Apple Intelligence now features Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools enhancements, seamless support for ChatGPT, and visual intelligence.

Apple Intelligence has also begun language expansion with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Learn more >

You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

📰 Newsroom Update

Apple Music expands live global radio offering with three brand-new stations. Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: HudsonDude
HudsonDude Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Freeing up space by removing music

I have 38GB of music on my Mac. But I only listen to music via my iPhone, and I have a family subscription to Apple Music anyway. Furthermore I have iCloud music syncing turned on. Can't I somehow free up the 38GB now occupied by all this music? And if I delete all of it somehow from my Mac, will it still be available to me via iCloud? I've looked around online and in help and can't seem to find this specifically addressed. Thanks so much for any guidance!


PS--I'm running Big Sur on a late 2013 MacBook Pro. And I have 2TB on iCloud, 90% of it free.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Jan 29, 2022 2:10 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: turingtest2
turingtest2
User level: Level 10
274,788 points

Posted on Jan 29, 2022 2:29 PM

I would recommend you backup the whole library to an external drive first, just in case you later find that a matched version of a song isn't quite what you're expecting. Once done you can select content in the library, right-click, and use Remove Download to free up the space used by the local copies leaving a cloud entry that you can stream.


tt2

View in context

Similar questions

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: turingtest2
turingtest2
User level: Level 10
274,788 points

Jan 29, 2022 2:29 PM in response to HudsonDude

I would recommend you backup the whole library to an external drive first, just in case you later find that a matched version of a song isn't quite what you're expecting. Once done you can select content in the library, right-click, and use Remove Download to free up the space used by the local copies leaving a cloud entry that you can stream.


tt2

Reply

Freeing up space by removing music

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up