Help · Mac apps

How to uninstall audio plug-ins on a Mac.

By Grant and Brad, who make Pangalin's apps · Updated 10 October 2026

Audio plug-ins don't live in your Applications folder. They're small bundles in shared plug-in folders, used by every music app on your Mac. That's why dragging an instrument's app to the Trash rarely removes its plug-in, and why you should remove them carefully.

1. Use the developer's uninstaller first

Most plug-in makers provide an uninstaller, or manage their plug-ins through their own app (for example Native Instruments, iZotope, Universal Audio or Waves). Use that first. It knows about licences, content libraries and helpers that a manual removal can miss.

2. Where plug-ins live

• Audio Units (AU): /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components and ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components. These are Apple's documented folders. Apple's own Logic and GarageBand effects aren't here and can't be removed.
• VST: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST (.vst files).
• VST3: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3 (.vst3 files).
• AAX (Pro Tools): usually /Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins.

To open one, in Finder choose Go › Go to Folder… (⇧⌘G) and paste the path. Folders without ~ are Mac-wide, so changing them asks for your password.

3. Remove or disable one by hand

1. Quit every music app.
2. Find the plug-in by name in each folder above. A single product often has an AU, a VST3 and an AAX version.
3. To disable it (Apple's suggestion for troubleshooting), drag it out of the folder to a folder on your Desktop. Hold ⌘ while dragging so it moves rather than copies.
4. To remove it, move it to the Trash. Plug-ins are shared by every host, so only remove ones you're done with.
5. Open your music app and let it rescan plug-ins. In Logic Pro, plug-ins are managed in Logic Pro › Settings › Plug-in Manager.

Leave licence files and content libraries unless you're done with the product for good. Sample and preset libraries are often installed separately and can be far bigger than the plug-in.