Where Does GarageBand on Mac Store Projects and Sounds?
GarageBand on Mac saves projects to ~/Music/GarageBand, keeps instruments and lessons in /Library/Application Support/GarageBand, and loops in /Library/Audio/Apple Loops.
Last updated
GarageBand splits its files three ways on Mac. Your songs live as .band packages in Music GarageBand. The factory instruments and lessons live in system Application Support. Loops live in system Audio folders with your own creations in the matching user Library path.
The sound library dominates disk usage, often tens of gigabytes users never consciously downloaded. That content is removable from system settings and reinstallable on demand. Projects themselves stay small until you freeze tracks or import lots of audio.
Where GarageBand stores this, by platform
~/Music/GarageBand
One .band package per song. Back these up to keep projects. The Audio Music Apps folder beside it holds shared bounces and exports.
/Library/Application Support/GarageBand
Factory instruments, chord trainer, and Learn to Play lessons. Manage size from About This Mac Storage Music Creation instead of deleting by hand.
/Library/Audio/Apple Loops
Factory loop collections by genre. Your own exported loops go to ~/Library/Audio/Apple Loops/User Loops instead. Both appear in the in app loop browser.
Frequently asked questions
How do I open a GarageBand project in Logic Pro?
Open Logic Pro and use File Open on the .band package directly. No conversion step exists since Logic reads GarageBand projects natively, including iOS ones. Software instrument parts map to their Logic counterparts automatically.
How do I free space used by GarageBand sounds?
Use About This Mac, Storage, Manage, Music Creation to remove the sound library cleanly. That screen shows exactly how much space GarageBand content uses. Reinstall later from GarageBand Sound Library Download All Available Sounds.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.