Workshop content

Updated: 2026-08-25

Where it is

Two levels of numbers: the outer folder is the game's app id, the inner one is the published file id of the item. Neither tells you what it is, which is why a Workshop folder is so hard to audit by hand.

Why it outlives the game

Uninstalling removes the game. Your subscriptions are attached to the account and are not touched, and neither are the files that were downloaded for them — Steam keeps them in case the game comes back.

For games with heavy Workshop use this is the larger leftover by a wide margin. Collections for Cities: Skylines, Garry's Mod or a Total War title routinely run into tens of gigabytes, and none of it is counted anywhere the storage screen shows you.

Deleting versus unsubscribing

These are different operations and the difference matters:

• Deleting the files frees the space now. The subscription stays, so if you ever reinstall the game, Steam downloads it all again.
• Unsubscribing in Steam removes the subscription and the files with it. Nothing comes back on reinstall — including any mod that has since been taken down by its author, which is then gone for good.

For a game you are finished with, unsubscribing is tidier. For one you might return to, deleting the files and keeping the subscription is the better trade: the space now, the list preserved.

Is it safe?

For a game that is not installed, yes — nothing else reads these folders. For a game you still play, no: these are the mods it loads, and removing them mid-playthrough breaks saves that depend on them. Steam re-downloads subscribed items on next launch, but a save referencing a mod that is not there yet may not survive the gap.