Premiere Pro media cache full: how to clear it safely
The media cache speeds up editing but quietly fills your drive. Here is what it stores, how to clear it safely, and how to keep it from growing back.
What the media cache stores and why it grows
The media cache is where Premiere keeps the work it does to make footage play smoothly. When you import a clip, Premiere conforms its audio into a matching file, indexes long GOP formats like H.265 so it can scrub them, and saves peak files for waveforms along with accelerated preview data. All of that lands in the media cache. It speeds up editing, but it is a copy of work derived from your footage, not your footage, and it grows with every project you open. On a busy drive it can reach tens or even hundreds of gigabytes without you noticing.
There are two parts. The Media Cache Files are the conformed audio and index files, which are the bulk of the size. The Media Cache Database is a small index that tracks them. Clearing the files frees space; the database just keeps a map.
How to clear it safely
The safe way is to clear the cache with no project open, so Premiere is not using the files you are about to delete.
- Close every project. Clearing the cache while a project is open can remove files Premiere is actively reading.
- Open Preferences, then Media Cache.
- Next to Remove Media Cache Files, click Delete, and choose to remove unused cache files, or all of them if you want a clean slate.
- Reopen your current project. Premiere reconforms what it needs, so the first playback is a little slower while the cache rebuilds.
Removing unused files is the gentle option and keeps the cache for projects you still have open. Removing all files is better when the drive is full or the cache looks corrupted, at the cost of a full reconform.
Move the cache to another drive
By default the cache sits on your system drive, which is usually the one you least want filling up. You can point it at a larger or faster drive. In Preferences, Media Cache, change the Media Cache Files and Media Cache Database locations to a folder on another drive, ideally a fast internal SSD rather than the slow drive you are trying to protect. Keep it off the same card or external disk that holds your footage, so ejecting media does not take the cache with it.
Set automatic cleanup
Premiere can trim the cache on its own. In the same Media Cache preferences, enable automatic removal and set a limit, either files older than a number of days or a maximum cache size. Older than 90 days suits an archive machine; a size cap suits a small SSD. This keeps the cache from creeping back to full after every clean, without you having to remember to clear it.
Why heavy codecs make the cache explode, and how proxies help
Not all footage fills the cache at the same rate. Long GOP formats like H.265 and the 10-bit 4:2:2 files from cameras such as the Sony FX3 are expensive to decode, so Premiere indexes and conforms them heavily, and that work piles up in the cache. Highly compressed camera formats cost you twice: once in playback, where they stutter, and again in cache, where their index files are large. Proxies break that loop. If you edit on light proxies, Premiere plays and indexes small files, the cache stays modest, and you only touch the heavy originals at export.
Where Sanbila fits
Sanbila is desktop software with cloud storage built for editing, and it keeps the cache problem small from the other side. It generates proxies on the Sanbila cloud rather than on your machine, so your SSD is not grinding through H.265 to build index files, and the cache Premiere keeps for light proxies stays small. Its Premiere Pro panel, validated by Adobe, attaches a proxy to each clip with the native Premiere proxy feature, and at export you leave Use Proxies unchecked so Premiere renders from the full resolution originals. The originals live in the cloud with a backup, so they are not sitting on the same SSD you are trying to keep free.
How Sanbila proxies keep your cache and your SSD from filling up.
See the Premiere Pro panelFAQ
Is it safe to delete the Premiere media cache?
Yes. The cache only holds conformed audio, index and preview files derived from your footage. Deleting it never removes your source media or project. Premiere rebuilds what it needs on the next open.
Will clearing the cache slow down my project?
Only briefly. The first time you reopen a project after a clear, Premiere reconforms audio and rebuilds indexes, so early playback is a little slower until the cache fills again.
Where should I put the media cache?
On a fast internal SSD with room to spare, and not on the same card or external drive as your footage. That keeps your system drive free and avoids losing the cache when you eject media.
Why does my cache fill up so fast?
Heavy codecs like H.265 and 10-bit 4:2:2 need large index and conform files. Editing on light proxies keeps those small, and setting an automatic size or age limit stops the cache creeping back to full.
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