How to Clear Browser Cache (And Why You Actually Should)

Your browser is slow. Pages are loading weird. That login screen won’t refresh. Before you blame your internet or restart your computer for the fifth time, try this: clear your cache.

It takes 30 seconds and fixes most browser problems. Here’s how to do it in every major browser.

What Browser Cache Actually Is

When you visit a website, your browser saves parts of it—images, scripts, stylesheets—on your computer. Next time you visit, the browser loads these saved files instead of downloading everything again. Faster loading, less bandwidth used. Smart.

Except when it’s not.

The cache eventually becomes a digital junk drawer. Old files pile up. Outdated versions of websites stick around. That CSS file from 2022 is still there, breaking the site’s new design. Your browser slows down hauling all this baggage around.

Clearing cache dumps all this and starts fresh.

When You Should Clear Cache

Clear your cache if:

Web pages look broken (old CSS files are interfering)
Changes you made aren’t showing up (you’re seeing cached versions)
Your browser feels sluggish (too many cached files)
Websites won’t load properly (corrupt cache files)
You’re troubleshooting any browser issue (first step in debugging)

How often? Most people never do it. Once every few months is reasonable. Weekly if you browse heavily. Or just when things act weird.

Google Chrome

The keyboard shortcut works across all platforms:

Fastest method: Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete (Windows/Linux) or Command + Shift + Delete (Mac)

This opens the Clear Browsing Data window directly. Skip to step 3.

Menu method:

Click the three dots (⋮) in the top-right corner
Go to Settings → Privacy and security → Clear browsing data
Check Cached images and files
Set time range (choose “All time” to clear everything)
Click Clear data

What to check:

Cached images and files: Yes (that’s the point)
Cookies: Only if you want to log out of everything
Browsing history: Your choice (doesn’t affect cache)

Chrome clears the cache immediately. No restart needed.

Firefox

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + Delete (Windows/Linux) or Command + Shift + Delete (Mac)

Menu method:

Click the three lines (☰) in the top-right corner
Go to Settings → Privacy & Security
Scroll to Cookies and Site Data
Click Clear Data
Check Cached Web Content (uncheck Cookies unless you want to log out everywhere)
Click Clear

Firefox clears cache instantly. No restart required, though closing tabs and reopening can help confirm changes.

Microsoft Edge

Edge is built on Chromium (same as Chrome), so it’s nearly identical:

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + Delete

Menu method:

Click the three dots (…) in the top-right corner
Go to Settings → Privacy, search, and services
Under Clear browsing data, click Choose what to clear
Check Cached images and files
Select time range (use “All time” for full clear)
Click Clear now

Edge also clears immediately without needing a restart.

Safari (Mac)

Safari hides cache clearing better than other browsers.

Quick method (no keyboard shortcut):

Click Safari in the menu bar → Settings (or Preferences on older macOS)
Go to Advanced tab
Check Show features for web developers (or “Show Develop menu”)
Close Settings
In the menu bar, click Develop → Empty Caches

Done. Cache cleared.

Alternative method:

Safari → Settings → Privacy
Click Manage Website Data
Click Remove All
Confirm with Remove Now

This clears cache plus cookies and site data. You’ll be logged out of websites.

Important: Safari doesn’t have a “clear cache only” option in the main interface. Use the Develop menu method to avoid losing cookies.

Chrome (Android)

Steps:

Open Chrome
Tap three dots (⋮) in the top-right
Go to Settings → Privacy and security → Clear browsing data
Check Cached images and files
Set time range
Tap Clear data

Alternatively, in Android system settings:

Settings → Apps → Chrome → Storage → Clear cache

This is faster but also more aggressive.

Safari (iOS)

iOS makes this annoyingly hidden in system settings, not in Safari itself.

Steps:

Open Settings app (not Safari)
Scroll down to Safari
Tap Clear History and Website Data
Confirm

Warning: This clears history, cookies, and cache all together. You’ll be logged out of websites. iOS doesn’t let you clear cache alone.

Alternative for specific sites:

Settings → Safari → Advanced → Website Data
Find specific sites and swipe left to delete
Or tap Remove All Website Data at the bottom

What Gets Deleted When You Clear Cache

Always deleted:

Images from websites
CSS stylesheets
JavaScript files
Fonts and other media

Usually NOT deleted (unless you choose to):

Passwords
Bookmarks
AutoFill data
Extensions

Sometimes deleted (depends on what you check):

Cookies (logs you out of sites)
Browsing history
Download history

Read the checkboxes carefully. The cache option is usually separate from passwords and history.

Does Clearing Cache Actually Speed Things Up?

Yes and no.

Immediately after clearing cache: Pages might load slightly slower the first time you visit them because the browser has to download everything fresh.

After the first load: Everything is back to normal speed, but now with current files instead of old junk.

Long-term: Clearing a bloated cache (gigabytes of old files) does make your browser faster overall. Less data to sift through, less disk space consumed.

You won’t suddenly have a lightning-fast browser, but you’ll fix loading issues and remove the drag of accumulated garbage.

Other Ways to Speed Up Your Browser

Clearing cache helps, but these make bigger differences:

Close unused tabs. Every open tab uses RAM. Close tabs you’re not actively using. If you’re the “I have 47 tabs open” person, use bookmark folders instead.

Disable unnecessary extensions. Each extension slows things down. Go to your extensions list and remove ones you don’t use weekly. You can always reinstall later.

Update your browser. Old versions have bugs and security holes. Update to the latest version. It’s free and usually faster.

Restart your browser regularly. Browsers leak memory over time. Close and reopen once a day if you leave it running constantly.

Use fewer browser toolbars. That weather toolbar, the PDF converter toolbar, the “helpful” search toolbar—delete them all. They’re slow and often sketchy.