Guides / DAW conversion

How to convert GarageBand to FL Studio

Updated October 2026

GarageBand saves projects as .band packages — a folder macOS shows as one file. FL Studio can’t open one, and GarageBand has no FL Studio export. Doseedo converts the project itself: upload the zipped .band, download a native FL Studio .flp project with the arrangement rebuilt.

Why there's no built-in way

Apple gives a GarageBand project exactly one way into another app: Logic Pro opens a .band directly. Every other DAW is on the outside. GarageBand’s own exports are audio — the mix, or one track at a time if you solo each — with no MIDI file and no project format FL Studio reads, so the usual advice (bounce every track, rebuild by hand) turns a project back into a pile of audio files. A native conversion keeps it editable: MIDI stays MIDI, regions stay where they were. If you also have Logic Pro, it opens the .band itself, and a Logic project converts to FL Studio too (Logic to FL Studio).

How the conversion works

Doseedo reads the GarageBand project natively — the package itself, no export step in GarageBand — and rebuilds it as a native FL Studio .flp project. A .band is a macOS package, so it travels zipped: right-click it in Finder, choose Compress, and upload the zip; the audio travels inside it. A project last saved by GarageBand 6 (’11) or earlier is an older format — open it in current GarageBand (or Logic Pro) on a Mac, save it, and zip that.

What carries over — and what doesn't

GarageBand → FL Studio carries the arrangement, honestly scoped. What arrives editable: tracks with their names, levels and mutes; MIDI regions with every note exactly where it was played; audio regions with their files traveling in the project; tempo and time signature.

GarageBand’s own instrument sounds don’t come with it — they live inside GarageBand, so each software-instrument track arrives with its notes and the name of the patch it used, and you choose the sound in FL Studio. A looped region is placed once rather than looped, and Apple Loops that were never copied into the project arrive as offline clips; GarageBand’s reverb return doesn’t reach FL Studio. Automation and plugin chains aren’t promised on this pair yet. Nothing is silently dropped — every conversion comes with a report of what changed.

Do I need GarageBand or FL Studio installed?

Not to convert — the conversion runs on the zipped project itself, on a Mac or a PC. You need FL Studio to open the result.

Watch the walkthrough

Same job, any name

Whether you'd say GarageBand to FL Studio converter, convert .band to .flp (band to flp), GarageBand file to FL Studio file, open a GarageBand project in FL Studio, import a GarageBand project into FL Studio, export GarageBand to FL Studio, or move, transfer or migrate a project from GarageBand to FL Studio — it is the conversion this guide walks through, and the GarageBand to FL Studio converter does it free, online, with nothing to install. Also searched as: convert garageband to fl studio · band to flp · band to flp converter · convert band file to flp · garageband project to fl studio project · garageband file to fl studio file · open band in fl studio · import garageband project into fl studio.

Related guides

• GarageBand to FL Studio converter (the tool)
• What is a .band file
• Open a .band without GarageBand
• Every way to move a project between DAWs

FAQ

Can you convert a GarageBand project to FL Studio?

Yes. Upload a zipped .band to Doseedo and download a native FL Studio .flp project. What arrives editable: tracks with their names, levels and mutes; MIDI regions with every note exactly where it was played; audio regions with their files traveling in the project; tempo and time signature.

Does GarageBand export to FL Studio?

No. GarageBand exports audio only — the mix, or one track at a time — and FL Studio can’t open a .band. Logic Pro is the only other DAW that opens a GarageBand project. A native converter rebuilds the project for FL Studio — that’s what Doseedo does.

Do plugins carry over from GarageBand to FL Studio?

GarageBand’s own instrument sounds don’t come with it — they live inside GarageBand, so each software-instrument track arrives with its notes and the name of the patch it used, and you choose the sound in FL Studio. Nothing is faked: whatever doesn’t cross the GarageBand–FL Studio boundary is named in the conversion report.

Do I need GarageBand or a Mac to convert a .band?

Not to convert: the conversion works on the zipped project on any computer. The .band has to be zipped first (on a Mac, right-click → Compress), and you need FL Studio to open the result.