Container Intelligence
Manage Docker Storage on macOS
Docker Desktop on Mac stores containers and images inside a massive virtual disk file (Docker.raw) that frequently balloons to 64 GB+ and rarely shrinks automatically.
Why Docker.raw Keeps Growing
On macOS, Docker runs inside a lightweight Linux virtual machine managed by HyperKit or Apple Virtualization framework. Deleted containers and images free blocks inside the virtual filesystem, but the outer macOS APFS file (Docker.raw) does not automatically release sparse blocks back to APFS without explicit trimming.
Official Docker CLI Prune Commands
Docker Disk Pruning
# Remove dangling images, stopped containers, and build cache
docker system prune -a --volumes
# Inspect exact Docker disk footprint
docker system df