Guides / DAW conversion

How to convert REAPER to Ableton

Updated August 2026

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

Why there's no built-in way

Cockos and Ableton have no interchange format between them. Ableton Live cannot open a .rpp, and REAPER has no Ableton export. The usual advice (render stems, export MIDI, rebuild by hand) works, but the project stops being a project: item boundaries, marker positions and the mixer layout all flatten into audio files. A native conversion keeps it editable.

How the conversion works

REAPER saves a project as an .rpp, a plain-text file Doseedo parses directly: tracks, media items, MIDI events, markers and tempo. Media items become clips at the same positions (REAPER stores item time in seconds, and the conversion maps it onto bars and beats at the project tempo), and the whole session is rebuilt natively as an .als project. To bring the audio along, zip the REAPER project folder (the .rpp plus its media) and upload the zip; a bare .rpp converts too, with audio referenced by external absolute paths 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 (pooled MIDI items included); 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 to 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 REAPER or Ableton installed?

Not to convert. The conversion runs on the project file itself. You need Ableton Live to open the result.

Watch the walkthrough

Same job, any name

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

Related guides

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

FAQ

Can you convert a REAPER project to Ableton Live?

Yes. Upload a .rpp (or a zip of the project folder with its media) to Doseedo and download a native Ableton Live .als 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 REAPER export to Ableton Live?

No. REAPER has no Ableton export, and Ableton Live can't open .rpp 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 REAPER to Ableton?

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 to 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 REAPER installed to convert a .rpp file?

No. The conversion works on the project file itself; you only need Ableton Live to open the converted result.