Guides / DAW conversion

How to convert Ableton to REAPER

Updated August 2026

Ableton Live saves projects as .als files; REAPER uses .rpp. Neither DAW opens the other's format. Doseedo converts the project itself: upload the .als, download a native .rpp with the arrangement rebuilt.

Why there's no built-in way

Ableton and Cockos have no interchange format between them. REAPER cannot open an .als, and Ableton Live has no REAPER export. Rendering stems works, but the project stops being a project. A native conversion keeps it editable, and since REAPER's evaluation is free and fully functional, the converted project opens anywhere.

How the conversion works

Doseedo reads the Ableton Live project with the same native engine that powers its other directions and writes a REAPER project folder: a plain-text .rpp with the session rebuilt, plus an Audio/ folder holding the media with relative references, so the download unzips into a folder REAPER opens with everything in place. Zip the Ableton project folder (the .als plus Samples/) so the audio travels; a bare .als converts structure and MIDI only.

What carries over, and what doesn't

REAPER conversion rebuilds the session natively, and the copy here says exactly what crosses. What arrives editable: tracks with their names, colours, levels, pans, mutes and solos; folders and buses with their sends; MIDI with every note, CC, pitch bend and program changes; audio items with their offsets, gain, fades, playrate, loops and takes; the tempo and meter maps; markers; and volume, pan, mute and send automation.

Plugin chains come with you. Third-party VST, VST3 and AU plugins arrive as the same plugin with their saved state when it’s installed on the other side, and REAPER’s ReaEQ, ReaComp, ReaDelay, ReaVerbate, ReaLimit and ReaSamplOmatic5000 map from Live’s EQ Eight, Compressor, Delay, Reverb, Limiter and Simpler with their settings. What doesn’t carry yet: per-item stretch markers. Nothing is silently dropped: every conversion comes with a report of what changed.

Do I need Ableton or REAPER installed?

Not to convert. You need REAPER to open the result, and REAPER's free, fully-functional evaluation means that is never the blocker.

Watch the walkthrough

Same job, any name

Whether you'd say Ableton to REAPER converter, convert .als to .rpp (als to rpp), Ableton file to REAPER file, open an Ableton project in REAPER, import a Live Set into REAPER, export Ableton to REAPER, or move, transfer or migrate a project from Ableton Live to REAPER, it is the conversion this guide walks through, and the Ableton to REAPER converter does it free, online, with nothing to install. Also searched as: convert ableton to reaper · ableton live to reaper · als to rpp · als to rpp converter · als to reaper · convert als file to rpp · ableton project to reaper project · ableton file to reaper file.

Related guides

• Convert REAPER to Ableton (the other way)
• Ableton to REAPER converter (the tool)
• Every way to move a project between DAWs
• What carries over, field by field

FAQ

Can you convert an Ableton Live project to REAPER?

Yes. Upload an .als project to Doseedo and download a native REAPER .rpp project. The arrangement, MIDI with CC and pitch bend, audio items with their offsets, gain, fades and takes, the tempo and meter maps, markers, folders and sends, volume/pan/mute/send automation, and third-party plugin state all arrive editable.

Does Ableton Live export to REAPER?

No. Ableton Live has no REAPER export, and REAPER can't open .als files. The only routes are rendering stems (which flattens the project) or a native converter that rebuilds the project format; that's what Doseedo does.

Do plugins and automation carry over from Ableton to REAPER?

Yes. Third-party VST, VST3 and AU plugins arrive as the same plugin with their saved state when it’s installed on the other side, and REAPER’s ReaEQ, ReaComp, ReaDelay, ReaVerbate, ReaLimit and ReaSamplOmatic5000 map from Live’s EQ Eight, Compressor, Delay, Reverb, Limiter and Simpler with their settings. Volume, pan, mute and send automation carry as envelopes, and folders and sends arrive as real routing. Per-item stretch markers don’t carry yet; they’re reported, never silently dropped.

Do I need Ableton Live installed to convert to REAPER?

No. The conversion works on the project itself; you only need REAPER (whose evaluation is free and fully functional) to open the converted result.