What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?

The storage bar indicates how much of your drive space is taken up by documents, applications, the OS, photos, music etc. Anything that doesn’t come under those headings is part of Other. The storage bar is possible because all files have a label that indicates what it is or what application “owns” it and some files just don’t have a label - hence other. For this reason, you generally don’t need to worry about other. It doesn’t mean your drive is filled with stuff it doesn’t need.

That said, your drive may be getting overfull and you need to delete/move some files. Here’s an Apple knowledgebase article to look at: Free up storage space - Apple Support

I intended to add one more thing and go called away. When you are trying to free up room on your computer you typically don’t get much by deleting data - word processing files and the like. The really big files are media: movies, music, and photos. I actually keep my movies and music on an external drive. If I intend to travel and think I might want to watch a movie I’ll drag a couple onto the computer and remove them when I get back home or after I’ve finished watching them.

The Other Category can not be altered, modified, move or deleted since it is part of the Mac’s operating system. Doing so would corrupt the OS and render the OS inoperative requiring a Wipe and Re-Installation.

The Other category is a potpourri of files which include:

• System temporary files

• macOS system folders

• Archives and disk images (.zip, .iso, etc. - often found in the Downloads folder)

• Personal user data

• Files from the user’s library (Application Support, iCloud files, screensavers, etc.)

• Cache files

• Fonts, plugins, extensions

• Other files that are not recognized by a Spotlight search

• Media files that cannot be classified by Spotlight as a media file because they are located inside of a package

They can be located anywhere on your hard drive. The files that you have control over are located in the Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music and Movies folders.

Also, if your OS becomes too full your computer will stop functioning. This may be a good time to seriously consider adding an external drive for storage. Then you can move files onto it and then delete them from your HD to clear needed space. Easy to do and problem solved.