File formats

Ableton Live file formats — what livesaver relies on

Facts collected from Live's own files (verified against real sets) and public research (Steinberg VST3 SDK, JUCE, Ableton's maxdevtools). Each page names its sources.

Page	Contents
containers.md	gzip-XML documents, binary legacy files, `.amxd`, `.asd`, `.alp`, id spaces
versions.md	`<Ableton>` root attributes per Live version
fileref.md	FileRef formats (Live 8.2–10 vs 11+), RelativePathType, `Data`, patching rules
fingerprints.md	`OriginalCrc` = CRC-16/UMTS over 16 KB, vendor/pack exceptions, audio hash
live-setup.md	Live app resources, `Library.cfg`, pack `Properties.cfg`, `filerefmap.db`, Live's databases
plugins.md	VST2/VST3/AU identity, VST2→VST3 UID derivation, state migration
finder.md	Finder tags and comments, plug-in bundles, Live's plug-in database

Rule for GPL sources (abletoolz, DawVert): facts only, never code.

Questions and answers

Short answers to what comes up first. If yours is not here, ask on GitHub.

Containers and id spaces

How Live's files are packed: which are gzip-compressed XML and which are binary, what lies beside them, and how the ids inside a document are numbered.