Steam Games Taking Up Space on Mac: Safe to Delete?

Yes, but read this firstDiskmack safety tier: Caution

~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps

Yes, you can delete Steam games to get space back, but do it through Steam's own uninstaller, not by dragging folders to the Trash. Every game under ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps re-downloads from Steam whenever you want it back, so the real cost is download time, not lost purchases. The one thing to check first is save files: games without Steam Cloud sync keep saves locally, and uninstalling can take them along.

What it is

The steamapps folder inside ~/Library/Application Support/Steam is where Steam installs your games. The actual game files live in steamapps/common, one subfolder per game. Next to it sit a few support folders: downloading holds partial downloads and update files, shadercache stores compiled graphics shaders per game (usually small on a Mac, since Steam's shader pre-caching mostly targets Vulkan and OpenGL, and Mac games run on Metal), and workshop holds mods and community content you've subscribed to. Steam tracks what's installed with small .acf manifest files at the top level of steamapps, which is why the folder and Steam's library view have to stay in sync.

This folder grows for the obvious reason: modern games are enormous. A single big title can take 20 to 100 GB, and even a modest library of five or six installed games can push steamapps past 200 GB. Updates make it worse, since Steam needs scratch space in downloading to stage patches before applying them. If you have Steam on your Mac, steamapps is probably the largest folder inside Application Support, and it may well be the largest thing in your entire home folder.

Is it safe to delete?

Yes, with one caveat. Uninstalling a game removes its files from steamapps/common, and since you own the license on your Steam account, you can reinstall any of it later at no cost beyond the download. What does not automatically survive is local data: games that support Steam Cloud sync their saves to Steam's servers, but plenty of games keep saves only on disk, sometimes inside the game's own folder. Check a game's cloud status before removing it, and copy any local saves somewhere safe if you care about your progress. Mods and workshop content also disappear and have to be re-downloaded.

The method matters. Use Steam's uninstall, not Finder. If you trash a game folder by hand while Steam still lists it as installed, Steam gets confused: the library shows the game as ready to play, launching it fails, and you end up running a full validation or reinstall anyway. Diskmack finds steamapps automatically and labels it caution, warning you before any cleanup that games removed here come back only through a large re-download.

How to check its size

In Finder: In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (or press Command-Shift-G), enter ~/Library/Application Support/Steam and press Return. Click once on the steamapps folder and press Command-I to see its total size. Open steamapps/common in List view with View > Show View Options > Calculate all sizes turned on to see which game is the biggest.

In Terminal:

du -sh ~/Library/"Application Support"/Steam/steamapps

Keep the tilde outside the quotes so it expands to your home folder. For a per-game breakdown, run: du -sh ~/Library/"Application Support"/Steam/steamapps/common/* | sort -rh | head -15.

How to clean it

Open Steam. From the menu bar, choose Steam > Settings, then select Storage. This page lists every installed game sorted by size, so you can see exactly where the space went.
Before removing a game, check whether it syncs saves. Right-click the game in your Library, choose Properties, and look at the General tab: games that support Steam Cloud show a cloud saves toggle there, and its absence means saves are local only (the store page's feature list tells you the same thing). If there's no cloud support and you want to keep your progress, find and copy the save folder first (often inside the game's folder in steamapps/common, or elsewhere in ~/Library/Application Support).
In the Storage page, tick the games you're done with and click Uninstall. You can also right-click (or Control-click) any game in your Library list and choose Manage > Uninstall.
Check for leftovers Steam doesn't always clear. In Finder, use Go > Go to Folder to open ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps, then look inside downloading and shadercache for data belonging to games you just removed. Anything in there for an uninstalled game is safe to trash.
Re-check the folder size with Command-I or the du command above to confirm the space came back.

Steam's uninstall deletes game files immediately. There's no Trash step and no undo, so settle the save-file question before you click.

Will it come back?

Only if you reinstall. Unlike a cache, steamapps doesn't quietly refill itself; the space you free stays free until you install another game. The honest downside is that every reinstall is a full re-download from Steam's servers, which for a big title can mean tens of gigabytes and, on a slow connection, hours of waiting. If you rotate through games, treat uninstalling as parking a game rather than losing it: your purchase, achievements, and any cloud saves are all tied to your account, not to the files on disk.

Common questions

Will I lose my saved games if I uninstall through Steam?

Not if the game uses Steam Cloud; those saves live on Steam's servers and come back when you reinstall. Games without cloud support keep saves locally, and some store them inside the game folder that uninstalling deletes. Check the game's cloud status first, and copy local saves out if you want to keep your progress.

Can I just drag game folders out of steamapps/common to the Trash?

You can, but don't. Steam will still list the game as installed, launching it will fail, and you'll trigger a lengthy file validation or a forced reinstall. Steam's own uninstall removes the files and updates its records in one step. Finder is only appropriate for orphaned leftovers of games you already uninstalled.

Can I move Steam games to an external drive instead of deleting them?

Yes. In Steam > Settings > Storage, click the drive dropdown and add a new Steam library folder on the external drive, then select installed games and use the Move option. The games stay playable whenever the drive is connected, and your internal disk gets the space back without any re-downloading.

What are the shadercache, downloading, and workshop folders inside steamapps?

shadercache holds compiled graphics shaders that speed up load times, downloading is scratch space for installs and updates, and workshop stores mods you've subscribed to. All three regenerate. Leftover data in them for games you've uninstalled is safe to remove, but expect slightly longer first launches and mod re-downloads if you clear entries for games you still play.