How to Clear Apple Music's Cache on Mac

The Music app replaced iTunes back in macOS Catalina, and the storage layout changed with it. If you’ve been streaming Apple Music for a few years, the cache and download folder combined often hit several GB. The downloaded music for offline playback can be much more — 20GB+ if you’ve added playlists for travel and forgotten about them.

Here’s the layout on macOS Sonoma 14 and Sequoia 15, and how to clean it up safely.

Where Apple Music stores everything

Two main locations:

• ~/Music/Music/Media.localized/ — your downloaded music files and offline tracks
• ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Music/ — streaming cache and temporary data

Subfolders inside the Music folder:

• Apple Music/ — tracks downloaded via Apple Music subscription
• Music/ — your purchased iTunes Store music and ripped CDs
• Movies/ and TV Shows/ — purchased video content (different app now, but Music still hosts files)

There’s also ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Music/ for sandboxed data and ~/Library/Application Support/Music/ for some app state.

Clearing the streaming cache

The Music app caches streamed audio temporarily so it doesn’t redownload tracks you replay. To clear:

1. Quit Music (Cmd+Q).
2. Open Finder, press Cmd+Shift+G.
3. Paste ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Music/.
4. Move everything inside to the Trash.
5. Empty Trash.

This is small (usually under 500MB) but worth grabbing. Music will rebuild the cache as you stream.

Removing downloaded music for offline playback

Apple Music lets you download playlists, albums, and tracks for offline. Those files live at ~/Music/Music/Media.localized/Apple Music/ and can be huge.

To remove downloads via the app (preferred):

1. Open Music.
2. Click a downloaded album or playlist.
3. Click the … menu → Remove → Remove Download.

This removes the local files but keeps the album in your library for redownload later.

To remove all downloads in bulk:

1. Open Music → Settings → General.
2. Click Reset Cache and Other Data (in some versions; if absent, see manual approach below).

Or do it manually:

1. Quit Music.
2. Open Finder → ~/Music/Music/Media.localized/Apple Music/.
3. Move folders or files to Trash.
4. Empty Trash.

Be careful: this removes downloaded tracks. If you have a sync issue, the Music app might think tracks are still local but be unable to play them.

Clearing iTunes Store purchase downloads

If you bought music from the iTunes Store, those files live at ~/Music/Music/Media.localized/Music/. These are yours — deleting them means redownloading from the iTunes Store later.

To clear safely:

1. Open Music.
2. Right-click a purchased album → Remove Download (if available) or Delete from Library.
3. Delete from Library removes the metadata too. Remove Download keeps the metadata, removes the file.

For purchased music, “Remove Download” is the safer option — you can redownload anytime from the iTunes Store account.

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Clearing the artwork cache

Music caches album artwork. The cache lives at:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Music/Data/Library/Caches/com.apple.Music/

You’ll find subfolders for various asset types. Clearing them is safe — artwork redownloads as needed.

What about the database?

Music’s library database is at ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary/. This is the catalog of your library, including playlists, ratings, and play counts.

Don’t delete this file unless you want to lose your entire Music library state. It’s small (usually under 100MB) anyway.

When the Music app is acting up

A cache clear can sometimes fix:

• Tracks won’t play and just skip
• Album artwork showing wrong art
• Slow library loading
• Search returning weird results

If a cache clear doesn’t help:

1. Re-sign in: Music → Account → Sign Out, then sign back in.
2. Force quit and reopen.
3. Reset Music settings: delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Music.plist.
4. Reinstall: Music is a system app, so this means reinstalling macOS or using a separate Music installer if available.

Removing old iPod backup folders

Older versions of iTunes (before Music) created iPod and iPhone backup folders that sometimes still exist:

• ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ — iOS device backups
• ~/Music/iTunes/ — old iTunes library data (if you had iTunes before macOS Catalina)

Old iTunes folders can have several GB of leftover content from years ago. If you’ve fully migrated to Music and Finder-based device sync, the iTunes folder is reclaimable. But check it first:

1. Open ~/Music/iTunes/.
2. Look for iTunes Media/ and check size.
3. If it duplicates content already in ~/Music/Music/, the old folder can go.
4. If it has unique purchases or rips, transfer them first.

iOS backups in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ should NOT be deleted unless you’re certain you don’t need them. Each backup folder is for a specific device and contains all the data needed to restore that device.

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How much space can you reclaim?

Realistic numbers:

• Cache clear: 100-500MB
• Removing offline downloads: variable, often 5-20GB
• Old iTunes folder leftovers: 1-50GB depending on history
• iOS device backups: 5-50GB per device backup

The biggest wins are usually offline downloads and forgotten iTunes folder content, not the cache itself.

Auto-managing space

Music doesn’t have a built-in cache cap like Spotify does. Your options for auto-management:

1. Store music in iCloud: Music → Settings → General → check Sync Library. Tracks streamed from your iCloud Music Library don’t take local space unless explicitly downloaded.
2. Set Apple Music to stream only: simply don’t tap “Download” on playlists.
3. Periodically remove old downloads.

There’s no equivalent to Spotify’s “1GB cache cap” setting in Music.

How often to clean

If you stream and rarely download offline: cache clears once a year are plenty.

If you download playlists for travel and forget: review monthly or every few months.

Heavy downloader, frequent traveler: monthly review of Apple Music downloads.

Worth automating?

Music is one of the simpler Apple apps cache-wise. The cache itself is small. The bigger storage wins come from managing offline downloads (which the app handles best from inside the UI) and clearing old iTunes leftovers (which is a one-time job).

For broader Mac maintenance, Sweep handles the Music app cache alongside every other app on your Mac in one scan. Free download for macOS Sonoma 14 and Sequoia 15.

Bottom line

Apple Music’s cache lives at ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Music/. Downloaded music for offline playback lives at ~/Music/Music/Media.localized/Apple Music/. Clear the cache anytime — it’s safe. For offline downloads, use the in-app Remove Download option rather than deleting files manually. And if you’ve got old iTunes leftovers from before macOS Catalina, that’s often the biggest space win you’ll find anywhere in the music subsystem.