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com.apple.wallpaper.caches taking up 100GB in space #75
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I checked my macbook storage with Daisydisk and the following path is taking up around 104GB of space: |
Replies: 2 comments 1 reply
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That folder is macOS's own WallpaperAgent cache, not WallpaperMachine's library, and the growth most likely came from how 1.6.0 and earlier refreshed the Mission Control picture. The project's docs (docs/features/desktop-picture.md) describe it: on macOS 26 and later WallpaperAgent keeps an uncompressed, full-size bitmap of every image file a desktop has shown and does not delete it, even after the source file is gone, at 17.8 MB per picture on a 3024 x 1964 display. WallpaperMachine writes a new poster file whenever a captured frame differs, so animated wallpapers produce a new one each time. In the docs' own description of the earlier behaviour that cache grew to about 100 GB, and 5,856 files at 17.8 MB is about 104 GB, which fits what you found. This changed in 1.6.1: the changelog says Mission Control pictures no longer fill the disk on macOS 26 and later, because they are now retaken only when a display's wallpaper changes (1.6.2 is the current release). In Settings > Desktop & Lock Screen > Desktop, "Update the Mission Control picture every 5 minutes" is off by default and adds new cache files while it is on. Turning off "Use the wallpaper as the macOS desktop picture" stops the app from installing posters at all. The app does not clear files that already exist. The docs say the cache belongs to WallpaperAgent, lives in another app's container, and changing it is unsupported, so there is no documented cleanup. |
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If updating to 1.6.2 and the settings above sorted this out, could you mark the answer as accepted so others with the same cache growth can find it? |
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So sorry only came around checking back right now. Just checked, after updating the size went down to 12gb |
That folder is macOS's own WallpaperAgent cache, not WallpaperMachine's library, and the growth most likely came from how 1.6.0 and earlier refreshed the Mission Control picture. The project's docs (docs/features/desktop-picture.md) describe it: on macOS 26 and later WallpaperAgent keeps an uncompressed, full-size bitmap of every image file a desktop has shown and does not delete it, even after the source file is gone, at 17.8 MB per picture on a 3024 x 1964 display. WallpaperMachine writes a new poster file whenever a captured frame differs, so animated wallpapers produce a new one each time. In the docs' own description of the earlier behaviour that cache grew to about 100 GB, and 5,856…