Uninstalled games are still taking up space

Updated: 2026-08-24

The short answer

Uninstalling removes the game's install folder. It does not remove the shader cache, the Workshop content you were subscribed to, a partially finished download, a Proton prefix on Linux, or — depending on how the game was removed — the bookkeeping file that tells Steam the game exists at all.

Each of those is in a different folder, none of them is named after the game, and Steam's own storage screen does not count most of them.

Why Steam thinks the space is free

Steam records an installed game in two separate places: a manifest file named appmanifest_<appid>.acf next to the library, and an entry inside libraryfolders.vdf. The files on disk are a third thing.

Those three can disagree. A crash mid-uninstall, a drive that was unplugged at the wrong moment, or a folder deleted by hand outside Steam all leave the records and the files out of step — and Steam's storage figures come from the records, not from the disk.

Where the leftovers actually are

Note that a Steam library does not have to be the one under the Steam install. Check every drive you have ever added as a library folder — each one has its own steamapps with its own copy of all of the above.

What is safe to remove

Safe, in the sense that it is rebuilt or re-downloaded on demand:

• The shader cache. See what a shader cache is — it is derived data and costs one recompile.
• Workshop content for a game you no longer have installed. Re-subscribing downloads it again.
• An abandoned download whose game is not installed and cannot be resumed.
• The install folder of a game Steam no longer lists as installed.

Not safe, and worth being careful about:

• compatdata on Linux or the Steam Deck. That folder is the game's virtual Windows drive, and for many games the save files are inside it. Only remove a prefix whose game is genuinely gone, and only if you do not want its saves.
• Anything under Documents, %APPDATA% or %LOCALAPPDATA% without reading it first. Saves and settings live there, and Steam Cloud does not cover every game.
• **appmanifest_*.acf for a game that is installed.** Deleting it does not free space; it makes Steam forget a game you still have and offer to download it again.

Checking by hand

1. In Steam, open Settings → Storage and note every drive listed as a library.
2. On each of those drives, open steamapps and sort common by size. Anything there that Steam does not list as installed is a leftover.
3. Open steamapps\shadercache and steamapps\workshop\content. The folder names are app ids — look one up by pasting it into store.steampowered.com/app/<appid>.
4. Compare the appmanifest_*.acf files present against the games Steam actually shows as installed. A manifest with no files, or files with no manifest, is the mismatch causing the missing space.

This works, and it is tedious in exactly the way that guarantees it gets done once and never again. Roughly a hundred numbered folders across four drives, each one looked up by hand.