If you subscribe to Apple Music, you likely use the “Add to Library” button to save albums and playlists to your account so you can stream them later. However, the macOS Apple Music app includes a feature called “Automatic Downloads.” When enabled, the moment you add a song to your library, your Mac will automatically download the full, high-resolution audio file directly to your local hard drive.
If you have a massive music library, this automated downloading process will quietly obliterate your Mac’s internal storage. A thousand lossless audio tracks can easily consume 30GB to 50GB of SSD space. If you primarily listen to music while connected to your home or office Wi-Fi, there is absolutely no reason to hoard these massive files locally.
You can configure Apple Music to strictly stream your library from the cloud, downloading files only when you explicitly ask it to.
How to Turn Off Automatic Downloads in Apple Music
You can adjust the download behavior within the Apple Music settings.
- Open the Apple Music app on your Mac.
- Click on the word Music in the top-left corner of the menu bar.
- Select Settings… (or Preferences) from the drop-down menu.
- Click on the General tab at the top of the window.
- Look for a checkbox labeled Automatic Downloads.
- Uncheck this box.
- Click OK to save your changes.
Moving forward, when you click the “+” button to add an album to your library, it will simply be added as a cloud reference. You can still stream it on demand, but it will not consume a single megabyte of your local hard drive space.