This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

cache size error

  • 8 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by claudia25

more options

Hi there,

I cleared my cache after it told me it had stored a gazillion GB in data - but the big number was still there after clearing the cache. Needless to say my harddrive isn't even as big as the GB number shown, so there must be a gremlin in there somewhere? Thought you'd want to know. I'm using the latest Firefox on Mac OS 10.15.7

Hi there, I cleared my cache after it told me it had stored a gazillion GB in data - but the big number was still there after clearing the cache. Needless to say my harddrive isn't even as big as the GB number shown, so there must be a gremlin in there somewhere? Thought you'd want to know. I'm using the latest Firefox on Mac OS 10.15.7

Chosen solution

Thank you. I was able to follow the steps until I opened the folder, however, it was empty (there was no cache/cache2 folder or anything in the folder that opened). In the end, I decided to delete and re-install Firefox, and so far it looks like that did the trick. The cache size now shows as relatively normal.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (8)

more options

screenshot here (it didn't want to upload on my original question)

more options

Location of the cache/cache2 folder; Windows: *C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\ Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/ Linux: ~/.cache/mozilla/firefox/

Close Firefox. Open your file browser to the above and remove the folder.

more options

Hi Fred,

Thank you for your response. I've tried locating this folder to remove it, but there is no "Firefox" folder under any of the Caches folders i could find...

more options

Type about:profiles<enter> in the address box. Look for the profile with this heading: This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted. On the line: Local Directory go to the far right and press Open Folder.

Close Firefox. Wait for the browser to finish closing (slow count of 5-7) Delete the cache/cache2 folder.

more options

Chosen Solution

Thank you. I was able to follow the steps until I opened the folder, however, it was empty (there was no cache/cache2 folder or anything in the folder that opened). In the end, I decided to delete and re-install Firefox, and so far it looks like that did the trick. The cache size now shows as relatively normal.

more options

Sorry for the late reply. Been in Hospital.

That was very good work. Well Done. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem as this can help others with similar problems. Go to that post and click the 'Solved' button to its right.

more options

Note that the data shown as Cookies and Site Data is stored in the storage folder in the storage folder (indrexedDB) in the main profile folder and not in the browsing cache.

You can check for issues with Storage (indexedDB) if it happens again.

more options

Thanks for all your help. The re-install fix was only temporary, the issue re-occurred after using Firefox / re-opening tabs. However, the most recent Firefox update seems to have resolved it, as i don't see a huge cache listing anymore. Thanks again.