If you've opened System Settings, clicked General → Storage, and found a suspiciously large number next to Safari or lumped inside "System Data," you're not imagining things. Safari taking up storage on Mac is a genuinely common problem, and it gets worse the longer you go without clearing it. This guide walks through every folder Safari writes to, how much space each one typically occupies, what is actually safe to delete, and how to do it without losing your bookmarks, passwords, or browsing history unless you want to.
Why Does Safari Use So Much Disk Space?
Safari maintains several separate data stores on your Mac, each serving a different purpose. The browser cache holds copies of images, scripts, and stylesheets so pages load faster on repeat visits. The WebKit local storage and IndexedDB databases hold offline app data for sites like Gmail or Notion. Media caches store video segments that streaming sites pre-buffer. And then there are favicons, search suggestions, snapshot previews for Top Sites, and accumulated cookie databases. None of these expire automatically — they just pile up.
On Apple Silicon Macs running macOS Sequoia or Tahoe, Safari also caches compiled WebAssembly binaries and GPU shader programs under a separate subfolder. These can be substantial on machines used for browser-based design tools or games.
Where Safari Stores Its Data: A Complete Location Map
Understanding where the files live is the first step to cleaning them up safely. All paths below assume your short username is yourname — replace it with your actual username or use the ~ shorthand in Terminal.
| Data type | Path | Typical size | Safe to delete? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Browser cache (images, scripts, CSS) | ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/ |
200 MB – 4 GB | Yes — rebuilds automatically |
| WebKit disk cache | ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent/ |
50 MB – 1 GB | Yes — rebuilds automatically |
| Favicon cache | ~/Library/Safari/Favicon Cache/ |
10 – 200 MB | Yes — refetched on next visit |
| Top Sites snapshots | ~/Library/Safari/TopSites.plist + ~/Library/Safari/Touch Icons Cache/ |
5 – 50 MB | Yes — regenerated |
| Local Storage (IndexedDB / web SQL) | ~/Library/Safari/LocalStorage/ |
10 MB – 2 GB | Caution — may reset web-app state |
| Offline web application cache | ~/Library/Safari/OfflineWebApplicationCache/ |
0 – 500 MB | Yes — older spec, rarely used |
| Databases (Web SQL) | ~/Library/Safari/Databases/ |
1 – 300 MB | Caution — some sites rely on it |
| Service Worker caches | ~/Library/WebKit/com.apple.Safari/WebsiteData/ |
50 MB – 1 GB | Yes — sites re-register on load |
| History, bookmarks, passwords | ~/Library/Safari/History.db, Bookmarks.plist, Keychain |
1 – 50 MB | Do NOT delete unless intentional |
Notice that bookmarks and passwords are a tiny fraction of Safari's footprint. The real space hogs are the browser cache and the WebKit website data folders, which together can easily exceed 5 GB on a Mac used daily for a year or more.
How to Clear Safari Cache and Website Data (Step-by-Step)
The safest way to clear cache and website data is through Safari's built-in UI, because it handles locked files and flushes in-memory state before writing.
- Open Safari and choose Safari → Settings (or press
Command + ,). - Click the Advanced tab and enable Show Develop menu in menu bar if it is not already checked.
- From the menu bar choose Develop → Empty Caches (shortcut:
Option + Command + E). This clears the disk cache under~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/and the WebKit content process caches. - To also remove cookies, local storage, and IndexedDB data, go back to Safari → Settings → Privacy and click Manage Website Data. You can remove individual sites or click Remove All.
- Quit and relaunch Safari. The first few page loads will be slightly slower while the cache rebuilds.
After completing these steps, check ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/ in Finder (Go → Go to Folder…) to confirm it is gone or dramatically reduced. The ~/Library/WebKit/com.apple.Safari/WebsiteData/ folder should also shrink once the Privacy settings are applied.
Using Terminal to Check Folder Sizes First
Before deleting anything, it helps to see how much each folder actually holds. Open Terminal and run:
du -sh ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/
du -sh ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent/
du -sh ~/Library/WebKit/com.apple.Safari/
du -sh ~/Library/Safari/LocalStorage/The output will show you at a glance where the real bulk is sitting, so you can decide whether a full wipe is worth the minor inconvenience of slower initial page loads.
What About the "System Data" Category in Storage?
In macOS Sequoia and Tahoe, Apple's Storage breakdown lumps several Safari-related items under the opaque System Data category rather than under the Safari app icon. This includes WebKit's compiled shader caches, service worker registrations stored in ~/Library/WebKit/, and some extension data. If you're confused about why clearing Safari data doesn't seem to move the needle on the System Data number, those WebKit sub-folders are likely the culprit.
For a deeper look at everything hiding inside System Data, see our guide on what System Data means in Mac storage.
Safari Extensions and Their Hidden Footprint
Safari extensions each run in their own WebKit process and can accumulate data in:
~/Library/Containers/— each extension gets its own sandboxed container here~/Library/Group Containers/— shared data between the extension and its companion app~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.Safari/Extensions/— extension bundles themselves
Ad blockers that maintain large filter databases (uBlock Origin, AdGuard) can occupy 50–200 MB on their own. Password managers that mirror a local vault can be even larger. To audit extension containers, select the folder in Finder, press Command + I, and check the "Size" field. If an extension you no longer use has a bloated container, uninstalling the extension and removing its container is safe.
How Much Space Can You Actually Recover?
Based on typical usage patterns, here is what most users can expect to reclaim:
- Light user (occasional browsing): 200 MB – 1 GB from cache alone.
- Daily user, 6+ months without clearing: 2 – 6 GB from cache, website data, and WebKit folders combined.
- Power user with many tabs open 24/7: Up to 10 GB when service worker caches and extension containers are included.
The biggest single win almost always comes from the core browser cache at ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/ and the WebKit website data at ~/Library/WebKit/com.apple.Safari/WebsiteData/. If you are running low on space right now, those are the two places to start.
Automating the Cleanup: Keeping Safari Lean Going Forward
Rather than waiting for storage warnings, you can set Safari to limit how long it holds website data. Go to Safari → Settings → Privacy and review which sites have stored data; Safari does not have a built-in schedule to auto-purge, so a periodic manual review every two to three months is the most reliable approach.
For a broader cleanup that catches cache folders from multiple browsers and apps at once, a tool like Crumb can audit all of these locations in one pass and show you exactly what is safe to delete before anything is removed. That visibility is especially useful if you want to reclaim space quickly without hunting through ~/Library folder by folder. For context on the full picture of what tends to accumulate on a typical Mac, see our breakdown of what is taking up space on your Mac.
What Not to Delete
A few items in Safari's library folder look like junk but are not safe to remove without understanding the consequences:
~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist— deleting this permanently removes all bookmarks unless you have an iCloud backup.~/Library/Safari/History.dbandHistory.db-wal— deleting removes your full browsing history.~/Library/Safari/ReadingList.plist— your saved Reading List articles live here.- Keychain entries for Safari passwords — stored in the system Keychain, not in
~/Library/Safari/at all; they are never at risk from cache-clearing operations.
The rule of thumb: anything inside ~/Library/Caches/ is ephemeral by design and safe to wipe. Anything directly under ~/Library/Safari/ with a recognizable name like Bookmarks, History, or ReadingList is persistent user data and should only be removed deliberately.