How to Remove Thumbnails on Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a situation where free space on the device disappears for no apparent reason. A detailed analysis of the storage reveals that a hidden folder with preview images, known as.thumbnails, occupies a huge amount of space. This system directory is designed to speed up the display of photos in the gallery, but over time it can grow to tens of gigabytes, occupying up to 40% of available memory.

Compounding the problem, standard cleaning tools often don’t remove the cache completely, or the system automatically recreates it immediately after a reboot, and in this article we’ll explore effective ways to permanently dispose of the junk by hiding the folder from the system or completely banning it from creating through console commands.

Cleaning previews is a safe procedure that doesn't affect your personal photos. You won't lose any of your photos by deleting the contents of this directory. However, it's important to understand the difference between the photos themselves and the smaller copies that take up the extra space.

What is a.thumbnails folder and why does it grow?

The.thumbnails directory (or.thumbdata) is a system cache that the Android operating system creates to optimize the GUI. When you open a gallery or any other file manager, the system reads thumbnails rather than the original heavy images in high resolution, allowing you to scroll through albums without delay and freeze.

But Xiaomi’s cache algorithms often don’t work properly, and instead of replacing old previews with new ones or deleting them when you clean up your memory, the system keeps accumulating data, and the cache can be absurd, especially if you take pictures often, download pictures from messengers, or edit photos.

There's a common misconception that deleting this folder will hurt the system. In fact, the Android file system is designed so that, in the absence of a cache, the gallery will simply create new previews on the fly the first time it sees it, which can cause a brief slowdown when the album opens, but there will be no critical errors.

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If you’re using Google Photos or Mi Cloud cloud sync, removing the local preview cache can even speed up the initial sync, as the system won’t have to index the thumbnails already processed.

Preparing for Cleanup: Enabling Hidden Files

Before you start deleting, you need to access hidden directories. By default, the standard Explorer on MIUI or HyperOS hides system folders that start with a dot. You will need to change the file display settings to see the target object.

Open the standard File Manager app. Click on the menu icon (usually three bars or a gear) in the top corner of the screen. In the settings list that opens, find the "Show Hidden Files" switch and activate it. Now in the root directory of internal memory, you'll see translucent folders.

• 📂 Go to the section "Internal Storage).
• 🔍 Find the file. DCIM, inside.
• 👁️ Look for a folder called.thumbnails (it will be translucent).
• ⚙️ Check the way, too. Android/data/com.android.providers.media.thumbnails on new versions of Android.

It is important to note that different versions of Xiaomi firmware may have different locations. On older versions of MIUI, the folder often lies right at the root or in DCIM, whereas on Android 11 and above, access to system folders is limited by security policies.

Method 1: Manual removal through a conductor

The easiest way to free up space is to manually clean up. Once you've found the.thumbnails folder, just select it and select "Delete." The system can request permission confirmation as you're trying to change the system data. Accept the action.

If the folder is inside the DCIM, the algorithm is similar. However, there is a caveat: sometimes the system blocks deletion by claiming that the file is busy. In this case, try first to clear the Gallery app cache through the settings. To do this, go to Settings → Apps → All Apps → Gallery → Memory → Clear.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete the folder itself. DCIM, Deleting the parent folder will cause all your original photos and videos to disappear.

Once you delete the disk, it should be freed up instantly, but it's often shown to have a temporary effect, and the media scanner's system process will fill the folder with garbage once you open the gallery.

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Manual removal is effective for quickly freeing up the here and now, but does not prevent the cache from re-growing in the future.

Method 2: Use of a computer and ADB-team

For deeper cleaning, especially on newer versions of Android where folder access is limited, it’s best to use a computer and USB debugging.This method allows you to delete files that are locked to be deleted directly from your phone.

First, activate Developer Mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly press 7 times on MIUI Version (or OS Version) until the activation message appears. Then, in the advanced settings, turn on "Debugging over USB."

adb shell pm clear com.android.providers.media.thumbnails

This command compulsorily clears the preview component, and if it doesn't work, you can try to delete files directly through the shell using the rm-rf command, but this requires root rights or special permissions on new versions of Android.

• 💻 Connect your phone to your PC with a cable USB.
• 🔌 Select the "File Transfer" mode" (MTP) in the notification on the smartphone screen.
• 🖥️ Open the command line on the computer in the folder with installed ADB.
• 🗑️ Enter a command to clean the media process cache.

Using ADB (Android Debug Bridge) gives you close to system rights, and it is the most reliable way to deal with the “immortal” cache that is not deleted by regular means.

Radical solution: blocking previews

If you want to prevent debris from reappearing, you can try to trick the system, and the method is to create a stub file. The logic is simple: you delete the.thumbnails folder and you create an empty file with the exact same name in its place.

Since there can be no two objects in a file system with the same name in the same directory, the system will try to create a new folder for the cache, stumble upon an existing file and give an error, as a result, the cache will simply stop writing.

To implement this method, you’ll need a file manager that supports text file creation (such as MT Manager or advanced editors). Create a text file, call it.thumbnails (without the.txt extension) and place it in the root of internal memory or in DCIM.

⚠️ Attention: Once you create a stub file, your gallery may start to run slower, as previews will be generated anew each time you open, but there will be nowhere to write them.

Comparison of Memory Cleaning Methods

The choice of method depends on your technical background and the version of the operating system. Below is a table that will help determine the best option for your case.

As you can see from the table, for the average user, the safest option is a combination of cleaning through settings and manual removal. ADB-Use only if other methods have exhausted themselves.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)