Working on a video project only to run out of disk space can be very frustrating. When your hard drive is too full, your computer will struggle to respond. You might find it runs slowly, with knock-on impacts on your work. It may even hang completely.
However, don’t just start deleting files, especially if you have enough disk space (in theory). Computers use cache files to store temporary data, and sometimes, this is the culprit. So, clearing your Adobe Premiere Pro cache might do the trick. It’s also a best practice to ensure that the program runs well. Today, Motion Array is going to show you how to do just that.
Summary
Pro Tip: We recommend using a fast dedicated SSD or NVME drive for your media cache. To do so just change the location of the folder you want using Browse.
Delete Premiere Pro media cache data on a Mac or PC
Before looking at the Premiere Pro media cache in detail, let’s discuss the cache location. Try to use a fast dedicated SSD or NVME drive for your media cache. You can change the location of the folder used to a new drive. Even if you don’t have an SSD, using a secondary drive can still help. It frees up processing power and prevents internal program conflicts.
You can change the Premiere Pro media cache location by heading to Edit > Preferences > Media Cache. Select Browse and point the computer to the new folder for both Media Cache Files and Media Cache Database. You should also regularly clear your general cache files.
The system cache file on Windows and Mac computers is pretty easy to find. This will help you keep your computer running smoothly.
Now, back to clearing the Premiere Pro cache. Thankfully, getting rid of cache data is a very simple process:
- If you’re on a Mac, simply open up Premiere Pro and go to Premiere > Preferences > Media Cache
- If you’re on a PC, simply go to Edit > Preferences > Media Cache
From here, click the Delete button and choose one of these options:
- Delete unused media cache data in the current project, or
- Delete all media files from the system.
If you want more control to prevent cache data from building up in the first place, you have a few options as well.
Below the Media Cache Management section, you’ve got 3 main options:
- You can set an automatic delete that removes older cache files. Typically, the default is to delete cache data older than 90 days, but you can choose what suits you.
- You can also set an automatic maximum data amount. The default is 10% of the volume size or 95 GB, but you can change it to ensure your cache data never builds up too much.
- You can also set it never to delete automatically. If you pick this option, you’ll need to clear the cache yourself now and again using the Clean Unused button. This only applies to .pek, .cfa, and .ims files within the subdirectory folders.
Once you clear the Premiere Pro cache and change these options, you’ll need to restart Premiere Pro. The program will automatically scan the media cache files and start to clear them 10 minutes after the next launch.
You can also clear the Adobe Premiere cache yourself. If you don’t know where your cache files are stored, look at the directory in Media Cache Files. Now go to that location on your computer. Make sure Premiere Pro is closed! You can then delete the files like any other file.Once you’ve deleted files, remember to empty the trash from your computer as well. Here’s how to do so on a Mac. You can even set this to happen automatically on Windows 10 or higher.
Delete media cache in After Effects
Do you need to go beyond clearing the Premiere Pro cache? Keeping cache files clean on all your video editing software is a best practice. The method to clear the cache in Adobe After Effects is very similar to clearing the Premiere Pro media cache. Let’s take a closer look.
You can change the general disk cache preferences to turn disk caching on or off like this:
- Edit > Preferences > Media and Disk Cache (Windows)
- After Effects > Preferences > Media and Disk Cache (Mac OS)
This is also useful to know if the disk cache isn’t enabled automatically, which does happen. Remember, cache files are useful to help make preview rendering and the program itself faster. So it should always be on.
You can change the location of your cache data by selecting Choose Folder (Windows) or Choose (Mac OS). You can click on Clean Database and Cache to remove indexed footage files and their database entries from the cache. This is helpful when the source file is no longer available.
To delete and clear all media cache data in After Effects, go to Edit > Purge > All Memory and Disk Cache.
Delete cache files to troubleshoot errors in Premiere Pro
Clearing the Premiere Pro cache (and the After Effects cache) is pretty simple. It’s a great step to try if you need help with Premiere Pro, especially for issues like lag. If you are experiencing playback lag or choppy playback in Premiere Pro, these handy tutorials may help. Motion Array also has a tutorial on common audio issues in Premiere Pro that might help.
If you are troubleshooting errors, clearing the Premiere Pro cache while the program is closed is best. This will ensure all cache files are removed correctly. It can also clear out corrupt renders and those with problems. If Premiere Pro is a little slow the next time you open it, give it time. The project files need to be rebuilt. Large projects, and those with many ‘moving parts’ like nested sequences can take a long time to rework. The results, however, are often worth it.
A faulty cache can sometimes cause Premiere Pro to crash. However, it’s not the only possible reason, and you may need more in-depth troubleshooting to fix this.
We hope you found this quick tutorial on deleting or clearing the cache in Premiere Pro helpful. If you’re running out of disk space or want to stay better organized, consider setting this process to automatic by adjusting the cache settings. It’s time to get back to the creative side of video editing, knowing you can clear your Premiere Pro media cache whenever needed.
