How to Completely Uninstall DaVinci Resolve From Your Mac (It's Bigger Than You Think)

DaVinci Resolve looks like a single 4GB app in /Applications. It isn’t. Resolve drops nearly 5GB of supporting frameworks, helper apps, command-line tools, and shared libraries into /Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/. Add the optical flow cache, the proxy cache, the project database, and the Fairlight audio cache, and a Resolve install routinely sits at 30GB or more.

Drag-to-trash gets you the 4GB app bundle. Everything else stays behind. Here’s the full removal procedure.

What Resolve actually installs

DaVinci Resolve scatters files across multiple locations:

• App bundle at /Applications/DaVinci Resolve/DaVinci Resolve.app/
• Application support at /Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/ (system-wide)
• Frameworks at /Library/Frameworks/ — Blackmagic-specific frameworks
• LaunchDaemons at /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.blackmagic-design.*.plist
• Database engine at /Library/PostgreSQL/13/ — yes, Resolve installs PostgreSQL
• Project database files in the user database directory
• User caches at ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/
• Optical flow cache, proxies, render cache (potentially huge)
• Preferences at ~/Library/Preferences/com.blackmagic-design.DaVinciResolve.plist

The PostgreSQL install alone is a few hundred MB. Optical flow caches on a heavy editor’s machine can hit 50GB+.

Step 1: Quit Resolve and Blackmagic processes

Open Activity Monitor. Search “Resolve” and “Blackmagic”:

1. DaVinci Resolve — main app
2. DaVinci Resolve Studio — if you have the paid version
3. Resolve Live — if running
4. Blackmagic Streaming Server — installed alongside, often forgotten
5. com.blackmagic-design.dispatcher — the worker process
6. postgres — the database server (if Resolve installed it)
7. Fairlight Audio Accelerator — audio coprocessor service

Quit each one. PostgreSQL needs to be stopped cleanly to avoid database corruption (irrelevant here since we’re nuking it, but a clean stop is faster than waiting for forced kills).

Step 2: Use the official Resolve uninstaller

Blackmagic ships a real uninstaller, which is unusual for a creative app this big. It’s at:

• /Applications/DaVinci Resolve/Uninstall Resolve.app

Run it. Authenticate when prompted. It removes:

1. The main app bundle
2. Most system-level frameworks
3. LaunchDaemons
4. The PostgreSQL install (with confirmation)

The official uninstaller is decent. It still leaves user-level caches, optical flow data, and preferences behind. It also asks before removing the project database — be very careful here. If you have unsaved Resolve projects, say no to database removal until you’ve exported them.

Free up tens of gigabytesAdobe and Microsoft apps leave 5–20GB scattered around. Sweep finds it all. Try Sweep free →

Step 3: Export projects before removing the database

If you have any projects you want to keep, before doing anything else:

1. Open Resolve
2. Project Manager → right-click each project → Export Project Archive
3. Save the .dra files to an external drive

Resolve’s project database lives at:

• ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Resolve Disk Database/

This folder holds every project, every timeline, every color grade. Lose it and the work is gone unless you’ve exported archives.

Step 4: Manual cleanup of user-level files

After running the official uninstaller, visit each path in Finder (Cmd+Shift+G):

• ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/ — projects database, user settings, plugins
• ~/Library/Caches/com.blackmagic-design.DaVinciResolve/
• ~/Library/Caches/com.blackmagic-design.DaVinciResolveLite/ — free version
• ~/Library/Preferences/com.blackmagic-design.DaVinciResolve.plist
• ~/Library/Preferences/com.blackmagic-design.DaVinciResolveLite.plist
• ~/Library/Logs/DaVinci Resolve/
• ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.blackmagic-design.DaVinciResolve.savedState/
• ~/Documents/Blackmagic Design/ — Fusion comps, sometimes large

The user Application Support folder is where the project database, custom LUTs, color presets, and plugin configs live. It’s also where the proxy cache and gallery stills sit. On a heavy user, this folder alone can be 5-15GB.

Step 5: Cache and proxy locations

By default, Resolve stores cache and proxies in user-defined locations. Check the last-used paths:

• The cache files location is set in Project Settings → Master Settings → Working Folders
• Many editors put cache on external SSDs

Common cache types:

• Optical Flow Cache: pre-rendered motion analysis (huge)
• Render Cache: timeline render previews
• Proxy Media: low-res versions of source files
• Generated Stills: thumbnail and gallery captures

If you set custom paths, hunt those down before reformatting your boot drive. Resolve will happily fill 100GB with optical flow and render caches if you let it.

Step 6: System-level frameworks and helpers

The official uninstaller usually catches these, but check:

• /Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/ — keep if you have other Blackmagic apps (Media Express, Disk Speed Test)
• /Library/Frameworks/Decklink_API.framework/ — only delete if no Blackmagic capture device installed
• /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.blackmagic-design.streaming.plist
• /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.blackmagic-design.dispatcher.plist
• /Library/PostgreSQL/13/ — Resolve’s database engine

For LaunchDaemons, unload before deletion:

sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.blackmagic-design.dispatcher.plist

Step 7: PostgreSQL — the surprise install

Yes, DaVinci Resolve installs PostgreSQL. It’s at /Library/PostgreSQL/13/ (or 11, or 12 — version varies).

If you don’t use PostgreSQL for anything else:

1. The official Resolve uninstaller offers to remove it — say yes
2. If you want to remove it manually: delete /Library/PostgreSQL/13/
3. Also delete /Library/PostgreSQL/data/ if it exists

If you use PostgreSQL for development or other apps, leave it alone. Resolve uses a dedicated database within the install, but the binary is shared.

Step 8: Fusion files

Resolve’s built-in Fusion tab uses files in:

• ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/Fusion/

These contain Fusion macros, scripts, and templates. If you used Fusion seriously, back up Reactor and any custom scripts before deleting.

Skip the manual huntSweep finds every leftover preference, cache, and support file in seconds. Download Sweep free →

Step 9: Empty Trash and reboot

A reboot is mandatory because Resolve’s daemons hold open file handles and PostgreSQL locks files in /var/run/. After reboot, verify Activity Monitor shows nothing Blackmagic-related running.

Realistic space recovery

A typical Resolve uninstall reclaims:

1. 4GB from the main app
2. 5GB from system-level Blackmagic frameworks
3. 200-500MB from PostgreSQL
4. 5-50GB from user cache/proxy/optical flow folders
5. 1-5GB from the project database (if you don’t keep it)
6. 500MB-2GB from preferences and other caches

Total: 15-70GB on most editors’ machines. Heavy users with custom cache paths can hit 100GB+.

Resolve Free vs Resolve Studio

Resolve Free uses the bundle ID com.blackmagic-design.DaVinciResolveLite. Studio uses com.blackmagic-design.DaVinciResolve. They share most files but have different preference plists.

If you’ve moved from Free to Studio (or vice versa), check both bundle IDs in ~/Library/Caches/ and ~/Library/Preferences/ and clean up the variant you no longer use.

What about my project files and media?

Your source media (camera footage, audio, graphics) lives wherever you put it on import. Resolve doesn’t move source files. Uninstalling Resolve doesn’t touch them.

Project files, however, are stored inside the Resolve project database, not as standalone files. Always export project archives (.dra) before deleting the database folder. Without an archive, your timelines, color grades, and Fusion comps are gone.

Manual versus automated

The official Resolve uninstaller is better than most creative apps’ uninstallers — it actually removes daemons and offers PostgreSQL cleanup. Where it falls short:

• User-level caches (always left behind)
• Custom cache paths on external drives
• Optical flow caches
• Proxy media folders
• Application support data

A tool like Sweep handles all of this automatically and shows you the full footprint before deletion. For a single uninstall, the official tool plus the manual cleanup in step 4 is fine. For routine maintenance or a full Blackmagic purge, automation saves a lot of time.

Resetting Resolve without uninstalling

If you’re fixing a broken Resolve install (won’t open, project database errors) without removing the app:

1. Quit Resolve
2. Delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.blackmagic-design.DaVinciResolve.plist
3. Delete ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Settings/Logs/
4. Relaunch

For database corruption specifically, Resolve’s Project Manager has a Restore function that pulls from auto-backup .drb files in the database folder. Try that before nuking the install.