Many users wonder about Steam software space requirements on desktop and mobile. That’s no surprise since Steam is the leading game distribution platform with roughly 27 million concurrent users at the time of publication. It hosts some of the most popular games, including CSGO, Dota 2, PUBG, Apex Legends, Grand Theft Auto V, and Team Fortress 2. It also stands out for offering great discounts throughout the year and giving indie developers a chance to publish games and reach worldwide success. However, while users can accomplish basic tasks through the official website, the software is indispensable for its primary functionality and extra features. Therefore, we’ll answer the question, “how much space does Steam software take?”
How much space does Steam need on PC and Mac?
Steam is primarily enjoyed on PC, for users of Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, and 11, so this bit of information is usually the most desired. With that said, the SteamSetup.exe file available for Windows after users click the “Install Steam” button on the website only requires 2.2 MB. After running the installation file and installing it, Steam will occupy 446 MB of storage space. Once you launch Steam from the desktop or taskbar and can log in, the application occupies 920 MB of space on your hard drive. Any increases over that limit come from:
- Installed titles, although you can move Steam games to another folder
- Web browser cache, since pages in Steam, open in an inbuilt browser. You can clean those by going to Settings → Web Browser
- Mods, assets, and files required for Steam games
- Some shaders, since Steam can utilize so-called “Shader Precaching”. That means certain games that use OpenGL and Vulkan can download shaders to users’ hard drives to reduce stuttering and boost performance
- Redistributables since nearly all games require them for DirectX to work. These may stack instead of being overwritten as you install games, which adds up
Does Steam occupy a lot of space on Mac?
It depends on what users consider a lot, but Steam only takes no more than 1 GB and can be as low as 500 MB without any games installed on Mac. It is unavailable on Mac App Store (apps like Steam Link are) but can be downloaded by clicking the macOS icon below “Install Steam” for Windows. The steam.dmg file for Mac only requires 3.1 MB of storage, and after you drag it into Applications, the installation begins. After it finishes, the file will be roughly 400 MB to 900 MB larger, but may slightly increase with updates.
Storage space Steam takes on SteamOS
Steam released SteamOS back in 2012, hoping it would provide a console-oriented user-friendly performance on PC. However, at the time, it lacked the support that Windows provided to gamers. Luckily, with the release of SteamOS 3.0, based on Arch Linux, as well as including Proton and Vulkan support, the company released a steam_latest.deb file that only requires 3.4 MB of storage. However, when downloaded by clicking the SteamOS icon underneath the aforementioned option, the application takes up a lot more space. We estimate it to be roughly 300 to 500 MB.
Storage requirements for Steam on mobile devices
Steam is also available as an Android application and one for iOS devices. While it cannot play games due to the lack of compatible and capable hardware, you can still chat, visit the store, leave reviews, and even stream your games from computers to a mobile screen. We studied the answer to the question of how much space Steam takes depending on the application:
How big is the Steam app for Android?
The Steam Android application only occupies 2 MB of storage when downloaded from Google Play Store or as a .apk. When installed, the application for Steam on Android grows to 12 MB. Additionally, the Steam Chat application requires 40 MB of space. At last, the Steam Link app requires 29 MB of storage. Those are all the related mobile apps you can get from Google Play Store.
What is the Steam iOS application space requirement?
We are now moving to the Steam Mobile application for iOS and iPadOS that requires iOS 8.0/iPadOS 8.0 and newer versions and requires 43 MB of space. Steam Link, in contrast, requires 31 MB of storage and works on iOS/iPadOS 11.0 or later, macOS 1.013 or later, and tvOS 11.0 and after. Finally, Steam Chat only occupies 38.2 MB and works on iPadOS and iOS 10.0 or later.