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Plug-in Locations
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Introduction
A VST 3 plug-in should be installed at specific folder location, the following tables specify these predefined locations for different operating system.
ⓘ Note
VST 3 doesn't require a plug-in registration like it is used with DirectX.
⚠️ Warning
Links, Symbolic links or Shortcuts could be used from these predefined folders.
3 levels of folder location are defined:
- User: available only for the current logged user
- Global: available for all users of the system
- Application: available only inside a specific Audio Application (local plug-ins)
ⓘ Note
The host should scan, at first, higher level of priority. First found plug-in (for a given Processor UID) has to be used.
On macOS platform
On the macOS platform, the host application expects VST 3 plug-ins to be located in:
| Prio | Location | Path |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | User | /Users/$USERNAME/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3/ |
| 2 | Global | /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3/ |
| 3 | Global | /Network/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3/ |
| 4 | Application | $APPFOLDER/Contents/VST3/ |
ⓘ Note
The host recursively scans these folders at startup in this order (Global/Application).
On Windows platform
On the Windows platform, the host application expects VST 3 plug-ins to be located in:
| Prio | Location | Path | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | User | %LOCALAPPDATA%/Programs/Common/VST3/ | FOLDERID_UserProgramFilesCommon native bitdepth: • 32bit Plug-in on 32bit OS, • 64bit on 64bit OS Mainly used for development use case. example: C:\Users\MyUserName\AppData\Local\Programs\Common\VST3 |
| 2 | Global | /Program Files/Common Files/VST3/ | FOLDERID_ProgramFilesCommon native bitdepth: • 32bit Plug-in on 32bit OS, • 64bit on 64bit OS |
| 2 | Global | /Program Files (x86)/Common Files/VST3/ | 32bit Plug-ins on 64bit Windows |
| 3 | Application | $APPFOLDER/VST3/ |
ⓘ Note
The host recursively scans these folders at startup in this order (Global/Application).
On Linux platform
On the Linux platform, the host application expects VST 3 plug-ins to be located in:
| Prio | Location | Path |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | User | $HOME/.vst3/ |
| 2 | Global | /usr/lib/vst3/ |
| 3 | Global | /usr/local/lib/vst3/ |
| 4 | Application | $APPFOLDER/vst3/ |
ⓘ Note
The host recursively scans these folders at startup in this order (User/Global/Application).