Mac storage basics · Browsers and everyday apps
Does clearing my browser history free up disk space?
Short answer: Barely — history and cookies are small. The cache and website data are what grow large, so clear those if you want space back.
Barely. Your history list and cookies are small. The part of browsing data that grows into gigabytes is the cache — copies of images, scripts and videos kept so sites load faster — plus data individual websites store, such as offline mail or web-app files.
So if space is the goal, clear the cache (and, in Safari, large website data) rather than your history. Expect sites to load a little slower at first while the cache rebuilds; it will grow back over time, which is normal. Steps: Safari, Chrome.