Topaz Photo AI and Video AI: the models are most of the size, and they grow with each update

Topaz's photo and video apps do their work with AI models, and the models are large: several files of one to two gigabytes each, by user reports. They are downloaded into your Library rather than into the app, so the app's size in Applications is a small part of the real total. Users have reported a Topaz Photo AI install growing from around 7 GB to 17 GB across versions.

Find them

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/Topaz* /Library/Application\ Support/Topaz* 2>/dev/null
find ~/Library /Library -maxdepth 3 -iname '*topaz*' -type d 2>/dev/null

Topaz Video AI keeps models in a models folder in its Application Support folder, and lets you change that location in its preferences. The photo apps do not have that option.

Why it grows

• New versions add new models, and sometimes newer versions of existing ones, without always removing the old ones.
• Some models are downloaded on first use of a feature, so trying every feature downloads every model.

Freeing the space

• Video AI: move the models folder to an external SSD from its preferences. Processing reads models when it starts, so a fast drive matters.
• Photo AI: removing model files by hand has been reported to work, with the app downloading any it needs again. Quit the app first, and move files to the Trash rather than deleting them.
• Uninstalling: dragging the app to the Trash leaves the models behind. Remove the Application Support folders too. See uninstalling apps properly.

For local AI more generally, see local LLM models and machine learning caches.