How to open an Ableton project in Logic Pro

Updated July 2026

Logic Pro can't open an Ableton .als file directly — the formats are incompatible and Logic has no Ableton importer. You have two real options: export stems and MIDI from Live and rebuild by hand, or convert the .als so it opens in Logic as a native, editable .logicx project. Here's both, honestly.

Why Logic Pro can't open an .als file

An Ableton .als set is a gzipped XML document describing your tracks, clips, devices and automation. A Logic .logicx is a macOS package — a folder Logic presents as one file. They store the same musical ideas in completely different structures, and there's no shared interchange format between the two DAWs. That's why nearly every forum thread about importing an Ableton project into Logic ends the same way: "impossible — export stems." That was true for years. It isn't anymore, but let's cover the manual route first, because sometimes it's still the right call.

Option 1 — export stems and MIDI from Ableton (the manual way)

If all you need is the audio, you can flatten the set and reassemble it in Logic:

1. In Live, open File → Export Audio/Video and set Rendered Track to All Individual Tracks so every track bounces from bar 1.
2. Export software-instrument parts as MIDI too (File → Export MIDI Clip, one clip at a time) so they stay editable.
3. In Logic, create a new project at the same tempo, drag the stems in, and line everything up at 1.1.1.
4. Re-create your instruments, re-dial your effects, and rebuild sends, routing and automation by hand.

It works, and for a quick "just mix these stems" hand-off it's genuinely fine. But it's slow and lossy: you lose your automation lanes, your device settings, your bus and send routing, and any tempo or time-signature changes get baked into audio instead of staying editable. If the session is still a work in progress, you've traded a project for a pile of WAVs.

Option 2 — convert the .als into a native Logic project

Doseedo reads the .als and rebuilds it as a real Logic project — an editable .logicx, not a folder of stems:

1. In Live, use File → Collect All and Save so the set's samples live alongside the .als. (Good practice anyway.)
2. Drop the .als on doseedo.com/convert/ableton-to-logic — the direction is detected from the file.
3. Download the native .logicx and open it in Logic Pro.

What comes across: your tracks in order with names and colors, audio clips with fades and clip gain, MIDI notes, CC and pitch bend, the full tempo and time-signature maps (including multi-point changes), arrangement markers, volume, pan and breakpoint automation lanes, and your buses and sends. Audio recorded at a different sample rate is resampled to the destination rate, so nothing plays back pitched or off-grid. It converts both directions, too — Logic into Ableton works the same way.

"A collaborator sent me an Ableton project and I mix in Logic"

This is the most common version of the problem: a producer works in Live, you mix in Logic, and asking them to bounce forty labelled stems every revision gets old fast. With conversion, they send the .als (collected and saved), you convert it, and you're mixing the actual session — faders, sends and automation intact — without owning Ableton at all. The converter reads the file; it never needs Live installed.

If you trade the project back and forth regularly, there's also a Doseedo desktop app for round-trip work — it preserves Ableton warp markers across round-trips (macOS, Apple silicon today).

The honest limits

Two things to know before you convert. First, plugins: 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. Second, Session view: Logic has no Session grid, so arrangement-timeline content is what transfers. If the song still lives in Session clips, record or drag them into Live's Arrangement first, then convert. The full spec of what carries over is on the breakdown page.

Related guides

• Convert .als to .logicx
• Switching from Ableton to Logic
• Every way to move a project between Logic and Ableton, compared
• Collaborate between Logic and Ableton