Virtual Machine Images on Mac: Is It Safe to Delete UTM, VMware, or Parallels VMs?
~/UTM~/Virtual Machines.localizedNo, this is your data, not junk. The files in ~/UTM and ~/Virtual Machines.localized are complete virtual machines: entire operating systems plus every file you ever created inside them. Delete one and the whole guest system is gone for good, because nothing regenerates it. That said, if you have VMs you genuinely no longer use, removing them is one of the biggest single space wins available on a Mac: just treat it like deleting documents, not clearing a cache.
What it is
These folders hold virtual machine disk images. UTM keeps its machines in ~/UTM as .utm bundles. VMware Fusion and Parallels use ~/Virtual Machines.localized, which Finder displays as just "Virtual Machines", with each VM stored as a .vmwarevm or .pvm bundle. Every bundle contains a virtual hard disk, the machine's configuration, and often snapshots. The virtual disk is the big part: it is a full installation of Windows, Linux, or macOS, along with everything you saved while running it.
They grow because virtual disks are usually created sparse. The file starts small and expands as the guest operating system writes data, but it almost never shrinks on its own, even after you delete files inside the guest. A single Windows 11 VM commonly reaches 30 GB or more before you install much of anything, and each snapshot pins gigabytes of old disk state on top of that. A folder holding two or three machines can quietly pass 100 GB, which is why it tends to sit at the top of any disk usage scan.
Is it safe to delete?
Only delete a VM you are certain you are done with. This is not a cache: a deleted VM and everything inside it is gone. That includes documents saved inside the guest, installed software and its license activations, browser profiles, and code that was never pushed anywhere. If there is any doubt, boot the machine first and copy out what you need, or move the whole bundle to an external drive instead of the Trash. Diskmack identifies these folders automatically and labels them as your files rather than junk, so a bulk cleanup never touches them.
For machines you want to keep, you can still claw back space without deleting anything. Old snapshots are the usual offender: each one holds gigabytes of disk state you probably stopped needing months ago. After removing snapshots, use the app's built-in compaction (Parallels calls it Free Up Disk Space, VMware Fusion calls it Clean Up Virtual Machine) to shrink the disk image back toward the space the guest actually uses.
How to check its size
In Finder: In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, type ~/UTM (for UTM) or ~/Virtual Machines.localized (for VMware Fusion or Parallels) and press Return. Once the folder opens, click an empty spot so nothing is selected, then press Command-I to see the folder's total size. Select an individual VM bundle and press Command-I to find the biggest one.
In Terminal:
du -sh ~/UTM ~/"Virtual Machines.localized"Keep the ~ outside the quotes so it still expands to your home folder; if you only use one of the apps, the other path prints a harmless "No such file or directory".
How to clean it
- Open your VM app (UTM, VMware Fusion, or Parallels Desktop) and look at the list of machines. Note the ones you have not booted in months.
- Boot anything you are unsure about and copy out files you still need, or move the whole VM bundle to an external drive as a backup.
- Delete unwanted machines from inside the app so its library stays in sync: right-click the VM and choose Delete (UTM), Delete and then Move to Trash (VMware Fusion), or Remove and then Move to Trash (Parallels).
- For machines you keep in VMware Fusion or Parallels, open the snapshot manager and delete snapshots you no longer need. UTM has no snapshot feature, so skip this step there.
- Run the app's disk cleanup on kept machines: Free Up Disk Space in Parallels, or Clean Up Virtual Machine in VMware Fusion, to shrink the disk image.
- Empty the Trash once you have confirmed nothing is missing.
If you already uninstalled the VM app but ~/UTM or ~/Virtual Machines.localized is still there, the leftover bundles can be dragged to the Trash in Finder, but only once you are certain nothing inside those guest systems needs to survive.
Will it come back?
A deleted VM does not come back, and the folders only reappear if you create new machines. The images you keep, however, will keep growing. Sparse disks expand every time the guest writes and rarely shrink on their own, and snapshots accumulate quietly in the background. If you use VMs regularly, expect to repeat the snapshot cleanup and compaction routine a couple of times a year to keep each machine near its real size.
Common questions
Can I just drag a .utm, .vmwarevm, or .pvm bundle to the Trash?
Yes, each bundle is self-contained, so dragging it to the Trash removes that machine completely. The app will list the VM as missing the next time it opens, and you can remove the dead entry there. Deleting from inside the app is tidier, but the end result is the same.
Why is my VM 60 GB when the guest says its disk is half empty?
Virtual disks grow as the guest writes but do not shrink when the guest deletes files. The host-side file keeps its high-water mark. Run the app's compaction tool (Free Up Disk Space in Parallels, Clean Up Virtual Machine in VMware Fusion) to reclaim the difference.
Can I move my VMs to an external drive instead of deleting them?
Yes. Quit the VM app, move the bundle to the external drive in Finder, then double-click it or re-add it in the app to register the new location. A fast external SSD runs VMs surprisingly well, and even a slow drive works fine for cold storage.
Does Time Machine back up my virtual machines?
By default, yes, since they live in your home folder. Because a running VM changes its multi-gigabyte disk image constantly, this can bloat backups quickly. Many people exclude their VM folders in Time Machine settings and back up the VMs separately when they are shut down.