How to Clear the Discord Cache on a Mac (Yes, It's Safe to Delete)
~/Library/Application Support/discord/CacheYes, Discord's cache is safe to delete. Quit Discord first, then clear out ~/Library/Application Support/discord/Cache and you lose nothing permanent. The folder only holds local copies of images and media Discord already downloaded, and it refills as you use the app. Your messages, servers, and settings live on Discord's servers, not in this folder.
What it is
Discord on the Mac is an Electron app, which means it is essentially a Chromium browser wrapped around the Discord website. The Cache folder at ~/Library/Application Support/discord/Cache is that browser's disk cache. Every avatar, meme, embedded image, GIF, sticker, and video preview that scrolls past you in a channel gets a copy saved here so it loads instantly the next time you see it.
The folder grows with use, and Discord is not aggressive about trimming it. If you sit in a handful of quiet servers, the cache stays modest, often a few hundred megabytes. If you are in busy servers full of images and video clips, it can reach several gigabytes over a few months. It also has two smaller siblings in the same discord folder, Code Cache and GPUCache, which cache compiled scripts and graphics data for the same reason.
Is it safe to delete?
Deleting it is safe. Everything inside is a throwaway local copy of content that lives on Discord's servers or its CDN. Your account, message history, DMs, uploaded files, server memberships, and settings are stored server-side and are not touched when you clear this folder. The only cost is that images and media load a little slower the first time you see them again, since Discord has to download them fresh.
The one thing to get right is the method: quit Discord completely before you delete anything. Discord likes to keep running in the background, and if the app is open it can hold cache files in use or start rebuilding the folder while you are emptying it. Diskmack identifies this folder automatically and clears it the safe way. Otherwise, Finder and the Trash are all you need.
How to check its size
In Finder: In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G), paste ~/Library/Application Support/discord and press Return. Click the Cache folder once, then press Command-I to see its size in the Get Info window.
In Terminal:
du -sh ~/Library/"Application Support"/discord/CacheHow to clean it
- Quit Discord completely. Closing the window with the red button is not enough, since the app keeps running in the Dock. Right-click the Discord icon in the Dock and choose Quit, or click Discord to bring it to the front and press Command-Q.
- In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G) and paste ~/Library/Application Support/discord, then press Return.
- Drag the Cache folder to the Trash. If you want a slightly deeper clean, the Code Cache and GPUCache folders next to it are the same kind of disposable data and can go too.
- Empty the Trash to actually reclaim the space, then relaunch Discord. It recreates the folders on launch and carries on as if nothing happened.
Discord's desktop app has no built-in clear cache button, so deleting the folder yourself is the normal way to do this. Just make sure the app is fully quit first, not just its window closed, since Discord keeps running in the Dock.
Will it come back?
Yes, immediately and by design. Discord recreates the Cache folder the moment it launches and starts refilling it as you scroll through channels. How fast it regrows depends entirely on your usage: a few quiet servers might take months to build the cache back up, while image-heavy communities can push it back to multiple gigabytes within weeks. Treat clearing it as an occasional cleanup you repeat when space gets tight, not a one-time fix.
Common questions
Will clearing the Discord cache delete my messages or DMs?
No. Messages, DMs, and your server history are stored on Discord's servers, not on your Mac. The cache only holds local copies of images and media for faster loading, and everything reappears the next time it loads from the network.
Is there a clear cache button inside Discord on Mac?
No. The desktop app has no cache-clearing option in its settings. Deleting the Cache folder in ~/Library/Application Support/discord is the standard method, and Discord's own support guidance points people at the folder for exactly this reason.
Why is my Discord cache so big?
Every image, GIF, sticker, avatar, and video preview you scroll past gets cached, and Discord does little to trim old entries. Membership in a few active, media-heavy servers is enough to grow the cache to several gigabytes over time.
Should I also delete Code Cache and GPUCache?
You can. They sit next to the Cache folder inside ~/Library/Application Support/discord and hold compiled scripts and graphics data. They are usually much smaller, but they are just as disposable and Discord rebuilds them on the next launch.