Where Are Factorio Saves Located?
Factorio saves live in %appdata%\Factorio\saves on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/factorio/saves on Mac and ~/.factorio/saves on Linux.
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Factorio puts everything user-created in a single directory: saves, mods, scenarios, settings, logs. The install folder does not matter, except for the zip download from factorio.com, which carries this data folder next to the game.
Windows uses %appdata%\Factorio, macOS uses ~/Library/Application Support/factorio, and Linux uses ~/.factorio. Linux is the one that skips its system convention for a dotfolder in the home directory, while a Mac behaves like any normal app.
Saves are zip files, and the Load Game dialog walks into subfolders inside saves, so you can file old factories away. Scenarios sit in the sibling scenarios folder, which is what --load-scenario reads from.
Where Factorio stores this, by platform
%appdata%\Factorio\saves
%appdata% resolves to C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming. Autosaves go into the same folder, and you can create your own subfolders inside saves and browse them from the Load Game dialog. Scenarios live at %appdata%\Factorio\scenarios. A Steam install also keeps blueprints and player data in steamapps\userdata\<user-id>\427520\remote, which is not where saves go.
~/Library/Application Support/factorio/saves
The official wiki gives this path, and the game follows the normal macOS convention here rather than using ~/.factorio. The zip download is the exception: it keeps saves and config beside the unzipped game. Reach it with Finder, Go, Go to Folder (Cmd+Shift+G).
~/.factorio/saves
One folder for the Steam build, the standalone build and the distro packages, which is the tidy part of this layout. Mods, config, script-output and scenarios all sit beside saves in ~/.factorio. Flatpak Steam moves the whole home directory under ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.
Frequently asked questions
where are factorio saves windows
%appdata%\Factorio\saves, which is C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\Factorio\saves. Press Win+R and paste %appdata%\Factorio, then open saves. A zip install of the game is the exception and keeps saves inside the unzipped game folder.
factorio save location mac
~/Library/Application Support/factorio/saves, reached with Finder's Go to Folder and Cmd+Shift+G. Factorio does not use ~/.factorio on a Mac, whatever Linux pages say; that folder only shows up if you run a zip copy beside the game.
where does factorio store scenarios
In the scenarios folder inside the user data directory, next to saves: %appdata%\Factorio\scenarios on Windows, ~/.factorio/scenarios on Linux, and the Application Support equivalent on Mac. That top-level folder is what --load-scenario searches.
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