Where Audacity Stores Temporary Files

When working on an unsaved project in Audacity, the software writes active audio data to temporary swap files to maintain system performance and allow crash recovery. This guide covers the exact default temporary storage paths across Windows, macOS, and Linux, explains how these files behave during active editing sessions, and shows how to locate or change this directory directly inside Audacity.

Default Temporary File Locations by Operating System

The exact path depends on your operating system and the version of Audacity you are running. Audacity 3.0 and newer uses an updated project architecture, though older versions rely on a dedicated blockfile directory.

Windows

In modern versions of Audacity (version 3.0 and later), temporary session data is located at:

• C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\Audacity\SessionData

For legacy versions (Audacity 2.4.2 and earlier), temporary files are stored at:

• C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\Temp\audacity_temp

(Note: The AppData directory is hidden by default in Windows File Explorer. Enable "Hidden items" under the View tab to navigate to it manually.)

macOS

On macOS, temporary data for modern releases is typically stored within the user Library:

• /Users/<Username>/Library/Application Support/audacity/SessionData

Alternatively, some installations and older releases use the macOS system temporary directory:

• /var/folders/.../audacity-<Username>/

(Note: The user Library folder can be accessed in Finder by holding the Option key and clicking the "Go" menu.)

Linux

On Linux distributions, Audacity generally creates its working directory in either the local user data path or standard temporary storage:

• ~/.local/share/audacity/SessionData
• /var/tmp/audacity-<Username>/
• /tmp/audacity-<Username>/

How Audacity Handles Temporary Files

When an audio file is recorded or imported into an unsaved session, Audacity creates temporary cache files rather than holding the entire uncompressed waveform in your computer's RAM.

• Audacity 3.0 and newer: The program uses a single-file SQLite database format. Unsaved sessions generate a temporary .aup3 database file alongside temporary write-ahead log files (.aup3-wal and .aup3-shm) inside the temporary directory.
• Audacity 2.x and older: The software saves hundreds or thousands of tiny .au blockfiles (each containing a few seconds of audio) inside folders named eff, e00, and similar.

When you save the project to a permanent location, Audacity moves or consolidates these swap files into your chosen project file. When you close Audacity without saving, it automatically purges these temporary files to reclaim storage space.

How to View or Change the Temporary Directory

You can confirm or reassign the temporary swap drive inside Audacity's preferences:

1. Open Audacity.
2. Open the Preferences window:
   • Windows/Linux: Click Edit > Preferences (or press Ctrl + P).
   • macOS: Click Audacity > Preferences (or press Cmd + ,).
3. Select Directories from the left-hand menu.
4. The field labeled Location displays the exact path currently in use.
5. Click Choose... to assign a different folder or drive with more free space.
6. Click OK and restart Audacity for the change to take effect.