In this post, I'll explain what makes up 'Others' in the Disk Storage Analysis feature of the stock My Files app:
Images, Videos, Audio files, Documents, Compressed Files and Recycle Bin are self explanatory.
Installation files is space occupied by apps saved in .apk format. You may have downloaded these or backed them up from the installed apps.
Apps show the space occupied by apps actually installed on your device. This includes app data AND app cache.
System is space occupied by Operating System, Updates, and other System Files.
Secure Folder and Work Profile show the space occupied by these profiles in your system.
Now we are left with the most misunderstood part - 'Others'.
As you can see, the 'Others' section in my phone is currently occupying about 43 GB.
These are files that are not classified in any of the remaining categories like images, videos, music, documents, installed apps, etc.
Obviously, most of these aren't temp files or cache. A bit of these could be temporary files, but they are a very small minority. Likewise, Secure Folder and Work Profile have their own classification, so files from these profiles too aren't included.
In my case, files ending in .apks and .xapk (Split APKs), .jar (ROMs downloaded) and a couple of other formats comprise this section. These are files I keep as a backup. Ideally, .apks and .xapk must be included under Installation Files.
If you download Software for other Operating Systems like Windows, macOS, Linux, etc., then those too are included in this section, depending on the extension of those files (.zip is counted under Compressed Files).
If you use a music or video streaming service, and you download files for offline use, then depending on how those services encrypt the downloaded files, these MAY BE included in 'Others' because encrypted files do not fall under any of the remaining categories. Or they could be counted under 'Apps'. You don't want to delete these as they would be required for offline use.
OTHER POTENTIAL CANDIDATES
1. Space allocated to RAM Plus.
2. Android data and obb folders. Ideally, they must be counted under 'Apps', but i wouldn't be surprised if they are counted under 'Others' since the My Files app doesn't have access to these folders currently.
SUMMARY
In short, files in 'Others' are largely useful files, and that's why there is no method offered to blindly delete them.
That said, they should be offering a way to see the files that make up this category, along with the location of those files, and the ability to delete them, if they are user created (not app or system created).
At the moment, the space shown under 'Others' is a mathematical calculation (total space used minus sum of all the remaining categories), and so the app is unable to provide the composition of this category.
Install one of the following apps:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobile_infographics_tools.mydrive
OR
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cls.partition
They will show you what comprises 'Others'.
Hope this helps.
