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Every Chromium browser stores the same six things, in the same folders

Brave, Edge, Vivaldi and Opera share one storage layout. Learn it once and you can clean any of them, including the ones you forgot you installed.

5 min read

Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Opera and Chrome are the same browser wearing different clothes, and their storage is identical in structure. Learning the layout once means you can clean any of them, and more usefully, you can measure the ones you no longer use.

Where each one keeps its profile

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/BraveSoftware \
  ~/Library/Application\ Support/Microsoft\ Edge \
  ~/Library/Application\ Support/Vivaldi \
  ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.operasoftware.Opera \
  ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome 2>/dev/null | sort -h

The six things inside, in every one of them

FolderWhat it isSafe to clear
CacheDownloaded page resourcesYes
Code CacheCompiled scriptsYes
GPUCacheCompiled shadersYes
Service WorkerOffline app dataYes, apps resync
IndexedDB and Local StorageSite state and sessionsSigns you out
ExtensionsInstalled extensions and their dataRemove in the browser

The part that is usually largest

Not the cache. Site storage under Service Worker and IndexedDB is unbounded in a way the cache is not, which is why a browser used for a few web apps can hold gigabytes while its cache stays modest. That is the same finding as the Chrome measurement, where profiles beat the cache by a wide margin.

Browsers you no longer use

  1. List the Application Support folders above and note which browsers you actually open.
  2. For any you do not, check for bookmarks or saved passwords worth exporting first.
  3. Uninstall the browser, then remove its Application Support folder, which an uninstall leaves behind.
  4. Check ~/Library/Caches for a matching folder, which is separate again.

That last step is the one people miss, and it is the general case covered in what uninstalling leaves behind.

Common questions

Where does Brave store its cache on a Mac?

In ~/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware, with the standard Chromium layout inside: Cache, Code Cache, GPUCache, Service Worker, IndexedDB and Local Storage, per profile.

Do all Chromium browsers store data the same way?

Yes. Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Opera and Chrome share the same folder structure, so the same commands and the same advice work for all of them.

Which browser folder is usually the largest?

Site storage under Service Worker and IndexedDB, not the cache. Site storage has no fixed limit, which is why a browser used for web apps grows well beyond its cache size.

Does uninstalling a browser remove its profile?

No. The Application Support folder and a matching folder in Caches both remain, holding the full profile. Removing them by hand is what actually frees the space.

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