How to · djay Pro

Back up your djay Pro library.

A djay Pro backup has two halves: the My Collection database with your cues and playlists, and the actual music files. iCloud covers only part of the first half and none of the second.

Discover Vibes

First 500 licenses at $49. Be the first to know when we launch.

Organized music library ready for backup

Cue points and loops sync through iCloud; playlists and music files are your own responsibility.

Back up your djay Pro library, step by step.

djay Pro stores your library metadata, meaning playlists, cue points, and analysis, in its My Collection database, and offers iCloud sync that mirrors cue points and loops across devices. Your local audio files live outside djay Pro entirely. A real backup plan covers both, plus the honest acknowledgment that streamed tracks cannot be backed up at all.

Turn on iCloud library sync

Enable iCloud for djay Pro in macOS System Settings under your Apple ID's iCloud app list, and make sure iCloud Drive is on for your iPhone or iPad. This syncs per-track metadata, meaning cue points and loop regions, across your Apple devices signed into the same account. Playlists and BPM analysis data are not included, so iCloud protects your cue prep but is not a full library backup.

Back up the local database directly

For a backup you control, include djay Pro's application data in your regular computer backups. On Mac, current djay Pro versions keep library data, meaning playlists, cue points, and loops, in the djay folder inside your Music folder, with track analysis data in a separate Group Containers folder, and a Time Machine or clone backup of your user folder captures both. If you prefer surgical backups, copy the entire djay folder from your Music folder, but a whole-user-folder backup is the robust play.

Back up the music files themselves

iCloud sync does not copy your audio files. Back up your music folder with the same discipline as any irreplaceable data: a local copy on an external drive plus something offsite or in the cloud. Keep the folder structure intact when backing up and restoring, because djay Pro references files by location and a reshuffled restore leaves the library pointing at missing files.

Know what cannot be backed up

Streaming tracks from Apple Music or other services cannot be backed up, exported, or extracted; only the metadata referencing them survives in My Collection. Your cue points on streamed tracks sync with your collection, but the audio itself remains subscription-bound. Any part of your library you cannot afford to lose should exist as a purchased local file.

The catch

iCloud sync is convenient but it is synchronization, not versioned backup: a mistaken deletion can propagate across devices. Pair it with an independent backup of both the djay Pro data folder and your music files.

Afterhours

Mysterious

Introspective

Evolving

Where Vibes fits

The library worth backing up is the one you organized

Vibes does not back up or integrate with djay Pro; it imports from and exports to Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor, and Engine DJ only, working directly on your local files. Its relevance to backups is upstream: Vibes helps you build one clean, analyzed local music folder, which is exactly the folder your backup strategy needs to protect, and the one djay Pro rebuilds from fastest after a disaster.

See how it works

One organized local music folder is simpler to back up and verify than files scattered across drives and downloads

Vibes analysis and organization live with your local files workflow, not trapped in a single app's database

After a restore, an organized folder re-imports into djay Pro's My Collection in minutes

DJs also on Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor, or Engine DJ can re-export playlists from Vibes to that app instead of rebuilding by hand

Organize in Vibes, export to djay Pro.

Your playlists, tags, ratings, and cue points travel back to the gear you play on, so nothing you do in Vibes is locked away.

Track 001

Artist A

128

Afterhours

Mysterious

Introspective

Track 002

Artist B

124

Cozy Floor

Peaceful

Home

Track 003

Artist C

132

Rave

Aggressive

Festival

Build & Release

Playlists

Vibes

Mood

Aggressive

Euphoric

Melancholic

Mysterious

Peaceful

Playful

Tense

Function

Arrangement

Sets

Club Night 12/28

NYE Closing Set

Rooftop 01/04

Frequently asked questions

The honest answers, including the trade-offs.

Partially. iCloud sync mirrors per-track metadata, meaning cue points and loop regions, across devices, which protects that prep against losing a single machine. But it is sync, not versioned backup, and it does not cover playlists, BPM analysis, or your audio files. Pair it with a normal computer backup and a dedicated music folder backup.

Current versions keep playlists, cue points, and other library data in the djay folder inside your user's Music folder, with track analysis data in a separate Group Containers folder; older versions used the app container instead. You rarely need the exact path: any full backup of your user folder, such as Time Machine, captures it. Restoring that folder onto a fresh install brings your collection back.

No. Streamed tracks are DRM-protected and cannot be exported, copied, or backed up in any form; only the references, cues, and playlist entries in My Collection survive in a backup. If a streamed track is essential to your sets, the only durable move is buying it as a local file and backing that up.

Methodology