Skip to main content
DPvideo
Participating Frequently
June 14, 2026
Answered

Is 2026, and still lots .IMS CACHE files keep creating in OS Drive Common folder PREMIERE

  • June 14, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 34 views

Hi I know this may sound like an old thread and Loong time PP user. I have a dedicated second drive for my MEDIA CACHE and other stuff, selected from the preferences in Premiere. That part works fine with all peak,CMA files etc. anyway I noticed premiere keep creating these thousands of .IMS files inside the Windows “App data/common” folder, even after changing the destination in preferences. Is this normal? I would love to move it if possible.
Thanks

Correct answer mattchristensen1

@DPvideo what you’re describing is working as expected. As the Media Cache is currently architected, Premiere needs to count on those .ims files being there, and so doesn’t allow writing them to an external drive. All other media cache file types as you noted do support writing to an external.

I’m sorry it’s not clear in the preferences that this is working this way, but, I can tell you it is how it is supposed to work.

2 replies

DPvideo
DPvideoAuthor
Participating Frequently
June 15, 2026

Thanks for clarifying I am right in my setup. Just want to be sure.

All the best.

mattchristensen1
Community Manager
mattchristensen1Community ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
June 15, 2026

@DPvideo what you’re describing is working as expected. As the Media Cache is currently architected, Premiere needs to count on those .ims files being there, and so doesn’t allow writing them to an external drive. All other media cache file types as you noted do support writing to an external.

I’m sorry it’s not clear in the preferences that this is working this way, but, I can tell you it is how it is supposed to work.