How to Clear Zoom's Cache on Mac

Most people think of Zoom as a lightweight conferencing app. The truth is messier — Zoom keeps local recordings, chat transcripts, virtual background videos, and a few caches that quietly add up. After heavy daily use during a remote year, my Zoom data folder hit 12GB. Most of that was old recordings I’d already uploaded elsewhere.

Here’s where Zoom puts everything on macOS Sonoma 14 and Sequoia 15, and how to clean it up.

Where Zoom stores data on Mac

Zoom spreads its files across several locations:

• ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/ — primary app data, including caches
• ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/data/ — chat history database
• ~/Documents/Zoom/ — local meeting recordings (the big one)
• ~/Library/Caches/us.zoom.xos — disposable cache
• ~/Library/Logs/zoom.us/ — diagnostic logs

The biggest space hogs are usually local recordings in ~/Documents/Zoom/, followed by the chat database in ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/data/.

The Documents/Zoom folder is probably your biggest win

If you record meetings to your Mac (rather than the cloud), every recording lives in ~/Documents/Zoom/ in a dated subfolder. Each MP4 is full HD by default, often 100–500MB per hour of meeting.

To clean up:

1. Open Finder.
2. Press Cmd+Shift+G, paste ~/Documents/Zoom/.
3. Sort by Size (View → as List, then click the Size column header).
4. Delete the dated folders you no longer need.
5. Empty the Trash.

If you’ve uploaded recordings to Google Drive, Dropbox, or wherever else, this is pure recoverable space.

Clearing the in-app cache

Zoom keeps a chat and image cache that you can manage from inside the app, sort of.

There’s no single “clear cache” button. The closest equivalents:

1. Sign out and back in — purges some session-level cache.
2. Settings → Zoom Apps → Manage Apps → Clear Cache — clears Zoom Apps integration cache, not the main app cache.

For the actual local cache, you’ll want to do it manually.

Manual cache cleanup

1. Quit Zoom completely (Zoom menu → Quit Zoom, or Cmd+Q).
2. Verify Zoom isn’t running in Activity Monitor — it sometimes leaves background processes.
3. Open Finder, press Cmd+Shift+G, paste ~/Library/Caches/us.zoom.xos.
4. Move everything in that folder to the Trash.
5. Press Cmd+Shift+G again, paste ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/AutoUpdater/.
6. Delete old installer pkg files in there (Zoom often leaves them behind after updates).
7. Empty the Trash.

That handles the disposable cache. None of this affects your meeting history, settings, or contacts.

Don’t dig through ~/Library yourselfSweep knows where every app stores its cache. Free download for Mac →

Clearing Zoom chat history (optional)

If you want to fully reset Zoom’s chat database — which can hit 1GB+ for power users — quit Zoom and delete the contents of ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/data/. Be aware this removes:

• Chat history with all contacts (also stored on Zoom’s servers, so it’ll repopulate)
• Direct message threads
• Cached avatar images

Most chat data lives on Zoom’s servers, so deleting the local copy doesn’t permanently lose anything. But the resync on next login can take a minute or two if you have a lot of contacts.

Virtual backgrounds you forgot about

Zoom stores your custom virtual backgrounds in ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/VirtualBkgnd_Custom/. If you uploaded a 4K beach photo two years ago and never use it, it’s still there. Couple hundred MB at most, but worth checking.

To remove unused ones:

1. Open Zoom → Settings → Background & Effects.
2. Hover over a background, click the X to remove it.
3. Or delete the files directly from ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/VirtualBkgnd_Custom/.

What if Zoom is causing performance issues?

A bloated cache can occasionally cause:

• Slow Zoom launch times
• Glitchy chat history loading
• Lag when joining meetings

If clearing the cache doesn’t help, the next steps:

• Reinstall Zoom — drag from /Applications to Trash, redownload from zoom.us.
• Reset Zoom preferences: delete ~/Library/Preferences/us.zoom.xos.plist.
• Check for app updates (Zoom → Check for Updates).

There’s a faster waySweep finds and clears caches across every app you use, all at once. Try Sweep free →

Recovering space from past Zoom installs

If you’ve reinstalled Zoom multiple times, leftover data tends to accumulate. Look for:

• ~/Library/Logs/zoom.us/ — old log files
• ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/AutoUpdater/ — old installer packages
• ~/Library/Application Support/ZoomChat/ — sometimes left from older Zoom versions
• ~/Library/Caches/ZoomUsPlugIn/ — Outlook plugin cache, if you ever installed it

Delete anything you don’t recognize — none of it is required for Zoom to work.

How often to do this

If you record meetings locally: monthly. The recordings are the big space drain.

If you don’t record but use Zoom daily: every six months is fine.

If you barely use Zoom: it doesn’t grow much without active use. Check it once a year just in case.

A faster way to handle all this

Zoom is one of dozens of apps caching things on your Mac. Doing this manually for Zoom and then Slack and then Spotify and then Chrome and then Microsoft Teams adds up.

Sweep scans your Mac for cache and recoverable storage across every app, including Zoom recordings, Zoom logs, all the various caches mentioned above, plus everything else hiding in ~/Library. Shows you a list, lets you choose what to delete, then handles it. Free download for macOS Sonoma and Sequoia.

For just Zoom, manual is fine. For maintenance across a whole Mac full of apps, it’s the difference between a half-hour project and a 30-second click.

Bottom line

Most of Zoom’s recoverable space sits in ~/Documents/Zoom/ (recordings) and ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/. Cleaning up takes a few minutes and frees real space. None of it breaks Zoom — your settings, contacts, and account stay intact.

Worth doing if your Mac storage is tight or you’ve been on Zoom for a few years without ever clearing house.