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> The folder path is: Macintosh SSD/Users/[yourHome]/Library/Containers/Photos/Data/Library/Application Support/Photos Desktop Certainly isn't a ~/Library/Cont

> The folder path is: Macintosh SSD/Users/[yourHome]/Library/Containers/Photos/Data/Library/Application Support/Photos Desktop Certainly isn't a ~/Library/Containers/Photos/Data/Library/Application Support/Photos Desktop in my home.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
I don't have one, either. I suspect it gets formed, when we use the Photos App to set the desktop. I have always used the PrefPane.
- giuliomagnifico 4y ago
  Yes if you don’t use Photos to set the wallpapers, then you don’t have it.
  - MiscIdeaMaker99 4y ago
    That explains it. Also, the path that I have is as follows. ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Photos/Data Mine's a killer 55 MB.
    - giuliomagnifico 4y ago
      Correct, mine is few MB (now). Just don't set the wallpapers via Photos in the future, or remember to clean this folder.
  - Hamuko 4y ago
    Post should probably be titled "macOS Photos keeps a huge wallpapers cache", since it's not actually tied to the macOS wallpaper mechanism.
    - giuliomagnifico 4y ago
      Yes maybe but Photos only creates a copy of the file/image in order to be used from macOS (due to Sandboxing). So it's more a macOS connected to Photos feature than Photos alone. ...in the end, it's just a mess.
    - suction 4y ago
pulvinar 4y ago
The actual folder is "/System/Library/Desktop\ Pictures", but it's protected on newer systems. It consumes 414MB on my machine, which is 0.3% of a 128GB drive. Doesn't seem worth the trouble to me. BTW, I found the path by double-clicking the folder as seen in Desktop & Screen Saver, then dragged that selected Finder folder to a terminal window.
- giuliomagnifico 4y ago
  > "/System/Library/Desktop\ Pictures" No, this is the wallpapers folder used to store all the default macOS wallpapers, not a cache folder, don’t delete it (if you don’t want to delete all the macOS stock wallpapers).
  - pulvinar 4y ago
    Sorry, I misread that.
- saagarjha 4y ago
  That’s the desktop pictures folder. This is talking about some sort of cache for photos you use as your wallpaper.
AceJohnny2 4y ago
Because it's a `Library/Application Support` folder within `~/Library/Containers/`, I wonder if this a feature hastily ported to macOS's sandboxing system. (TBH I know nothing of how macOS implements its sandboxing system)
- lilyball 4y ago
  ~/Library/Containers/* is where sandbox containers live. The folder structure within the container intentionally matches up with the folder structure non-sandboxed apps use, where the Data subfolder looks very similar to the user's home folder. I've never tested but I assume that sandboxed apps that call the macOS API that returns the user's home folder are actually given the path to their container's data folder instead. This makes it a lot easier to sandbox apps.
Maursault 4y ago
>> The folder path is: Macintosh SSD > Users > [yourHome] > Library > Containers > Photos > Data > Library > Application Support > Photos Desktop > The folder path is: Macintosh SSD/Users/[yourHome]/Library/Containers/Photos/Data/Library/Application Support/Photos Desktop The $PATH is ~/Library/Containers/Photos/Data/Library/Application\ Support/Photos\ Desktop/ I have no idea what, if anything, is there, but this was bothering me. You almost had it, though, and I have no clue where the idea of using " > " as a $PATH separator came from, some kind of 1337 vppdpp h4x0r group maybe, but it's crazy.
suction 4y ago

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

I don't have one, either. I suspect it gets formed, when we use the Photos App to set the desktop. I have always used the PrefPane.

giuliomagnifico 4y ago
Yes if you don’t use Photos to set the wallpapers, then you don’t have it.
- MiscIdeaMaker99 4y ago
  That explains it. Also, the path that I have is as follows. ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Photos/Data Mine's a killer 55 MB.
  - giuliomagnifico 4y ago
    Correct, mine is few MB (now). Just don't set the wallpapers via Photos in the future, or remember to clean this folder.
- Hamuko 4y ago
  Post should probably be titled "macOS Photos keeps a huge wallpapers cache", since it's not actually tied to the macOS wallpaper mechanism.
  - giuliomagnifico 4y ago
    Yes maybe but Photos only creates a copy of the file/image in order to be used from macOS (due to Sandboxing). So it's more a macOS connected to Photos feature than Photos alone. ...in the end, it's just a mess.
  - suction 4y ago

pulvinar 4y ago

The actual folder is "/System/Library/Desktop\ Pictures", but it's protected on newer systems. It consumes 414MB on my machine, which is 0.3% of a 128GB drive. Doesn't seem worth the trouble to me. BTW, I found the path by double-clicking the folder as seen in Desktop & Screen Saver, then dragged that selected Finder folder to a terminal window.

giuliomagnifico 4y ago
> "/System/Library/Desktop\ Pictures" No, this is the wallpapers folder used to store all the default macOS wallpapers, not a cache folder, don’t delete it (if you don’t want to delete all the macOS stock wallpapers).
- pulvinar 4y ago
  Sorry, I misread that.
saagarjha 4y ago
That’s the desktop pictures folder. This is talking about some sort of cache for photos you use as your wallpaper.

AceJohnny2 4y ago

Because it's a `Library/Application Support` folder within `~/Library/Containers/`, I wonder if this a feature hastily ported to macOS's sandboxing system. (TBH I know nothing of how macOS implements its sandboxing system)

lilyball 4y ago
~/Library/Containers/* is where sandbox containers live. The folder structure within the container intentionally matches up with the folder structure non-sandboxed apps use, where the Data subfolder looks very similar to the user's home folder. I've never tested but I assume that sandboxed apps that call the macOS API that returns the user's home folder are actually given the path to their container's data folder instead. This makes it a lot easier to sandbox apps.

Maursault 4y ago

>> The folder path is: Macintosh SSD > Users > [yourHome] > Library > Containers > Photos > Data > Library > Application Support > Photos Desktop > The folder path is: Macintosh SSD/Users/[yourHome]/Library/Containers/Photos/Data/Library/Application Support/Photos Desktop The $PATH is ~/Library/Containers/Photos/Data/Library/Application\ Support/Photos\ Desktop/ I have no idea what, if anything, is there, but this was bothering me. You almost had it, though, and I have no clue where the idea of using " > " as a $PATH separator came from, some kind of 1337 vppdpp h4x0r group maybe, but it's crazy.

suction 4y ago