open Library, choose a tab, and click the download icon. You can't download on Deezer's website.

To see what's on your Mac, open Library and then Downloaded music. Deezer adds that content saved only in Favorites may not be downloaded, so check for its download indicator before counting on it offline.

TIDAL

TIDAL's desktop app keeps its data in its own folders. Homebrew's record of what the app installs lists ~/Library/Application Support/TIDAL and a cache at ~/Library/Caches/com.tidal.desktop. Manage downloads in the app, like the others.

App	Its folders in your Library	Source
Spotify	Caches/com.spotify.client, Application Support/Spotify	The catalog and Spotify's support
Amazon Music	Application Support/Amazon Music, with its Data folder	Amazon's help
Deezer	Application Support/Deezer	Homebrew's record of the app
TIDAL	Application Support/TIDAL, Caches/com.tidal.desktop	Homebrew's record of the app

Apple's own Music and TV apps

Apple's Music and TV apps keep downloads in libraries of their own, and Storage settings gives each its own category. Remove their downloads in the apps, never in Finder.

Apple Music

Apple Music downloads, purchases and imported songs live in the Music library, and the steps to trim them are different for each. The post on what the Music library holds covers downloads, lossless and Dolby Atmos files, and the Music cache.

The short version: Remove Download keeps a song in your library and frees the space, while deleting it from your library removes it altogether.

How do you delete downloads in the Apple TV app?

Apple's steps for a Mac:

1. Open the Apple TV app.
2. Click Downloaded in the sidebar.
3. Move the pointer over the item, then click the More button.
4. Click Delete from Library, then confirm.

Purchases can be streamed or downloaded again. Home videos you added yourself may exist only in the TV app's media folder, so keep a copy before deleting those.

Can macOS remove watched shows for you?

Yes. In System Settings › General › Storage, Apple's Optimize Storage recommendation automatically removes Apple TV movies and TV shows you've already watched, when storage space is needed. It also keeps only recent email attachments on the Mac.

It applies only to Apple's TV app. Spotify, Prime Video and the rest manage their own downloads, and macOS doesn't remove those for them.

How to see what streaming apps take on your Mac

Before clearing anything, it helps to know which app holds the space. macOS counts these apps in different places, which is why they're easy to miss.

Which Storage settings category counts them?

Apple's Music and TV apps have categories of their own in System Settings › General › Storage, and Apple says each holds purchases you can remove and download again. Their downloads show up there by name.

Spotify, Prime Video, Amazon Music and the rest keep their caches and downloads inside your Library. Apple's guide counts caches and app support files under System Data.

So a large offline library in one of these apps makes System Data grow, not Music. The post on what System Data includes explains the rest of that category.

How do you check a folder's size in Finder?

1. In Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder.
2. Type a path such as ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client, and press Return.
3. Go up one level, select the folder and choose File › Get Info.

Get Info shows the folder's size once it has finished counting. It tells you how large the folder is, not which part is cache and which is downloads; only the app knows that.

Why do the numbers keep changing?

A streaming app's cache rises and falls as you listen or watch, and downloads arrive whenever you save something offline. Storage settings also takes a few minutes to update after a large change.

So measure twice, a day or two apart, before deciding an app is the problem. A cache that stays about the same size is doing its job; downloads that keep growing are the part you control.

What about planning space for a trip?

Work out what you need offline first, then download it at home on Wi-Fi. For music, the bitrate table above gives a fair estimate; for video, Prime Video and the TV app don't publish sizes per title, so leave generous room.

After the trip, remove what you've watched or no longer need offline. That one habit keeps streaming downloads from quietly becoming the largest thing on a small Mac.

What clearing a cache costs, and what it doesn't

Caches and downloads trade space for convenience. Knowing the trade makes it easy to decide what to clear.

What happens after you clear?

Music you play streams again, so the first plays use data and may take a moment to start. Spotify rebuilds its cache as you listen, so on a Mac you use daily, it soon grows back toward its usual size.

Removed downloads aren't available offline until you download them again. That's the real cost: clear them at home on Wi-Fi, not the night before a trip.

Which should you clear first?

Start where the space is large and the cost is small. This order suits most Macs:

Item	Space it frees	What it costs
Downloads you've finished with	Often the most	Downloading again if you want them
Watched Apple TV downloads	Can be large	Nothing for purchases
Spotify's cache	Varies, and refills	The next plays stream again
Prime Video downloads	Per title, not published	Downloading again
Amazon Music's Data folder	Varies	A library resync
A browser's cache	Usually small	Sites load a little slower at first

Does clearing on your Mac affect your other devices?

No. Downloads belong to the device that made them, so removing them on your Mac leaves your phone's downloads alone. Clearing a cache affects only the Mac you clear it on, and your playlists and library stay in your account everywhere.

Will clearing caches make your Mac faster?

No. A cache exists to make the app faster, by keeping what it needs close at hand. Clearing it frees space and, at most, fixes a playback problem caused by a damaged file. It won't speed up your Mac.

Free space matters when the disk is nearly full, because macOS needs room for updates and temporary files. That's the reason to clear, and the only one.

Why does the cache grow back?

Because that's its job. A cache that refills to a stable size is behaving normally. Clearing it every week gains nothing; clearing it when space is tight, or once after a long period of heavy listening, does.

If you want to know which apps grow the most over weeks, rather than guessing, the post on tracking disk usage over time shows how to spot them.

Mistakes to avoid

• Deleting Spotify's folders in Finder. You lose downloads along with the cache. Use Clear cache.
• Clearing the cache to free gigabytes. Downloads are usually the bigger part; remove those instead.
• Removing downloads the night before a trip. They take time and data to come back.
• Deleting home videos in Finder. Use the TV app's Delete from Library, and keep a copy.
• Expecting Netflix downloads on a Mac. They aren't available, so there's nothing to remove.

Making it a routine

Check your offline downloads every month or two, and remove what you've stopped listening to or watching. Turn on Optimize Storage if you use Apple's TV app. For everything else that's worth a regular look, see the post on a storage maintenance routine.

Games are the other big media download on many Macs; the post on Steam and game storage covers them. And if apps themselves are the problem, sizing every app on your Mac shows which ones are worth removing.

How the app does it

Wombit scans your disk, explains every item in plain language, and moves what you choose to the Trash, where you can put it back. File names and paths never leave your Mac.

Spotify's two folders appear on the map with their real size. Select one, and the inspector explains it from the catalog: what it holds, why Finder can't tell the cache from your downloads, and how to clear it in Spotify.

It's Usually safe, so it never starts checked. Because the same folders can hold your offline downloads, the app doesn't move them; it points you to Spotify's own Clear cache instead.

The Apple TV app's media folder is Review first, explained with the TV app's Delete from Library steps and Optimize Storage, because home videos may exist only there.

• ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client

  Spotify cache and downloads

  Music and podcasts that Spotify saved on this Mac, both for smooth playback and as downloads to play offline.

  Usually safe · Explained only: the app shows you how

• ~/Movies/TV/{Media,Media.localized}

  TV media folder

  Movies, TV shows and home videos in the Apple TV app's library on this Mac.

  Review first · Explained only: the app shows you how

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