What is a .ALS file?
ALS is an Ableton Live project - a "set" in Live's own vocabulary. Underneath the extension it is gzipped XML: the whole session written out as a document, with one element per track and every clip carrying its start and end.
- Did you know
- Live records clip positions in beats rather than seconds, so a set cannot be placed on a real clock at all until you have read its tempo.
- An ALS is gzipped XML under the hood, so a single saved set can expand into tens of thousands of lines of readable markup.
- The file stores only the arrangement - tracks, devices and clip references - rather than the audio samples themselves.
- What Analyser shows you
- Open Ableton Live sets (.als/.alp) and Reaper projects (.rpp) and see the arrangement drawn out: one row per track, every clip positioned exactly where the project puts it, on a real clock with a zoom for busy sections. A project file contains no audio at all - it is an edit list - so what is shown is read from the same numbers the DAW lays the session out with. Reads the tempo, time signature, track list with each track's type, clip count and plugins, and the media files the project points at but does not contain, which is what tells you whether a session that has been moved will still open complete. An Ableton set is gzipped XML and times everything in beats, so the tempo is what makes a real timeline possible; a Reaper project is plain text and already stores seconds.
- Open a .ALS file
- Drag a .ALS file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It opens entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.
- Related formats
- .ALP · .RPP · .RPP-BAK. See all supported file types.