# What's a good browser cache size?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-browser-cache-size/623291>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 27, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-browser-cache-size/623291 "2012-05-27T23:21:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-browser-cache-size/623291/1 "2012-05-27T23:21:29Z")

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Doing a backup recently made me realize just how HUGE the Firefox cache can get.

In your experience, do you really _need_ one gigabyte worth of cached stuff? If not, what’s a good reasonable size?

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**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-browser-cache-size/623291/2 "2012-05-29T20:39:05Z")

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I set mine to 100 MB. IMO unless you are working on some special project or have dozens of windows open there is no reason for a larger disk cache.

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**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-browser-cache-size/623291/3 "2012-05-30T02:40:40Z")

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I’m not even sure how to set the cache size in Chrome, but with 316 GB free on my machine at the moment, I’m not too worried about it.

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**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-browser-cache-size/623291/4 "2012-05-30T12:37:25Z")

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Zero is best for security and privacy.

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-browser-cache-size/623291/5 "2012-05-30T13:59:44Z")

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Years ago, I had a PC that was slower than the DSL line it was plugged into, so zero cache was faster.

Now, I generally run on the low side - 20 mb on this PC - just to limit the amount of junk that accumulates.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-good-browser-cache-size/623291/6 "2012-05-30T16:42:24Z")

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Really, I’d say either go with a fairly large cache, or go with none at all. Going with a small cache gives you the downsides of both–slower page loads because you don’t much cached, but also the slowdown because your browser is writing to disk.

I personally don’t see a downside (other than the hard drive thing mentioned above) of letting the browser manage the cache. It’s usually set up to use only a certain portion of the free space. The only reason I’d change it is if you find yourself needing more space. And, then, it’s easy to do that on demand.

However, if you really must have a minimum, I’d suggest clearing your cache and then going for a good month or so. Then look at your cache size. Be sure to visit sites you don’t visit too often but have a lot of images and fancy media. Round that up to the nearest megabyte, then add a couple more for wiggle room.