Temporary files
Also known as: temp files, tmp files, .tmp, temporary data
Temporary files are short-lived data an app or the operating system creates while working — during installs, downloads, edits, or printing. They are meant to be deleted automatically, but stalled tasks and crashes can leave them behind, taking up space.
- Scratch data created during installs, edits, and downloads
- Meant to auto-delete; crashes can strand them
- Safe to clear; restarting removes many automatically
Why apps create temp files
When an app installs an update, edits a video, unpacks a download, or renders a document, it often writes a scratch copy first. These temporary files are working space — the app uses them mid-task and is supposed to clear them when it finishes.
In normal operation you never notice them. The problem comes when a task is interrupted: a failed update, a crash, or a force-quit can strand temp files that the app never gets the chance to delete.
Clearing leftover temp files
Stranded temp files are safe to remove, since nothing running depends on them. Restarting a device clears many of them automatically, and on a Mac or PC tools like Disk Cleanup or Storage management target them directly. They overlap heavily with what people loosely call junk files.