Where apps hide your files
The User Library and installed Packs sit in your Music folder, but your projects live wherever you saved them. Here is each path, what is inside, and how to move or back it up.
When Live is first installed it creates its User Library here, and installs Packs next to it:
~/Music/Ableton/User Library/
~/Music/Ableton/Factory Packs/Ableton's manual gives the User Library default as Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/Music/Ableton/User Library, which is the same folder written with ~. Your own projects are not in either folder. Each project is a folder that lives wherever you saved it (often somewhere in Music or Documents, or on an external drive), named after the set, such as My Song Project.
Both managed folders are in your Music folder, not in ~/Library, so Finder shows them normally. To open one, choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) in Finder and paste the path, or in Terminal:
open ~/Music/Ableton/"User Library"Live's settings and crash files are the hidden part. Ableton's support articles put the preferences in a folder per Live version, such as Live 12.1.5, and the crash recovery files in a Crash folder inside it:
ls ~/Library/Preferences/AbletonLive also keeps support files under ~/Library/Application Support/Ableton/.
A saved set lives in a project folder. The .als file is the set itself; the rest is audio and metadata.
| Item | What it is |
|---|---|
My Song.als | The set: tracks, clips, devices, automation. Small, because it points to samples rather than containing them. |
Samples/Recorded/ | Audio you recorded into the set |
Samples/Processed/Freeze/ | Audio written by Freeze Track |
Samples/Processed/Consolidate/ | Audio written when you consolidate clips |
Other Samples subfolders | Files copied in by Collect All and Save, sorted by where they came from |
Backup/ | Earlier saved versions of the set |
Ableton Project Info/ | Project metadata Live maintains |
The manual says the Backup folder appears once a project has been saved at least twice, holds the last ten saved versions, and that Live moves the oldest to the Trash when there are more than ten. That makes it the first place to look after you overwrite a set by mistake.
If you move a set by hand, move the whole project folder. An .als file on its own still refers to samples it does not contain, and Live will report them missing.
The User Library is where Live saves what you make yourself: instrument and effect presets, racks, clips, grooves, templates and your default set. Anything you save to User Library in Live's browser lands in a matching subfolder, so you can browse it in Finder like any other folder.
Because it is plain files, you can back it up by copying the folder. Close Live first so no preset is half written.
Packs are Ableton's (and third parties') content bundles. Live installs them to the Packs folder shown above and lists them under Packs in the browser. A full content install with Suite is large, so check the real figure on your Mac:
du -sh ~/Music/Ableton/Factory\ PacksDo not delete files from inside a Pack in Finder. The manual's route is to remove the whole Pack inside Live: right-click it under Packs in the browser and choose Delete, or select it and press the Delete key. Removed Packs then show under Available Packs, so you can install them again later.
Live lets you choose where the User Library and the Packs folder live, in its Library settings:
User Library folder to the new drive in Finder first, then use Browse next to Location of User Library and pick the copy.If the drive is not connected when Live starts, the browser cannot reach that content until you plug it back in. Ableton also advises against special characters in the Packs folder name, because they can stop Packs from appearing in the browser.
The reliable set of things to carry over:
Samples intact).~/Music/Ableton/User Library.~/Library/Preferences/Ableton/ to keep your settings.Third-party plug-ins live in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/ (all users) or ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/ (just you), and their sample content is wherever each vendor installs it. Those are not part of Live's folders and need their own installers on the new Mac.
Projects are where the space goes. Recorded audio, freezes and backups add up. In order of usefulness:
Backup/ folder to the Trash only when you are happy with the current set. Do it in Finder with Live closed, not with rm.Never delete an .als file or Samples/Recorded unless you have the audio somewhere else.
Spotlight can find an .als saved in your Documents or Music folder, but not the preferences and crash files in ~/Library, and not a project on a drive that is not plugged in. Once Everywhere has Full Disk Access (Music, Documents and external drives are folders macOS protects), typing part of the set's name, or .als, lists every Live set on the Mac, including ones on an external drive you used last month, and ⌘↵ reveals the project folder in Finder. It matches file names only, so it finds Bass Loop 04.wav by its name, not by how it sounds.
By default it is at ~/Music/Ableton/User Library. You can point Live at another folder with the Location of User Library option in Live's Library settings.
Live saves a project wherever you choose in the save dialog, as a project folder holding the .als set plus Samples and Backup folders once they are needed. There is no single fixed projects folder.
Packs install to the Packs installation folder, by default ~/Music/Ableton/Factory Packs, and appear under Packs in Live's browser. You can change that folder in Live's Library settings.
Yes, once you are sure the current set opens correctly. It holds up to ten earlier saved versions of the set, so deleting it loses that history.
Everywhere keeps track of every file on your Mac — including the folders Spotlight hides and drives you have unplugged. Free for a day, then $19 once.
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