Is it safe to delete Large files not changed in a year?

Files of 500 MB or more in your home folder that haven't changed for a year, such as old videos, disk images and archives.

Review first

It's your own data, or hard to recreate. Decide item by item.

~/**/*

Files only
500 MB or larger
Not changed for a year
Never inside ~/Library, ~/Applications, ~/Box, ~/Box Sync, ~/Dropbox*, ~/Google Drive*, ~/My Drive*, ~/OneDrive*, ~/Creative Cloud Files*, ~/MEGA*, ~/Nextcloud*, ~/pCloud Drive, ~/Sync

What it is

Large files you made or downloaded long ago, and haven't changed since, often stay in folders such as Movies, Documents and Downloads after you've finished with them. They may also be the only copy of something you want to keep, such as a video of an event or a project's archive. It covers only files on this Mac that iCloud Drive and other cloud storage apps don't keep in sync, outside your Library folder and outside packages such as virtual machines and documents, and it leaves out files that another, more specific description covers.

If it's removed

If it's your only copy, back it up first, for example to an external disk. Until the Trash is emptied, you can put it back.

How it's removed

Moved to the Trash, where you can restore it.

PRO

The free analyzer finds it and explains it. Removing it is Pro, after a review sheet that lists every move and command. It's never checked for you: it waits for your choice.

Sources

Last checked on 28 Sep 2026. Every entry is written and checked by hand; the app and the command-line tool use the same words.