Can I delete Adobe Media Cache Files on my Mac?
Safe to delete; it rebuilds itself. Media Cache Files are converted copies of your audio and video that Premiere Pro, After Effects and Media Encoder make so editing plays smoothly. Your projects and original footage are untouched; the apps rebuild what they need the next time you open a project.
At a glance
| Owner app | Adobe Premiere Pro / After Effects |
|---|---|
| Typical size | 5–100 GB |
| Safe to delete? | Rebuilds itself |
| Comes back? | Yes, when you open or import footage again |
| What you lose | Nothing you made. Your projects and original footage are untouched; the apps rebuild these when you open a project, which takes a few minutes. Adobe's own Preferences > Media Cache > Delete does the same. |
| Where it is | ~/ |
What it is
When you import footage, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Media Encoder convert parts of it into formats that are faster to edit with: audio is conformed to a standard format, and compressed video gets index files. The results go into one shared folder, Media Cache Files, and a small index of them goes into Media Cache next to it.
The cache is not cleaned automatically unless you turn that on in the settings. Every project you ever imported leaves files behind, including projects you finished long ago, so on an editor’s Mac this folder often reaches tens of gigabytes.
Everything inside is made from your footage, so it can always be made again. Deleting it costs a few minutes of waiting the next time you open each project. Gigabroom marks it Rebuilds itself and moves it to the Trash, where you can put it back until you empty it.
Delete it by hand
- In Premiere Pro, close all projects with File › Close All Projects.
- Choose Premiere Pro › Settings › Media Cache and click Delete next to Remove Media Cache Files. Choose whether to remove only unused files or everything.
- Or, with every Adobe video app quit, choose Go › Go to Folder… with
~/, move theLibrary/ Application Support/ Adobe/ Common Media Cache FilesandMedia Cachefolders to the Trash, and empty it.
With Gigabroom
- Quit Premiere Pro, After Effects and Media Encoder.
- Open Gigabroom and wait for the scan. In Clean Up, open Temporary Files. The folder is listed as Video working copies, labeled Rebuilds itself, next to its index, Video working-copy index.
- Click Clean Up. Both go to the Trash, and Put Back is available until you empty it.
Related folders
| Folder | Safe to delete? | Typical size |
|---|---|---|
~/ | Rebuilds itself | — |
~/ | Rebuilds itself | — |
~/ | Safe | — |
~/ | Rebuilds itself | — |
Questions
Will it break my Premiere Pro projects?
No. Projects point to your original footage, not to the cache. The first time you open a project afterwards, the app takes a few minutes to rebuild what it needs.
Should I delete the Media Cache folder too?
Yes, delete it together with Media Cache Files. It is the index of those copies, and the apps rebuild it with them.
How do I stop it growing so large?
In Premiere Pro › Settings › Media Cache, turn on automatic deletion of cache files older than a number of days or above a size. It is off by default.
My cache is somewhere else. Does this still apply?
Yes. The Media Cache settings let you choose another location, often a fast external drive. The same advice applies to whichever folder is set there.
Last checked on macOS 27.0.1 · 2026-11-10