Where apps hide your files

Blender's autosave, quit.blend and .blend1 files

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Blender does not autosave beside your project. It writes crash backups to your macOS temporary folder, a hidden per-user folder under /var/folders that Finder never shows. Here is how to open it and what to recover.

Where the files are

Unless you set a folder in Preferences, Blender writes autosaves and quit.blend to the macOS temporary folder for your account, not beside your project:

/var/folders/<xx>/<random>/T/                  # your temp folder ($TMPDIR)
/var/folders/<xx>/<random>/T/quit.blend        # written on a normal quit
/var/folders/<xx>/<random>/T/<name>_<number>_autosave.blend

The two folder names under /var/folders are random and differ on every Mac, so do not type them. Terminal knows the folder as $TMPDIR, and these commands open it in Finder and list Blender files there, newest first, without changing anything:

open "$TMPDIR"
ls -lt "$TMPDIR" | grep -i blend

Why not /tmp? The Blender manual lists the order as: the Temporary Files preference, then environment variables, then /tmp/. Blender's source code on macOS reads the TMPDIR variable, and apps opened from the Dock or Finder get TMPDIR set to that per-user folder under /var/folders. /tmp is only the fallback when TMPDIR is missing, for example when Blender is started by a script with a stripped environment, so check it too if the folder above is empty:

ls -lt /tmp | grep -i blend

If you set your own folder at Edit > Preferences > File Paths > Temporary Files, look there instead.

Three kinds of backup, three places

File	Where	When it is written
<name>_<number>_autosave.blend	Temporary folder	Every 2 minutes by default
<number>_autosave.blend	Temporary folder	Same, for a file never saved
quit.blend	Temporary folder	When you quit Blender normally
<name>.blend1	Beside your saved file	Each time you save

The number in an autosave name is the process ID of that Blender session, so each launch writes a new file and older ones are left behind until macOS clears them. The manual shortens the pattern to <filename>_autosave.blend; the number comes from Blender's source.

The .blend1 file is Blender's Save Versions backup. By default Blender keeps one: each save renames the previous file to .blend1. Raise Save Versions to keep .blend2, .blend3 and so on, with higher numbers being older. To open one, duplicate it in Finder and rename the copy to end in .blend.

Recovering from inside Blender

You do not need to hunt through folders. Blender has two commands under File > Recover:

• Last Session opens quit.blend from the temporary folder.
• Auto Save opens a file browser on the autosave files. Pick the newest.

The manual suggests switching the file browser to its detailed list view so modification times are visible, and says to use Save As as soon as the autosave opens, so you do not overwrite it with a partial state. Anything done after the last autosave is lost.

Why temporary files disappear

The manual warns that files in the temporary folder may be deleted when you restart, or by scheduled cleanup tools. macOS clears its own temporary folders on its own schedule, so copy anything you want to keep out of there as soon as you find it: drag it to your Desktop in Finder, then open the copy.

To make autosaves last, set Edit > Preferences > File Paths > Temporary Files to a normal folder, such as ~/Documents/BlenderTemp. The manual says the folder must already exist, otherwise Blender ignores the setting and uses the system temporary folder, so create it in Finder first.

Changing the autosave interval

In Edit > Preferences > Save & Load, Auto Save has a Timer (Minutes) setting, 2 by default. The manual notes that shorter intervals protect more but add disk writes, which can slow large files. Save Versions is in the same section.

Preference changes are only written to disk if Auto-Save Preferences is on or you save them, using the menu at the bottom left of the Preferences window.

A practical habit

The backups that help most often are the ones next to the project. A .blend1 survives restarts, sits where Finder shows it and is one rename away from opening. On a large scene, save often and treat the temporary folder as a last resort, not a plan.

Other Blender folders

~/Library/Application Support/Blender/<version>/
~/Library/Caches/Blender/

The first is the per-version user folder: config holds userpref.blend (your preferences) and startup.blend, next to add-ons, extensions and scripts. Back it up if you customise Blender. The second is the cache, which the manual says is used for asset library indexing and is not expected to be cleared by macOS. The manual prints it as /Library/Caches/Blender/, but Blender's source puts it in your own Library, hence the ~. The autosave folder in the manual's directory layout is marked Windows only.

Space

Autosave names include the session number, so several can pile up in the temporary folder over a busy week. While it runs, Blender also keeps a session folder there, named blender_ plus random characters, for render layers, physics caches and copy-paste buffers. Check the total:

du -sh "$TMPDIR"

Quit Blender before clearing anything, and move only old .blend files to the Trash in Finder rather than using rm. The rest of the temporary folder belongs to other apps. Never clear ~/Library/Application Support/Blender to free space.

Why Spotlight finds none of this

/var/folders is a hidden system folder that Spotlight does not index, and Spotlight does not show results from ~/Library either.

Next time

Everywhere indexes the temporary folder under /private/var/folders along with the rest of the disk, but macOS empties it on its own schedule and a fresh autosave there can wait for the next scan, so it is a poor place to rely on. Set Temporary Files to a folder such as ~/Documents/BlenderTemp, as above, and once Everywhere has Full Disk Access (macOS protects Documents), typing _autosave or quit.blend lists every recovery file in it; typing .blend1 finds the save backups beside your projects. It matches names only, so you need part of the project's file name, not what is inside the scene.

Common questions

Where does Blender save autosave files on a Mac?

In the temporary folder: the path set in Preferences > File Paths > Temporary Files if you set one, otherwise your macOS temp folder under /var/folders. In Terminal, open "$TMPDIR" opens it in Finder.

Where is quit.blend on a Mac?

In the same temporary folder as the autosaves, usually $TMPDIR rather than /tmp. It is written when you quit normally, and File > Recover > Last Session opens it.

How do I recover an autosave in Blender?

Choose File > Recover > Auto Save, pick the newest file in the detailed list view, open it and immediately use Save As to keep it. Changes made after the last autosave are lost.

What are .blend1 files?

They are Save Versions: the previous save of your project, kept next to it. Blender keeps one by default; raise Save Versions in Preferences to keep .blend2 and older too.