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Plug-in Format Structure

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For the macOS platform

On the macOS platform, VST 3 plug-in is a standard macOS bundle, its file extension is ".vst3" and has the following folder structure:

FolderDescription
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/Resources/folder contains all additional resource files useful for the plug-in
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/Resources/moduleinfo.jsonthe plug-in’s module info
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/MacOS/folder contains the plug-in’s macOS universal binary (Mach-O)
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/Info.plistthe plug-in’s property list
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/PkgInfospecifies the type and creator codes of the bundle (optional)

For the Windows platform

On the Windows platform, a VST 3 plug-in is organized as a bundle-like package (simple folder), its file extension is ".vst3" and has the following folder structure:

FolderDescription
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/Resources/folder contains all additional resource files useful for the plug-in
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/Resources/moduleinfo.jsonthe plug-in’s module info
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/x86-win/MyPlugin.vst3folder contains the plug-in binary (32 bit dll for i386 architecture)
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/x86_64-win/MyPlugin.vst3folder contains the plug-in binary (64 bit dll for x86_64 architecture)
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/arm64ec-win/MyPlugin.vst3folder contains the plug-in binary (64 bit dll for Arm64EC architecture).
On Windows on Arm, an Arm64EC or x64 application can load this architecture.
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/arm-win/MyPlugin.vst3folder contains the plug-in binary (32 bit dll for Arm classic architecture) (deprecated)
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/arm64-win/MyPlugin.vst3folder contains the plug-in binary (64 bit dll for Arm64 classic architecture).

On Windows on Arm, only an Arm64 application can load this architecture.
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/arm64x-win/MyPlugin.vst3folder contains the plug-in binary for both Arm64 code and Arm64EC code together
(64 bit dll for Arm64 classic architecture).

On Windows on Arm, an Arm64EC or an Arm64 or x64 application can load this architecture.
Recommended architecture for Windows on Arm!
MyPlugin.vst3/desktop.iniused to set custom icon in Windows Explorer
MyPlugin.vst3/Plugin.icocustomized plug-in icon

ⓘ Note
In previous SDKs, the VST 3 plug-in was defined as a single dll file with the .vst3 extension. This has been deprecated since VST 3.6.10.

The folder (bundle) and the DLL (.vst3) file must have the same name!

The file desktop.ini should contain:

desktop.ini

[.ShellClassInfo]
IconResource=Plugin.ico,0

and you should then change their attributes with this command line (s for system to make sure that Windows will use it for the folder/bundle, r for read-only and h for hidden (optional)):

attrib +s +r +h desktop.ini
attrib +r +h Plugin.ico

Limitation for loading Plug-in DLL in a Host (inside the same process)

See Microsoft Blogs about this:

OSPC ArchitectureHost Process AppCompatible Plug-in Architectures
Windows 10Intel x86Intel x86Intel x86
Windows 10/11Intel x64Intel x64Intel x64*
Windows 10/11Intel x64Intel x86Intel x86
Windows 11Arm64Arm64 ClassicArm64 Classic, Arm64X
Windows 11Arm64Arm64ECArm64X, Arm64EC, Intel x64
Windows 11Arm64Intel x64Arm64EC, Intel x64, Arm64X

"TLDR: Please offer both Arm64EC and x64 versions of your DAWs and plug-ins, and please stay up to date with the latest developer tooling and SDKs." (Pete Brown - Microsoft)

ⓘ Note
With out-of-process/inter-process communication a host can overriden these limitations, by allowing, for example, an Arm64 Classic host to handle an Arm64EC plug-in.

ⓘ Note
To learn more about Arm64X (new type of binary that can contain both the classic Arm64 code and Arm64EC code together), click here.

For the Linux platform

On Linux, a VST 3 plug-in is organized as a bundle-like package, its file extension is ".vst3", and it has the following folder structure:

FolderDescription
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/Resources/folder contains all additional resource files useful for the plug-in
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/Resources/moduleinfo.jsonthe plug-in’s module info
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/i386-linuxfolder contains the plug-in binary (32 bit shared library .so for Kernel Architecture i386)
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/x86_64-linuxfolder contains the plug-in binary (64 bit shared library .so for Kernel Architecture x86_64)
MyPlugin.vst3/Contents/XXX-linuxwith XXX the architecture name based on the output of command-line "uname -m" (machine hardware) + "-linux" for example: • armv3l-linux
• armv4b-linux
• armv4l-linux
• armv5tel-linux
• armv5tejl-linux
• armv6l-linux
• armv7l-linux
• armv8l-linux

ⓘ Note
The folder (bundle) and the shared library (.so) file must have the same name!

Merged Bundle

Note that all the bundles can be merged to one, which allows to have a cross-platform bundle/folder.

For example:

./MyPlugin.vst3
    ├── Contents
    │   ├── Resources
    │   │   ├── Documentation
    │   │   │   ├── Manual.pdf
    │   │   │   └── WhatsNew.pdf
    │   │   ├── Help
    │   │   │   └── helpdoc.xml
    │   │   ├── Snapshots
    │   │   │   ├── 84E8DE5F92554F5396FAE4133C935A18_snapshot.png
    │   │   │   └── 84E8DE5F92554F5396FAE4133C935A18_snapshot_2.0x.png
    │   │   ├── VST XMLs
    │   │   │   └── AGain
    │   │   │       └── 84E8DE5F92554F5396FAE4133C935A18
    │   │   │           ├── Generic 8 Cells.xml
    │   │   │           └── WK-Audio ID 8 Cells.xml
    │   │   ├── moduleinfo.json
    │   │   └── MyPlugin.srf
    │   │
    │   ├── armv7l-linux
    │   │   └── MyPlugin.so
    │   │
    │   ├── i686-linux
    │   │   └── MyPlugin.so
    │   │
    │   ├── i386-linux
    │   │   └── MyPlugin.so
    │   │
    │   ├── x86_64-linux
    │   │   └── MyPlugin.so
    │   │
    │   ├── MacOS
    │   │   └── MyPlugin
    │   │
    │   ├── x86_64-win
    │   │   └── MyPlugin.vst3
    │   │
    │   ├── arm64ec-win
    │   │   └── MyPlugin.vst3
    │   │
    │   ├── Info.plist  (macOS Only)
    │   └── PkgInfo     (macOS Only)
    │
    ├── desktop.ini    (Windows only)
    └── Plugin.ico     (Windows only)