How to convert .als to .logicx

Updated July 2026

An Ableton Live set (.als) won't open in Logic Pro, and renaming it to .logicx won't fool anyone — they're completely different formats. You convert .als to .logicx by rebuilding the project. Doseedo does it online: upload your zipped Ableton project folder, download a native .logicx, open it in Logic.

What .als and .logicx actually are

An Ableton .als is a single gzipped XML document. Unzip it and you'd find plain text describing your tracks, devices, clips and automation — but not your audio. The samples live next to the set, in the Ableton project folder, and the .als just points at them.

A .logicx is the opposite kind of thing: a macOS package — a folder that Finder presents as a single file — containing Logic's project data, its own references to audio, and Logic-specific settings. Same musical ideas, completely different structure, and no shared interchange format between the two.

Why renaming .als to .logicx doesn't work

Changing project.als to project.logicx just gives Logic a gzipped XML file wearing the wrong extension. Logic expects a package with its own internal layout; what it gets is Ableton's bytes, which it can't parse. The reverse rename fails the same way. To get a working .logicx, something has to read the Ableton set and rebuild it in Logic's format — every track, clip, note and automation lane re-created as native Logic objects. That's what a converter does; it's not a wrapper or a re-labelling.

How to convert an .als file to Logic Pro

1. Zip the Ableton project folder. Because the .als references samples in the folder around it, compress the whole project folder, not the set alone. In Live, run File → Collect All and Save first so every sample is pulled inside, then right-click the folder → Compress.
2. Upload it at doseedo.com/convert/ableton-to-logic — the direction is detected from the file.
3. Download the .logicx and open it in Logic Pro. It's a real, editable Logic project — tracks, clips, MIDI and automation on the timeline — not a folder of stems.

What carries over from Ableton to Logic

Carries cleanly: tracks in order with names and colours, audio clips with fades and clip gain, MIDI notes, CC and pitch bend, tempo and time-signature maps (including multi-point maps), arrangement and section markers, volume, pan and breakpoint automation lanes, and buses and sends. Audio recorded at an off rate is resampled to the Logic project's sample rate so nothing plays back at the wrong speed. The full item-by-item list is on the breakdown page.

What's approximated: devices and plugins

Here's the honest part. Stock compressor, reverb, and delay settings map to the destination DAW's native devices with their core controls intact; other plugins arrive placed on the right track as device slots to re-fill — third-party preset state isn't reconstructed. So an Ableton Compressor becomes a Logic compressor doing roughly the same job, while your third-party synth shows up on the correct track waiting for you to reload its preset. Plan a few minutes to re-fill those slots on a device-heavy set.

What about warp markers?

Warping is an Ableton concept with no one-to-one twin in Logic, so warped clips land as regular audio at the right position and tempo. If you work between the two DAWs regularly, Doseedo's desktop app (macOS, Apple silicon) preserves Ableton warp markers across round-trips — send a set to Logic and back without losing them.

Going the other way (.logicx → .als)

Doseedo converts both directions. If you need to take a Logic project into Ableton instead, use the Logic to Ableton converter, and the step-by-step details are in the convert .logicx to .als guide.

Related guides

• Open an Ableton project in Logic Pro
• Convert .logicx to .als
• What is an .als file?
• Switching from Ableton to Logic