Spotify Cache on Mac: Is It Safe to Delete?

Yes, it's safe to deleteDiskmack safety tier: Safe to clean

~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client

Yes, you can delete Spotify's cache. The folder at ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client holds streamed audio that Spotify keeps around so it doesn't have to re-fetch songs you play often. It is not your downloaded playlists, and clearing it won't touch your account, your library, or your offline downloads. Spotify rebuilds the cache as you listen.

What it is

Spotify streams most of what you play, and streaming the same songs over and over would waste bandwidth. So the desktop app keeps a rolling cache of audio at ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client. When you replay a track, Spotify reads it from disk instead of pulling it from the network again. That is why playback starts instantly on songs you have heard recently.

The folder grows with your listening habits. A casual user might see a few hundred megabytes. Someone who streams all day at high quality can watch it climb to several gigabytes, sometimes well past that on a machine that has run Spotify for years. One thing it is not: your offline downloads. Playlists and albums you saved for offline listening live separately, under ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify, and are not part of this cache.

Is it safe to delete?

Deleting this folder is safe. Your account, playlists, liked songs, and follows all live on Spotify's servers, and your offline downloads sit in Application Support, so none of that is touched. The only cost is that recently played tracks will stream fresh from the network the next time you play them, which means a moment of buffering and a little extra data. On a normal home connection you won't notice.

The one thing to get right is timing: quit Spotify before you delete the folder. A running app holds the cache files open and keeps writing to them, so the space may not actually free up until Spotify is closed. Diskmack identifies this folder automatically and cleans it the safe way.

How to check its size

In Finder: In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G), paste ~/Library/Caches, and press Return. Select the com.spotify.client folder and press Command-I to see its size.

In Terminal:

du -sh ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client

How to clean it

Quit Spotify completely (press Command-Q or choose Spotify > Quit Spotify from the menu bar).
In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, or press Shift-Command-G.
Paste ~/Library/Caches and press Return.
Find the com.spotify.client folder and drag it to the Trash.
Empty the Trash, then reopen Spotify. It recreates the cache folder on launch.

Newer Spotify versions include a Clear cache button inside the app, under Settings in the Storage section. It does the same job without a trip to Finder.

Will it come back?

Yes, and fairly quickly. The cache re-fills as you listen, so a week or two of normal streaming can put it right back where it was. That is by design: caching is how Spotify avoids re-downloading the songs you play most. Treat clearing it as a repeatable chore rather than a one-time fix, and if the size bothers you, check on the folder every month or two.

Common questions

Will clearing the cache delete my downloaded playlists?

No. Offline downloads are stored under ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify, not in this cache folder. Clearing ~/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client only removes streamed audio that Spotify can fetch again. If you want the downloads gone too, remove them from inside the app so Spotify keeps its bookkeeping straight.

Why is my Spotify cache so large?

Spotify keeps a copy of tracks as you stream them so replays load from disk instead of the network. The more you listen, and the higher your streaming quality, the more audio it stores. Heavy daily listening can push the folder to several gigabytes over time.

Will I lose my playlists or liked songs?

No. Playlists, liked songs, and your library are stored on Spotify's servers and sync to any device you log in on. Nothing about your account lives in this cache.

Can I stop the cache from growing back?

Not really. Caching is core to how Spotify plays music, and the folder rebuilds as you listen. Clearing it periodically, either from Finder or with the in-app Clear cache button, is the practical option.