REAPER Audio Workflows

How to recover a lost or crashed REAPER project

By StudioRescue Editorial

Published September 12, 2026 · Updated September 12, 2026

Quick answer

In most cases your recorded audio is still safe. REAPER writes each recording to disk as a media file while you record, so even if the project crashed or the .rpp file is gone, the takes are almost always still sitting in your recording folder. To get the project back, look in the project folder for the most recent backup, either a .rpp-bak file or a timestamped copy, open it, and immediately Save As a new name. If there is no project file at all, start a fresh project and re-import the audio from REAPER’s recording path. Then turn on auto-save and backups so this cannot happen again.

A crash in the middle of a session is one of the worst feelings in home recording, and the panic is usually worse than the actual damage. Before you assume hours of work are gone, it helps to know that REAPER keeps your recorded audio and your project arrangement as two separate things, and it protects the audio far more aggressively than the arrangement.

The project file (the .rpp) is a small text file that stores your track layout, edits, automation, and plugin settings. The media is the actual recorded sound, saved as .wav files on your drive. A crash or a lost .rpp can cost you the arrangement, but the recordings themselves are written straight to disk as you go, so they are usually untouched. That distinction is the whole reason most of these situations end well.

First, work out what actually got lost

Before changing anything, decide which of these you are dealing with, because they have different fixes.

The project will not reopen

REAPER crashed, or the .rpp now throws an error or opens empty. The file exists but is damaged or incomplete. You will recover from a backup copy.

The project file is gone

You never saved, or the .rpp was deleted or overwritten. There is no project to open, but the recorded takes are almost certainly still on disk in the recording path.

Your audio is probably still on disk

This is the reassuring part, so start here. REAPER records incoming audio to a media file the moment you arm a track and hit record, and it keeps writing that file to disk in real time. It does not wait until you save the project. That means a crash almost never takes the actual recordings with it.

The files live in REAPER’s recording path. For a project you had already saved, that is normally the project’s own folder. For a project you never saved, REAPER falls back to the default recording path set in Options → Preferences → General → Paths, which on a fresh install is commonly a folder such as Documents\REAPER Media.

Find your recording path

Open Options → Preferences → General → Paths and read the default recording path. If the project was saved, also check the folder the .rpp lived in.

Browse that folder and sort by date

Open the folder in your file manager and sort by date modified. The .wav files from your session will be the most recent ones, often named after the track or the take.

Confirm they play

Double-click a file to play it, or drag it onto a new REAPER track. If you hear your take, the recording survived and the rest is just rebuilding around it.

Why this works

A DAW that only held your recording in memory would be fragile. REAPER streams each take to a file on disk as it records, so the audio exists independently of whether you ever pressed Save. The project file points at those media files; it does not contain them.

Recover the project file from a backup

If the .rpp exists but will not open cleanly, you usually do not need to repair it, because REAPER most likely saved a spare copy next to it. There are two kinds to look for in the project folder.

The .rpp-bak file. If the backup option is on, each time REAPER overwrites your project it renames the previous version to projectname.rpp-bak. That is your last known-good save from just before the current one.
Timestamped copies. If timestamped backups are enabled, you will see several dated .rpp files, each a snapshot from a specific save or auto-save. The newest one is your best starting point.

Open the newest backup

To open a .rpp-bak, either rename a copy of it to end in .rpp first, or in REAPER’s Open dialog set the file type filter to all files and pick it directly.

Save it under a new name straight away

The moment a backup opens and looks right, use File → Save project as and give it a fresh name. Work from the new file so you never overwrite your recovery point.

Reconnect any missing media

If REAPER reports missing files, point it at your recording folder when it asks. Once it finds one file there, it can usually relink the rest from the same place.

If REAPER keeps reopening the crashing project

If REAPER reloads the same broken project every time it launches and crashes again, stop it from auto-loading. In Options → Preferences → General → Startup settings, change what REAPER opens on startup so it launches with a new, empty project instead of the last one. Then open your backup by hand.

Because a .rpp is a plain text file, a badly damaged one can sometimes be opened in a text editor to salvage or remove the broken section, but that is an advanced last resort covered well by Sound on Sound’s project recovery guide. Try the backup copies first, since they solve the large majority of cases without any editing.

If there is no project file at all

When you never saved, or the .rpp is truly gone, you can still rebuild from the surviving audio. You lose the arrangement, the edits, and the mix, but you keep the performances, which are the part you cannot re-record.

Start a new project and save it with a real name before you do anything else.
Use Insert → Media file, or drag the .wav files from your recording path onto tracks.
Line up the takes, then rebuild your chain. If you had saved your processing, a saved FX chain or track template gets it back in seconds rather than from memory.

Situation	What is likely lost	Where to look	What to do
Project will not reopen after a crash	Recent edits since the last good save	Project folder for `.rpp-bak` and timestamped copies	Open the newest backup, then Save As a new name
Project file deleted or overwritten	The whole arrangement	Recording path for the `.wav` takes	New project, import the media, rebuild
Never saved the project	The arrangement, not the audio	`General → Paths` default recording path	Import the recorded files into a fresh project
REAPER relaunches into the crash	Nothing extra, if you act	`General → Startup settings`	Set startup to a new project, open the backup by hand

Turn on the settings that prevent this

Recovery is easier when REAPER has been quietly keeping spares. These options are off or conservative on a fresh install, so it is worth setting them once. Treat the numbers as sensible starting points, not fixed rules.

Keep a .rpp-bak. In Options → Preferences → Project, enable the saving option to rename the old project to .rpp-bak when overwriting. This costs almost nothing and gives you a one-step-back copy on every save.
Auto-save on a timer. Turn on auto-save and set it to roughly every 5 to 10 minutes. Leaving the “do not auto-save while recording” option on is sensible so a save never interrupts a take.
Timestamped backups for bigger sessions. If a project matters, enable timestamped backups so you keep several dated snapshots rather than just the single previous save.
Save the undo history with the project. REAPER can store your undo history alongside the project so your edit steps survive a reopen. It is an option in REAPER’s undo settings, and it is handy on long sessions.
Save early, save as a real file. The single biggest protection is to Save project as a named file in its own folder before you record, so every take lands in that folder from the start.

A realistic expectation

These settings protect you from the next crash, not the last one. If backups and auto-save were switched off and the file is genuinely gone, no preference can bring back edits that were never written to disk. The recorded audio is a different story, and it is usually still recoverable regardless.

What this will not do

Recovery has real limits, and it is fair to name them so you know when to stop looking.

It will not rebuild edits and mix moves that were never saved if no backup or auto-save existed. The audio survives; the arrangement may not.
It will not restore media you deleted from the drive. If the .wav files themselves were removed or the recording path was cleared, that is a file-recovery problem, not a REAPER one.
It will not fix a failing or disconnected drive. If files are vanishing or the disk throws errors, back up what you can and treat the hardware first.
It will not stop the crashes themselves. If REAPER is crashing repeatedly rather than as a one-off, that is usually a performance or plugin issue. See how to fix high CPU use and dropouts in REAPER.

If you still cannot recover it

A reliable order to work through when a project is lost:

Find the audio first. Check the recording path in General → Paths and confirm your .wav takes are there. That is the part you cannot recreate.
Open a backup. Look in the project folder for the newest .rpp-bak or timestamped copy, open it, and Save As a new name.
Stop the reload loop. If REAPER keeps launching the crashing project, set startup to a new project in Preferences and open your backup manually.
Rebuild if needed. With no usable project file, start fresh, import the media, and reapply your saved chain or template.
Then protect yourself. Turn on .rpp-bak, auto-save, and timestamped backups so the next incident is a shrug, not a crisis.

Takeaway

A crashed or lost REAPER project is rarely as bad as it feels, because REAPER writes your recorded audio to disk as you go and keeps backup copies of the project when you let it. Find your takes in the recording path, open the newest .rpp-bak or timestamped backup and Save As a new file, and rebuild from the media if there is no project left. Then switch on auto-save and backups so it never costs you more than a few minutes again.

Sources

Cockos, REAPER User Guide (current version 7.79, released August 17, 2026) - project saving and backup options under Preferences → Project, including renaming the previous project to .rpp-bak, auto-save, and timestamped backups; undo-history saving under the undo settings; and the default recording path under Preferences → General → Paths. reaper.fm/userguide
Cockos, REAPER (current version 7.79) - REAPER records incoming audio to media files on disk in the recording path as you record. reaper.fm
Sound on Sound, “Project Recovery” - recovering a damaged REAPER project from backup copies, and editing the .rpp text file as a last resort. soundonsound.com/techniques/project-recovery