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Why is Messages taking up so much space on my Mac?

~/Library/Messages/Attachments

By Parsa Nasirimehr

Because Messages keeps every attachment forever unless you tell it otherwise. Review the largest in Storage settings, and set Messages to keep messages for 1 year or 30 days. Don't delete files inside ~/Library/Messages in Finder.

How big it gets

It grows with every photo, video, voice message and file anyone sends you, and doesn't shrink on its own while Messages keeps messages forever. Group chats with lots of videos grow fastest.

What it is

What writes itMessages, for every attachment in your conversations, sent and received.
Keep messagesMessages › Settings › General › Keep messages: Forever, 1 Year or 30 Days. A shorter time deletes older messages and their attachments.
Messages in iCloudWith it on, deleting a conversation or attachment deletes it on your other devices too.
Full Disk AccessFinder and Terminal can't read this folder without Full Disk Access, so many disk tools show it as empty.
Comes back?No. Deleted attachments are gone, on every device that uses Messages in iCloud.

How to clear it

  1. Open System Settings › General › Storage and click ⓘ next to Messages to see attachments by size, and delete the ones you don't need.
  2. Set Messages › Settings › General › Keep messages to 1 Year if you don't need older conversations.
  3. Leave ~/Library/Messages alone in Finder: deleting files there leaves broken attachments in your conversations.

What you lose: The attachments you delete, on every device that syncs Messages through iCloud.

With Scrubs: With Full Disk Access, Scrubs shows how big Messages' folder is on the map, so you know whether it's worth reviewing. Delete attachments from Storage settings or Messages, not from Scrubs. Download Scrubs; scanning is free.

Related folders

Photos libraryWhy is the Photos library taking up so much space on my Mac?Mail dataWhy does Apple Mail take up so much space on my Mac?iPhone backups (MobileSync)Where are iPhone backups stored on a Mac, and how do I delete them?

Paths and commands apply to macOS 15 and later. See also how to free up disk space on a Mac.

About the author: Parsa Nasirimehr is a mobile app developer who builds Scrubs, a disk map for the Mac. Spotted something wrong? Write to support@getscrubs.app.