How to send an Ableton project to someone (so it opens with every sound)

The short answer. Use File → Collect All and Save, then zip and send the whole project folder, not the .als file alone. Freeze tracks that use plugins the other person might not have, check that they run the same Live version or newer, and send stems as a backup.

Why a lone .als file breaks

A Live Set doesn't contain its audio. Ableton's manual explains that audio clips "only contain references to samples on disk". The set remembers where each sample was on your computer: in your project folder, your User Library, a Pack, another project, or your Downloads folder. Send the .als file alone and the other person gets a song with holes in it. More on the format in What is an .als file?

Step 1: Collect All and Save

Open the set and choose File → Collect All and Save. Live copies the files the set uses into its project folder. The dialog lets you choose which files to collect by where they live: from Packs, from your User Library, from other projects, or from anywhere else on your disk.

The manual notes you "don't necessarily need to collect the files from all locations, as this can significantly increase the size of the Project folder, especially if many multisampled instruments are used in the Set." If the other person has the same Packs installed, you can leave Packs unchecked. If you're not sure, collect everything. A bigger zip beats a missing kick.

Step 2: Freeze tracks with plugins

If a track uses a third-party plugin, the other person needs the same plugin to hear it. Freezing works around that. In the manual's chapter on computer resources, Freeze Track creates "a sample file for every Session and Arrangement clip on a selected track", and "computers lacking certain devices used in one Live Set can still play the Set when the relevant device tracks are frozen."

The manual says the frozen audio is stored in the project folder under Samples/Processed/Freeze, so it travels with the zip.

Step 3: Check the Live version

Ableton's backward compatibility note is strict: a set saved in a newer version of Live can't be opened in an older one. That includes point releases: a set saved in Live 12.3 won't open in Live 12.2. Sets from older versions open fine in newer ones.

So ask what version the other person runs. If yours is newer, they need to update, or you send stems.

Step 4: Zip the project folder and send it

Zip the whole project folder: the .als file, the Samples folder and the Ableton Project Info folder. Send it with any file-transfer service. When they open it, Live may still flag something missing. The manual says a warning appears in the status bar, and clicking it opens the File Manager. From there, Live can search a folder, the project or the Library for the files.

Live can also turn a project into an installable Pack (.alp) from File → Manage Files → Manage Project → Create Pack. The manual warns that external files "are not automatically saved with the Pack, so it's a good idea to collect them first."

When to send stems instead

Stems are one audio file per track, all the same length, all starting at bar 1. Send them when:

• the other person uses a different DAW (see Move an Ableton project to another DAW);
• they have an older Live version;
• they don't have your plugins and only need to mix;
• you want a version that will still play in ten years.

In Live: File → Export Audio/Video, Rendered Track All Individual Tracks, render from the start of the song. Ableton says the files all come out the same length, which makes them easy to line up.

Sending both the project folder and the stems is the safest habit.

Checklist

If the project went through monody

monody is a DAW with an AI assistant built in that opens Live 12 sets. When a track goes back to someone who works in Live, Project ▸ Export for Ableton Live writes a Live project folder:

• <Name>.als, the set itself;
• Samples/Imported, the audio files the project uses;
• Samples/Processed/Bounce, stems of monody's instruments, effects and buses.

MIDI tracks keep their notes, with the sound monody gave them as a stem next to them. Audio tracks keep their clips. The folder loads in Live 12, so you can zip it and send it like any other Live project.

Sources

• Ableton manual: Managing Files and Sets (Collect All and Save, File Manager, Packs, Export Audio/Video) and Computer Audio Resources and Strategies (Track Freeze)
• Ableton Help: Backward Compatibility

Checked on 1 October 2026. Ableton and Live are trademarks of Ableton AG; monody is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ableton.