Where apps hide your files

Kodi's userdata and add-ons folders

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Kodi keeps its settings, libraries and add-ons in one folder inside your hidden Library. Here is the path, what each part holds, and how to back it up or add advancedsettings.xml safely.

The location

~/Library/Application Support/Kodi/userdata

That is the userdata folder for the Master (default) profile of Kodi on a Mac. It sits inside Kodi's data folder:

~/Library/Application Support/Kodi

The Library folder is hidden in Finder. Choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), paste the path and press Return, or from Terminal:

open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Kodi/userdata

Kodi's own wiki gives the same path for macOS, and Kodi's source code builds it the same way. The folder is created the first time Kodi runs, so if it is missing, open Kodi once and quit. Two other Kodi folders live elsewhere on a Mac: the log in ~/Library/Logs, and temporary files in a hidden ~/.kodi/temp folder in your home folder.

What is inside the data folder

The data folder holds two kinds of thing: Kodi's installed add-ons, and your own settings and libraries under userdata.

Path (inside Kodi)	What it holds
addons	Installed add-ons and skins. addons/packages holds downloaded add-on zip files and addons/temp is scratch space (both are created by Kodi at start-up)
userdata/addon_data	Settings and data of add-ons that need to store something. Not every add-on has a folder here
userdata/Database	The video, music, add-on and artwork databases that make up your libraries and watched marks
userdata/Thumbnails	Cached artwork. This is the part that grows
userdata/keymaps	Custom keyboard and remote mappings, such as a keyboard.xml
userdata/playlists	Playlists you saved
userdata/sources.xml	The media sources you added (folders, network shares)
userdata/guisettings.xml	Your interface and system settings
userdata/profiles.xml	The Master profile and any others you add
userdata/passwords.xml	Passwords for network shares, if you saved any. Kodi's wiki warns they are stored as unencrypted text
userdata/advancedsettings.xml	Optional tweaks. It does not exist until you create it

The database file names carry a number that changes with the Kodi version, for example a video database whose name starts MyVideos and an artwork database whose name starts Textures. List the Database folder to see yours. Kodi's wiki also says that profiles you create later keep their own userdata in a separate profiles folder, so the Master profile is only part of the picture if you use several.

Your actual movies, music and photos are not in here. Kodi stores only references to them (sources.xml) and what it learned about them (the databases and artwork cache). Deleting the library does not touch your media files.

Create or edit advancedsettings.xml

Kodi does not create advancedsettings.xml, and the wiki says it reads the file only when it starts. The code agrees: the file is looked up in the profile's userdata folder at start-up. So the order is:

1. Quit Kodi.
2. Copy the whole Kodi folder somewhere safe (see the backup section below).
3. Create or edit ~/Library/Application Support/Kodi/userdata/advancedsettings.xml in a plain-text editor. The name must be exact, tags must be lower case, and everything sits inside <advancedsettings> tags.
4. Start Kodi again. A typo can make Kodi ignore the file, so look at the log (below) if nothing changes.

To undo, quit Kodi and move the file out of the folder.

Sources, passwords and what not to share

passwords.xml holds the passwords for your network shares in plain text, which Kodi's wiki warns can be easily read, and its advice is to give Kodi its own media-only user on your network. sources.xml lists the places you pointed Kodi at, and a share's address can carry a user name. Treat both like credentials: never post, email or upload them when you ask for help.

Kodi's forum asks for the log instead. On a Mac it is here, with the previous session's log beside it as kodi.old.log:

~/Library/Logs/kodi.log

The wiki says passwords for network shares are left out of the log automatically, but folder paths (which may contain your name) and details from unofficial add-ons can still appear, so read it before you share it, and use the paste site the forum asks for.

Backing up and moving to a new Mac

The wiki's advice is to copy the whole Kodi data folder. It also says a full copy should not be used to move between operating systems or between major Kodi versions (point releases are fine), so install the same major version on the new Mac. With Kodi quit:

1. Copy ~/Library/Application Support/Kodi to an external drive or another folder.
2. On the new Mac, install Kodi, start it once and quit.
3. Replace the new Kodi folder with your copy, then start Kodi.

If your media lives on an external drive or a share, mount it at the same path as before: the wiki notes that library items store their folder paths in the databases, so both sources.xml and the library would point at nothing. Add-ons are included in the copy, which is why the folder can be large.

If you prefer an automated route, the wiki points to the Backup add-on in the official Kodi repository, under Programs. For library metadata alone, Kodi's own library export makes files you can scan back in.

Space

The Thumbnails folder normally dominates, because Kodi caches artwork for every item in your library. To see what is large, run:

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/Kodi/* ~/Library/Application\ Support/Kodi/userdata/* 2>/dev/null

That only reads sizes. Do not delete userdata, addons or Database to save space: they are your settings, your add-ons and your watched history.

The artwork cache is a pair: the Thumbnails folder and the Textures database in Database. Kodi's wiki describes clearing both as a last resort for artwork problems: exit Kodi, delete the Textures database file and the Thumbnails folder, then restart, and Kodi rebuilds the cache as images are displayed. Its warning matters: the images are fetched again from the original web addresses, and scraper sites often remove old artwork, so some posters may never come back. The library itself is untouched. If you only want space, move both to the Trash rather than deleting them, check Kodi for a while, then empty it.

Where Kodi reports its own paths

Kodi writes its folder mappings into kodi.log at start-up, in lines that begin special://home/ is mapped to (the data folder) and special://masterprofile/ is mapped to (userdata). If your path differs from the one above, for example on a fork or an unofficial build, those lines are the authority.

Why a normal search misses it

~/Library is hidden in Finder, and Spotlight and Finder searches leave it out of normal results. The files are also named things like sources.xml or a database with a version number, which tells you nothing without the folder.

Finding it again

Type advancedsettings or sources.xml into Everywhere to find those files without opening Finder's hidden Library. Typing MyVideos lists the video database. Press ⌘↵ to reveal the match in Finder. The Kodi folder is in an unprotected part of ~/Library, so it is covered without extra setup, though a file Kodi created minutes ago may wait for the next scan. Everywhere matches names only, not the XML inside.

Common questions

Where is the Kodi userdata folder on a Mac?

At ~/Library/Application Support/Kodi/userdata. Installed add-ons are in ~/Library/Application Support/Kodi/addons.

Where does advancedsettings.xml go on macOS?

In the userdata folder, ~/Library/Application Support/Kodi/userdata/advancedsettings.xml. Kodi does not create it, and it reads it only at start-up, so restart Kodi after editing.

How do I back up Kodi on a Mac?

Quit Kodi and copy the whole ~/Library/Application Support/Kodi folder to another drive. Restore it by installing Kodi on the new Mac, running it once, quitting, and replacing the folder.

Why can I not see the Library folder?

Finder hides it. Use Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) and paste the path, or run open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Kodi in Terminal.