VST 3 Interfaces  VST 3.6.7
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VST 3 Locations / Format

Plug-in Format

For Mac platform

On Mac platform, VST 3 Plug-in is a standard OS X bundle, its file extension is ".vst3", it follows this folder structure:

/Contents/Resources     => this folder contains all additional resource files useful for the Plug-in
/Contents/MacOS         => this folder contains the Plug-in’s OS X universal binary (Mach-O)
/Contents/Info.plist    => the Plug-in’s property list
/Contents/PkgInfo       => specifies the type and creator codes of the bundle (optionnal)



For Windows platform

On Windows platform, a VST 3 Plug-in is a dynamic library (a dll), the file extension is ".vst3"

For Linux platform

On Linux VST 3 Plug-in is a bundle like packaging format, its file extension is ".vst3", it follows this folder structure:

/Contents/Resources     => this folder contains all additional resource files useful for the Plug-in
/Contents/i386-linux    => this folder contains the Plug-in binary (32 bit shared library .so for Kernel Architecture i386)
/Contents/x86_64-linux  => this folder contains the Plug-in binary (64 bit shared library .so for Kernel Architecture x86_64)
/Contents/XXXX-linux    => with XXXX the architecture name (based on the RPM Terminology + "-linux"), for example armv3l-linux, armv4b-linux, armv4l-linux, armv5tel-linux, armv5tejl-linux, armv6l-linux, armv7l-linux


Note that the Linux bundle could be merged with the MacOS one.
For example:

MyPlugin.vst3/
    |_ Contents/
        |__ Resources/
        |   |__ Documentation/Manual.pdf
        |   |__ Documentation/WhatsNew.pdf
        |   |__ Help/helpdoc.xml
        |   |__ MyPlugin.srf
        |   |__ helper.dll
        |
        |__ armv7l-linux/
        |   |__ MyPlugin.so
        |
        |__ i686-linux/
        |   |__ MyPlugin.so
        |
        |__ i386-linux/
        |   |__ MyPlugin.so
        |
        |__ x86_64-linux/
        |   |__ MyPlugin.so
        |
        |__ MacOS/
        |   |__ MyPlugin
        |
        |__ Info.plist
        |__ PkgInfo



Plug-in Locations



For Mac platform

On Mac platform, the host application expects VST 3 Plug-ins to be located in:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Priority   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 (User/Global/Application).

For Windows platform

On Windows platform, the host application expects VST 3 Plug-ins to be located in:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Priority   Location             Path                                       Comment
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1          Global               /Program Files/Common Files/VST3/          native bitdepth: 32bit Plug-in on 32bit OS, 64bit on 64bit OS
1          Global               /Program Files (x86)/Common Files/VST3/    32bit Plug-ins on 64bit Windows
2          Application          $APPFOLDER/VST3/ 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: The host recursively scans these folders at startup in this order (Global/Application).

For Linux platform

On Linux platform, the host application expects VST 3 Plug-ins to be located in:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Priority   Location             Path                                       Comment
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1           User               $HOME/.vst3/       
2          Global              /usr/lib/vst3/                              native bitdepth: 32bit Plug-in on 32bit OS, 64bit on 64bit OS
2          Global              /usr/lib32/vst3/                            32bit Plug-ins on 64bit OS
3          Global              /usr/local/lib/vst3/                        native bitdepth: 32bit Plug-in on 32bit OS, 64bit on 64bit OS
3          Global              /usr/local/lib32/vst3/                      32bit Plug-ins on 64bit OS
4          Application         $APPFOLDER/vst3/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Preset Locations


Note: Each path defined below should be scanned in the given priority, presets extracted and added to the preset list.

For Mac platform

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prio  Type         Scope  Writable  Path                                                           Comment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1     User         User      X      Users/$USERNAME/Library/Audio/Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/
2  Shared_Factory Public     -      Library/Audio/Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/                   Computer shared FactoryROM
3  Shared_Factory Public     -      Network/Library/Audio/Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/           Network shared FactoryROM
4   App_Factory    Apps      -      [$APPFOLDER]/VST3 Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/               Host Application (Cubase, ...)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



For Windows XP/2000 platform

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prio  Type         Scope  Writable Path                                                                                     Comment
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1     User         User      X     [My Documents]/VST3 Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/                                       CSIDL_PERSONAL
2   User_Factory   User      X     [Documents and Settings/$USERNAME/Application Data]/VST3 Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/  CSIDL_APPDATA 
3  Shared_Factory Public     -     [Documents and Settings/$ALLUSERS/Application Data]/VST3 Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/  CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA
4   App_Factory    Apps      -     [$APPFOLDER]/VST3 Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/                                         Host Application (Cubase, ...)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



For Windows Vista/7/8/10 platform

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prio  Type         Scope  Writable Path                                                                   Comment
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1     User         User      X     [Users/$USERNAME/Documents]/VST3 Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/        FOLDERID_Documents
2   User_Factory   User      X     [Users/$USERNAME/AppData/Roaming]/VST3 Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/  FOLDERID_RoamingAppData
3  Shared_Factory Public     -     [ProgramData]/VST3 Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/                      FOLDERID_ProgramData
4   App_Factory    Apps      -     [$APPFOLDER]/VST3 Presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/                       Host Application (Cubase, ...)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



For Linux platform

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prio  Type         Scope  Writable  Path                                                           Comment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1     User         User      X      $HOME/.vst3/presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/
2    Global       Public     -      /usr/share/vst3/presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/
3  Shared_Factory Public     -      /usr/local/share/vst3/presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/
4   App_Factory    Apps      -      [$APPFOLDER]/vst3/presets/$COMPANY/$PLUGIN-NAME/               Host Application
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



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