Where does QuickTime cache files played in browser?

[HandyMac]

I listen to 1-hour long radio shows streamed via Flip4Mac (.wma files) through QuickTime in Safari. A progress bar indicates that the file is being downloaded, so it must be stored somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it. I note in QuickTime's Preference Pane, Browser tab, is a setting "Save movies in disk cache", and it's checked. Where does QuickTime put the file? I've looked in all the invisible folders (/private, /var, etc.) but don't see it; it's not in /Library/Caches or ~/Library/Caches/Safari either -- unless it's been cut into pieces (should be ~27MB in size, and I find no files, visible or invisible, that size).

Anyone know where QuickTime caches files it plays in browsers?

[Giaguara]

[yourusername] /Library/Caches/Safari/
in there [subfolder]/[subfolder]/[number.cache]

In which if opened in a code editor etc the .cache files don't show all the requested information.

[HandyMac]

Originally Posted by Giaguara

[yourusername] /Library/Caches/Safari/
in there [subfolder]/[subfolder]/[number.cache]

Thanks for your response. I've looked in ~/Library/Caches/Safari, and find 15 folders, ranging in size from <1MB to 2.2MB. I know the hour-long stream that was downloaded is about 27MB in size, so it doesn't seem like it could be in one of those folders. Unless the cached file is somehow cut up into a lot of pieces? Why would it do that?

In which if opened in a code editor etc the .cache files don't show all the requested information.

Not sure what you mean here; what information do you mean?

[billbaloney]

Safari caches in ~/Library/Caches/Safari, but QuickTime (whether loaded in Safari or as a standalone app) caches in ~/Library/Caches/QuickTime/downloads.

You should find your 27 MB file as a single cache file (.qtch) in a subdirectory. Something like this should give you a full listing:

% find ~/Library/Caches/QuickTime/downloads/ -name "*.qtch" -exec ls -l {} \;

[HandyMac]

Originally Posted by billbaloney

Safari caches in ~/Library/Caches/Safari, but QuickTime (whether loaded in Safari or as a standalone app) caches in ~/Library/Caches/QuickTime/downloads.

You should find your 27 MB file as a single cache file (.qtch) in a subdirectory.

Thanks for the tip, billbaloney. That does seem like the logical place, but it's not there. I checked the size of the ~/Library/Caches/QuickTime/downloads folder before and after downloading the stream, and it was 4.5MB both times.

I also did a file search for 25MB+ size files, including invisible files, but didn't find it. Used a clever utility to make everything visible and looked in all the usually-invisible folders, didn't find it. I can only surmise either (a) the "download" is only to RAM, not to disk; or (b) the 27MB of download is divided into smaller bits, so no single 27MB file shows.

A curious mystery. I can live without knowing, I guess, but it intrigues me.

[billbaloney]

Have you tried loading any other remote file in QuickTime and checked in the cache directory? Just wondering whether you can duplicate this mysterious behavior, or whether it's something particular to that WMA file.

One other approach, if you feel like getting brute-force on this problem: shut down all apps besides QuickTime (just to make this simpler). Download the file. Then run a find on everything that's changed recently on your hard drive:

% sudo find / -newerct '10 minutes ago' -print

If it's stored anywhere visible, you should be able to see it.

[HandyMac]

Originally Posted by billbaloney

Have you tried loading any other remote file in QuickTime and checked in the cache directory? Just wondering whether you can duplicate this mysterious behavior, or whether it's something particular to that WMA file.

No, these streams are about the only media I listen to these days. I'll check it out next time I come across a QuickTime/WMA audio stream.

One other approach, if you feel like getting brute-force on this problem: shut down all apps besides QuickTime (just to make this simpler). Download the file. Then run a find on everything that's changed recently on your hard drive:

% sudo find / -newerct '10 minutes ago' -print

If it's stored anywhere visible, you should be able to see it.

I'll try this some time too. Like I said, I did a Finder search for all visible or invisible files over 25MB and found nothing. And I made all the invisible files visible and looked around, again found nothing. I've never tried with a terminal search command like this. A Mac user for 19 years, I've never gotten into the command line stuff; where can I learn about such command strings?

Thanks again for your time.

[billbaloney]

In this instance,

1. Open Terminal.
2. Type "man find"

This also seems to be helpful.