How to Clear the Spotify Cache

Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming services, and it has tens of millions of users worldwide. Typically, the application does not take a lot of disk space, but this may change if you want to keep offline copies of your playlists and favorite songs. However, users might not know that there is another Spotify component that may end up eating through their disk space – the cache. The Spotify cache can build up to enormous sizes, especially if you do not restart your computer often. Here's how to deal with the Spotify cache if it is taking too much space:

Deleting the Cache on macOS

Typically, the Spotify cache can be found under the directory/Library/Application Support/Spotify/PersistentCache/Storage. Do not worry if it is not there because it is easy to find it – open Spotify, and head to Preferences -> Advanced Settings. Find the 'Offline songs storage' section to see which folder is being used to cache files. Simply delete the contents of the Spotify/PersistentCache/Storage to clear the cache.

Deleting the Cache on Windows

Windows users need to take similar steps to empty the Spotify cache manually. Usually, it can be found in the directory \AppData\Roaming\Spotify\Users\<USERNAME>\ and delete the file 'local-files.bnk.' If the directory is not there, you can use the method above to find the cache.

How to Reduce the Size of the Spotify Cache?

If you do not turn off your computer for long periods and wish to keep the Spotify cache smaller, then there is one way to do it. Since the cache contains copies of songs you played during this session, reducing the quality of the streaming service will drastically reduce the size of the cache. You can do this through Spotify -> Preferences and set 'Music Quality' to either Low or Normal.