Where apps hide your files

Finding FL Studio's projects, backups and plugin database

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

FL Studio keeps everything you make in one User data folder inside Documents. Here is the path, what each part holds, and how to get a project back from autosave.

The location

~/Documents/Image-Line/FL Studio/Projects

That is where FL Studio 20 and later save projects by default. It sits inside FL Studio's User data folder, which Image-Line's manual puts at Documents/Image-Line in your home folder, the same layout on Mac and Windows:

~/Documents/Image-Line/

FL Studio creates an FL Studio subfolder there for everything it saves: projects, autosaves, recordings, renders, presets and the plugin database. If you have moved the User data folder, all of these move with it (see below).

Documents is not hidden. In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), paste the path and press Return. From Terminal:

open ~/Documents/Image-Line/FL\ Studio

What lives where

Image-Line's file location list gives these subfolders of FL Studio. Many appear only once you save something of that type, so a missing one is normal.

Folder	What it holds
Projects	Your .flp and .zip projects
Projects/Backup	Autosaves and overwritten versions
Projects/Templates	Your project templates
Audio/Recorded	Audio recordings and frozen mixer tracks
Audio/Rendered	Rendered audio
Audio/Sliced audio	Slicex and Edison slices
Presets/Plugin database	The plugin list FL Studio builds from its scans
Presets/Plugin presets	.fst presets, under Generators or Effects per plugin
Settings	Browser tabs, skins, themes and controller mappings

The same list adds that data saved from a plugin defaults to a subfolder named after the plugin, directly under Image-Line.

Getting a project back from Backup

Autosave is why Backup grows. Image-Line's manual says it saves copies of the current project, and of any .flp, .fst or .zip you overwrite, there. To go back, choose File > Revert to last backup (the manual's settings page calls the same command Revert to last autosave), or open a project from the Browser's Backup folder. A Maximum setting caps how many copies are kept, and once it is reached the oldest are replaced.

Two settings change what you find. The frequency runs from Never (a save reminder only) to every minute. The Location option can write backups to a subfolder of the project's own folder instead of the global Projects/Backup, when the project has a project data folder. If Backup looks empty, look beside the project.

For copies that stay put, use File > Save new version, which writes MyProj_2, MyProj_3 and so on next to the original. Autosave is for emergency recovery, not an archive.

Resetting the plugin database

When plugins vanish from the Add menu or the plugin picker, the database is the usual suspect. Your working copy is Presets/Plugin database. Factory copies ship inside the app: in Finder, open Applications, right-click the FL Studio app (its name includes the version), choose Show Package Contents, then open Contents/Resources/FL/Data/System/Plugin databases.

Image-Line's knowledge base gives the reset. In order:

1. Quit FL Studio and copy your Plugin database folder somewhere safe.
2. In the app package, open the factory database folder that matches the layout you want, and copy its contents.
3. In your Presets/Plugin database, delete the existing Effects and Generators folders.
4. Paste the copied files there.
5. Open FL Studio, choose Options > Manage plugins, tick Rescan previously verified plugins, Rescan plugins with errors and Verify plugins, and start the scan.

The factory copy does not list your third-party plugins, so the scan is what brings them back. To undo, quit and put your saved copy back.

Never keep your own files inside the app package. Image-Line's manual warns that updating FL Studio on a Mac deletes personal files left inside the app's Contents folder.

Moving the User data folder

Open Options > File settings. In the User data folder section, click the folder icon and choose the new location, and FL Studio offers to migrate your files there. The Reset button, active only when the folder is somewhere non-standard, sets it back to Documents/Image-Line and offers to copy the data back.

Image-Line says not to use iCloud or OneDrive folders, and to avoid removable drives, network drives and cloud backup services such as Dropbox and Google Drive. It allows a fast, permanently connected SSD. If an update or a settings reset puts the location back to the default, your files are not lost: point the setting at your existing folder again.

Because the default sits inside Documents, a Mac that syncs Desktop and Documents to iCloud Drive puts the User data folder in iCloud, which is exactly what Image-Line warns against. On such a Mac, choose a local folder outside Documents.

If FL Studio cannot open or save files, Image-Line's fix is a macOS permission: in System Settings, open Privacy & Security > Files and Folders, find FL Studio and turn on Documents Folder. Older macOS versions keep this in System Preferences under Security & Privacy.

Backing up and moving to a new Mac

Image-Line's migration steps: install FL Studio on the new Mac, update your licence, install your third-party plugins with their own installers, then copy the whole Image-Line folder from the old Mac's Documents to the new one and test your projects. A verified plugin scan afterwards is a good idea. Time Machine includes Documents unless you excluded it.

Projects store the paths of samples, not the samples. To archive a project with its sounds, use File > Export > Zipped loop package, which saves the .flp and the samples it uses in one .zip. Sample folders you added to the Browser need copying too, then adding again as Browser extra search folders in Options > File settings.

Why a normal search misses some of it

Projects in Documents show up in Spotlight by name, but nothing marks which result is an autosave, and backups carry near-identical names. The factory plugin databases are inside the app package, and Finder searches never look inside packages.

Finding them next time

Typing a project name into Everywhere lists the original and its autosaves side by side, each with its folder, so the Backup copy is obvious. Typing Plugin database finds your working copy and the factory ones inside the app package. Documents is a protected folder, so Everywhere sees your projects once it has Full Disk Access. It matches names only, not what is inside an .flp, and ⌘↵ reveals a result in Finder.

Common questions

Where does FL Studio save projects on a Mac?

In ~/Documents/Image-Line/FL Studio/Projects by default, for FL Studio 20 and later. If you changed the User data folder in Options > File settings, look in the FL Studio/Projects folder inside that location instead.

Where is the FL Studio backup folder on Mac?

By default in ~/Documents/Image-Line/FL Studio/Projects/Backup. If the autosave Location option is set to use the project data folder, backups go to a subfolder beside the project instead.

How do I change the FL Studio user data folder?

Open Options > File settings and click the folder icon in the User data folder section; FL Studio offers to migrate your files. The Reset button returns it to Documents/Image-Line. Image-Line advises against iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, removable and network drives.

Where is the FL Studio plugin database?

In Presets/Plugin database inside the FL Studio folder of your User data folder, for FL Studio 20 and later. Factory copies are inside the app package, under Contents/Resources/FL/Data/System/Plugin databases.