What is private/var/tmp ?

I recently ran a backup/cloning program (SuperDuper) on several
machines. On two of the machines, the size of the clone matched closely
the total size of the files on the source. However, on the third
machine, the clone was about 3 GB less than the source. In the log of
the clone, there are many contiguous items showing omitted files from
private/var/tmp. I assume from the folder name that these are temporary
files of some sort.

What gets put into private/var/tmp and is it safe to empty it out? If
so, how do you go about doing that since I don't think I was able to
get to it with the Finder.

Thanks.

.

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