What is an .als file, and how do you open one without Ableton?

The short answer. An .als file is an Ableton Live Set: Live's project file. It describes the song (tracks, clips, notes, devices, mixer) but contains no audio. To open one without Ableton Live you can use Bitwig Studio, monody, or Live's free 30-day trial. Online "ALS to MP3" converters can't render it.

What's inside an .als file

A Live Set is a gzip-compressed XML document. Unzip it and you get a long, readable text file describing everything you see in Live:

• tracks and their names, colors and routing, including groups and returns
• clips in the arrangement and in Session view
• every MIDI note, with its position, length and velocity
• the devices on each track and their settings, plugins included
• mixer settings, automation, tempo and time signature

What it doesn't contain is the audio. Ableton's manual is explicit: "Audio clips only contain references to samples on disk (rather than the audio data itself)." The samples live next to the set in its project folder, in your User Library, or wherever they were when you dragged them in.

That's why a lone .als file sent by email often opens with missing samples.

Why "ALS to MP3" converters don't work

Plenty of sites promise to convert .als to MP3 or WAV. Think about what that would take: the set says "play these notes through this synth with these settings, through this compressor, mixed at this level". To produce sound from that, you need the synth, the compressor and the samples, and an engine to run them. That's a DAW.

A converter can read the XML. It can list the tracks, pull out MIDI notes, or rebuild the project for another program. It can't play Ableton's instruments. If you want an audio file, open the set in a DAW and export it.

Ways to open an .als file without Ableton Live

The Ableton Live trial

The most complete option, and the first one to try if you only need the set once. Ableton's trial page says: "The Trial allows you to try Live Suite free for 30 days." Open the set, export the audio or stems you need, done.

Bitwig Studio

Bitwig imports Live Sets directly. In Bitwig's words, it keeps "the main arrangement and session view scenes, along with audio, MIDI, and group tracks (and their data and routings)", and "VST/VST3 plug-ins are also transferred with their settings and automation intact." Ableton's stock devices become their closest Bitwig equivalents. If you're moving to Bitwig for good, this is the most faithful route.

monody

monody is a DAW with an AI assistant built in, and it opens Live 12 sets. You can open a set as a new project or pull just the tracks you want into a project you already have. Notes, audio clips, tempo, levels, pan and groups come across, and muted tracks arrive with their fader all the way down. Ableton's instruments, effects and plugins don't: each MIDI track gets a monody synth sound instead, picked from what the part plays.

It also goes the other way: Export for Ableton Live writes a Live project folder (the set, your audio, and stems of monody's instruments and effects) that loads in Live 12. So you can finish a track in monody and hand it back to someone who works in Live. The details and limits are on the Ableton Live page.

Reading the file yourself

Because it's XML, an .als file can be read by code. Open-source parsers exist on GitHub, and some web tools use the same trick to show a set's contents, export its MIDI or convert it for other DAWs. Useful for rescuing MIDI parts; not a way to hear the song.

Opening sets from other Live versions

Ableton's backward compatibility note explains the rule: 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 12.3 won't open in 12.2. Sets from older versions open in newer ones.

If someone sends you a set your Live won't open, ask them which version saved it.

Sending an .als file to someone

To send a set that opens with all its sounds, send the whole project folder, not just the .als:

1. In Live, choose File → Collect All and Save. It copies every sample the set uses into the project folder.
2. Zip the project folder and send that.
3. If the other person doesn't have the same plugins, also send stems (exported audio of each track), so they can hear what the plugins did.

Moving a project out of Ableton

If the goal is to work on the song in another DAW:

• Bitwig reads the set directly, as above.
• monody reads it directly and can send it back to Live later.
• Logic, FL Studio, Pro Tools, Reaper, Cubase don't open .als files. The dependable route is to export stems (one WAV per track, all from bar 1) plus MIDI clips from Live, then rebuild the session at the same tempo.
• DAWproject, the open exchange format from Bitwig and PreSonus, is supported by Bitwig, Studio One and Cubase, but Ableton Live isn't on Bitwig's list of supporting DAWs.

Sources

• Ableton manual: Managing Files and Sets
• Ableton Help: Backward Compatibility
• Ableton: Live trial
• Bitwig: Transferring projects between Bitwig Studio and other DAWs and DAWproject FAQ

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