Where apps hide your files

Finding Media Encoder presets

Updated 2026-10-28 · 5 min read

Presets you create in Adobe Media Encoder are saved per version in your Documents folder, not inside the app. Find the right version folder and you can back them up, copy them to another Mac or share them.

The location

Presets you made or imported yourself are kept in a version-numbered folder in Documents:

~/Documents/Adobe/Adobe Media Encoder/<version>/Presets

Adobe's help says only that the encoding presets "are located in the same location as the Adobe Media Encoder files"; Adobe community experts give the full path above, with your Media Encoder major version (such as 23.0 or 24.0) as the folder before Presets. Open it from Finder with Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), or from Terminal:

open ~/Documents/Adobe/Adobe\ Media\ Encoder

If you have used several versions, you will see several numbered folders. Each version keeps its own, so a preset made in 23.0 does not appear in 24.0 until you copy or import it.

Let Media Encoder reveal the file

Adobe documents a quicker route than browsing: in the Preset Browser, right-click one of your user presets and choose Reveal Preset File. Finder opens with the preset file selected, which settles the path for your version and setup.

When Documents lives in iCloud Drive

If iCloud's Desktop & Documents Folders feature is on, your Documents folder, and Media Encoder's folder inside it, are stored in iCloud Drive and still appear at ~/Documents. If the feature was on when Media Encoder first ran and was turned off later, Apple says your files stay in iCloud Drive and a new, empty Documents folder is created on the Mac. In that case the old version folder is in iCloud Drive's own Documents folder:

~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Documents/Adobe/Adobe Media Encoder

What else sits in the version folder

A Media Encoder 23.0 user folder examined for this guide held these items (names only):

File or folder	Meaning
Presets/	Your preset files, plus PresetTree.xml, which by its name describes how they are grouped
batch.xml	Most likely the saved encoding queue
AMEPrefs.xml, AppPrefs.xml, Adobe Media Encoder Prefs	Application preferences
SavedWorkspaces/, ArchivedWorkspaces/, WSMgrCfg	Panel layouts
AMEEncodingLog.txt, AMEEncodingErrorLog.txt, logs/	Encoding and application logs
Watch Folder Info.xml	Watch folder settings
Recent Directories, Trace Database.txt	Housekeeping files

An exported preset is a single file with the .epr extension, per Adobe. Do not edit these files by hand. batch.xml and the preference files can hold paths from your projects, so do not post them in forums.

Where the built-in presets are

Built-in (system) presets are not in your Documents folder, and Adobe does not document a folder you can browse for them. You see them in the Preset Browser panel inside Media Encoder. Adobe Technical Support supports only the presets that ship with Adobe applications, so for a variation, start from a built-in preset, change the settings and save it as your own, which creates a user preset in the folder above.

Very old releases (the CS5.5 era) used ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe/Common/AME/<version>, according to community answers. Current versions also create ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe/Adobe Media Encoder/<version>, but your presets are not kept there.

Sharing or backing up presets

Use Media Encoder's own route first. Adobe's help describes both directions:

• Export: in the Export Settings dialog, choose the preset, then Option-click the Save Preset button, pick a location and click Save. The result is a standalone .epr file you can email or put on a shared drive.
• Import: click the Import Preset button, select the file and click Open, then name it. Adobe notes you can import a preset only when its format is selected in the Format menu.

The Preset Browser can also create, import, export and delete presets. To back up everything at once:

1. Quit Media Encoder.
2. In Finder, copy the whole <version>/Presets folder somewhere safe.
3. To restore, quit Media Encoder on the target Mac, put the folder back into the matching version folder, and reopen the app.

If the new Mac runs a different version, import the .epr files instead of pasting folders, since formats can change between major versions. Community answers report that presets saved from Premiere Pro's export settings land in this same Presets folder.

Moving to a new Mac

Time Machine includes Documents, so presets come back with a normal restore. With iCloud Desktop & Documents on, they follow you automatically, but only for the same version folder. After Migration Assistant, open Media Encoder once and check that your presets appear in the Preset Browser.

Why searching misses these

Presets are in Documents, so a Finder search could find them, but their file names rarely match what you remember calling them in the app, and copies in iCloud Drive or under ~/Library are easy to overlook.

Finding the preset files

Typing .epr into Everywhere lists exported and saved preset files, and PresetTree shows every version folder that has a Presets folder, including one left in iCloud Drive. Documents and iCloud Drive are protected, so Everywhere covers them once it has Full Disk Access. It matches file names only, not the settings inside a preset. Press ⌘↵ to reveal one in Finder.

Common questions

Where are Adobe Media Encoder presets stored on a Mac?

In ~/Documents/Adobe/Adobe Media Encoder/<version>/Presets, where the version is your Media Encoder release, such as 23.0 or 24.0. In the Preset Browser, right-click a user preset and choose Reveal Preset File to see the exact file.

Where are the built-in Media Encoder presets?

Adobe does not document a browsable folder for them. Use the Preset Browser panel in the app, and save a modified copy of a built-in preset to make an editable user preset.

How do I copy Media Encoder presets to another Mac?

Option-click Save Preset in the Export Settings dialog to export a preset as an .epr file, then use Import Preset on the other Mac. Copying the version's Presets folder while Media Encoder is closed also works between identical versions.

Why are my presets missing after an update?

Each major version keeps its own folder, so a new version starts without your old presets. Import them from the earlier version's Presets folder, or copy them across with Media Encoder closed.