DaVinci Resolve is generous with your disk space. A single project can deposit tens of gigabytes of render cache, optimized media, and proxy files across one or more drives before you even notice. If you want to clear DaVinci Resolve cache on Mac, there are three distinct approaches: using the built-in Playback menu, navigating to the Working Folders location in Preferences, and removing the raw .dvcc files from Finder. Each method suits a different situation, and the order matters if you want to avoid orphaned cache entries.
What DaVinci Resolve Caches Are — and Why They Grow So Fast
Resolve writes several distinct cache types as you work:
- Render Cache — pre-rendered Smart or User segments stored in the
CacheClipfolder as.dvccfiles. Resolve renders these automatically in the background so playback stays smooth. - Optimized Media — transcoded copies of your source clips (usually ProRes or DNxHR) stored in the
OptimizedMediafolder, generated when you choose Generate Optimized Media. - Proxy Media — lower-resolution offline proxies, stored in a
ProxyMediafolder. - Fusion Cache — per-node image caches for Fusion compositions, also stored under the project cache path.
- Gallery Stills — not cache, and should not be deleted carelessly.
On a long project it is entirely normal for the CacheClip folder alone to exceed 50–100 GB. Resolve does not prune these automatically unless you explicitly tell it to.
Method 1: Delete Render Cache from Inside DaVinci Resolve (Safest)
The safest way to reclaim space is to let Resolve manage the deletion itself. This ensures its internal database stays consistent with what is actually on disk.
- Open DaVinci Resolve and open the project whose cache you want to clear.
- From the menu bar, choose Playback > Delete Render Cache > All. (You can also choose Unused to keep only the cache segments that are still referenced by the current timeline.)
- Confirm the dialog. Resolve removes the
.dvccfiles and updates its project database entry immediately. - Repeat for any other open projects, or close all projects and use Playback > Delete Render Cache > All at the project-manager level.
After deleting, the next time you play back a section that previously had a render cache, Resolve will re-render it. That is expected behavior — you are trading CPU time now for disk space now.
Deleting Optimized Media from Inside Resolve
- In the Media Pool, select the clips whose optimized media you want to remove, or press Command-A to select all.
- Right-click the selection and choose Delete Optimized Media.
- To delete optimized media for an entire project at once, go to Playback > Delete Optimized Media.
Method 2: Find the Cache Files Location in Working Folders
Each DaVinci Resolve project stores its cache at a location you set (or accepted as default) in Preferences. To find it:
- Open DaVinci Resolve > Preferences (Command-comma).
- Click the System tab, then choose Working Folders.
- Note the path shown next to Cache Files Location. The default on macOS is:
Many editors point this to an external SSD or a second internal drive to spare their main drive./Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/cache - Also note the Optimized Media Location and Proxy Media Location — these can be different paths entirely.
Inside each of those root folders you will find per-project subfolders, and inside those you will find the CacheClip and OptimizedMedia directories containing .dvcc files.
Method 3: Manually Delete the CacheClip and OptimizedMedia Folders from Finder
Direct deletion from Finder is faster for large cleanups — particularly when a project is closed and you are sure you no longer need the cache. The risk is that Resolve's database will still contain references to those files until the next time it checks, which can occasionally cause a brief reconciliation warning when you reopen the project. This is cosmetic and harmless.
- Quit DaVinci Resolve completely before deleting any cache files. Do not delete while Resolve is running.
- In Finder, press Command-Shift-G to open Go to Folder, then paste your cache path (from Working Folders above).
- Open the project subfolder. You will see folders named
CacheClip,OptimizedMedia, and possiblyProxyMediaandFusion. - Move
CacheClipandOptimizedMediato the Trash. Do not moveFusionor any.drp/.drtfiles — those contain your project data. - Empty the Trash.
If your cache is on the default system volume, you can also use Terminal to see exactly how large each folder is before deleting:
du -sh "/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/cache/"*What Is Safe to Delete vs. What to Keep
| Folder / File | Safe to delete? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
CacheClip/ (.dvcc files) |
Yes — with Resolve closed | Re-generated on next playback. Deletion is permanent. |
OptimizedMedia/ |
Yes — with Resolve closed | Re-generate via right-click > Generate Optimized Media. Deletion is permanent. |
ProxyMedia/ |
Yes — with Resolve closed | Re-linkable if source is still present. Deletion is permanent. |
Fusion/ cache |
Yes | Re-rendered on next Fusion playback. Safe but slow to rebuild on complex comps. |
.drp project database files |
No | These are your project files. Deleting them destroys your project. |
| Gallery Stills | No | These are your color grade reference stills, not cache. |
Finding Cache on a Custom Drive (Where Crumb Helps)
The tricky scenario is when you set the cache to an external drive or a non-standard path, then forget where it went — especially after switching drives between projects. Crumb's disk map and Visualize view scans your entire Mac (and connected volumes) for the largest folders by size. Because CacheClip and OptimizedMedia directories typically balloon to multiple gigabytes, they surface near the top of Crumb's largest-items list regardless of where they live. From there you can navigate directly to the folder and decide whether to remove it — useful when you have cache scattered across an external SSD, a Thunderbolt RAID, and your boot drive from three different project phases.
If you want to do a broader sweep — clearing Resolve cache alongside system caches, browser caches, and Xcode derived data — you can download Crumb and run a one-click Clean, then use Visualize to confirm the Resolve folders are gone.
How Much Space Should You Expect to Recover?
It depends entirely on your project complexity and how long Resolve has been accumulating cache. A single 4K project with Smart Cache enabled for a few hours of timeline can easily accumulate 20–40 GB in CacheClip. Optimized media is often larger — a two-hour project transcoded to ProRes 422 HQ can reach 200–400 GB. If you have never manually cleared cache, it is not unusual to recover 50–200 GB across a few projects.
Preventing Cache from Growing Out of Control
- Switch from Smart to User render cache mode (Playback > Render Cache > User) so Resolve only caches what you manually mark, not everything.
- Set the cache path to a dedicated external drive so it never competes with your boot volume.
- After finishing a project and archiving it, run Playback > Delete Render Cache > All before archiving so the archive stays lean.
- Periodically check the cache root with
du -shor a disk visualizer to see how fast it grows for your typical workflow.
Summary
The cleanest workflow is: use Resolve's built-in Playback > Delete Render Cache and Delete Optimized Media commands while the project is open, then verify the cache path in Working Folders to mop up anything left behind. For large cleanups across multiple projects or custom drive locations, Finder combined with du (or a disk visualizer like Crumb) makes it straightforward to confirm you have reclaimed the space. Just be sure Resolve is fully quit before touching those folders, and never delete .drp files or Gallery Stills.