Export and backup: What's included?

Settings & data, updated October 27, 2026

Luma has three ways to get data out of the app: the Luma Data backup as a JSON file, exporting the whole library as a folder, and sharing individual audio files. This page lists exactly what each one contains. It describes Luma 1.5.1 on iPhone and iPad and Luma for Mac 1.0.1.

Overview

Everything missing here is covered by your iPhone's regular iCloud or computer backup, which always contains Luma in full.

The Luma Data backup (JSON)

On iPhone and iPad you find the backup under Settings › Library & Storage › Backup: Export Data saves the file, Import Data reads it back in. On the Mac it's under Settings › Library › Backup, or in the menu under File › Export Data… (⇧⌘E) and Import Data… (⇧⌘I). The file is called something like Luma Daten 2026-10-23.json, and you save it wherever you like, for example in iCloud Drive.

It contains:

• the name of every playlist and its position in the tab,
• the songs of every playlist in order, each with title, artist, album, length in seconds and track number,
• the playlist's cover style and the settings of a generated pattern cover,
• every collection with its albums in order, each with album title, album artist and year,
• since Luma 1.7 and Luma for Mac 1.2.0, every dynamic playlist with its name and rules,
• for every song in your library: plays, listening time, last played, like and the date it was added.

It doesn't contain:

• the music itself. The file only points to songs and albums. When you import it, Luma looks for them in your library, see How Luma matches songs.
• photo covers. Your own photo never leaves your device. The playlist comes back with the mosaic cover.
• the equalizer and all settings.

Songs that are currently grey, meaning not in your library, are still included in their playlists: with title, artist and album, but without length and track number.

A single playlist is still exported from its menu with Export Playlist. That file only contains the playlist, without collections or stats, and carries its name. You read it in the same way, with Import Data.

Restoring

1. Music firstImport your music first. Luma only matches playlists, collections and stats to songs and albums that are already in your library.
2. Then the fileChoose Import Data and pick the file.
3. Check the resultLuma reports, for example, 3 playlists imported, Statistics restored for 1,204 songs, 2 collections imported.

When importing:

• Stats and likes find their songs again by title, artist and album, even if the files are new, for example after a reinstall or in another format. For plays and listening time the higher value wins, and a like is set but never removed.
• Playlists and collections that already exist with the same name aren't created twice. Luma only adds what they're missing.
• Missing songs show up in playlists as grey entries and move into place as soon as you import them. Missing albums are left out of collections. If you read the file in again after importing the music, they're added.
• Importing the same file twice creates no duplicates and doesn't count plays twice. Luma then reports Everything in this file is already here.

Older files such as Luma Playlists.json from Luma 1.5 and earlier can still be read in. They only contain playlists.

How the JSON file is structured

The file is plain text. You can open, check and edit it in any text editor. A backup with one collection, one song and one playlist looks like this:

{
  "collections" : [
    {
      "albums" : [
        {
          "artist" : "The Beatles",
          "title" : "Abbey Road",
          "year" : 1969
        }
      ],
      "name" : "Sixties"
    }
  ],
  "library" : [
    {
      "added" : "2026-06-17T18:20:05Z",
      "album" : "Abbey Road",
      "artist" : "The Beatles",
      "duration" : 185.7,
      "lastPlayed" : "2026-10-22T07:41:30Z",
      "listenSeconds" : 2228,
      "liked" : true,
      "playCount" : 12,
      "title" : "Here Comes the Sun",
      "trackNumber" : 7
    }
  ],
  "playlists" : [
    {
      "coverStyle" : 0,
      "name" : "Sunday Morning",
      "tracks" : [
        {
          "album" : "Abbey Road",
          "artist" : "The Beatles",
          "duration" : 185.7,
          "title" : "Here Comes the Sun",
          "trackNumber" : 7
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "version" : 3
}

If the file has an error, such as a missing comma or quotation mark, Luma reports Import failed. The file is not a Luma data backup. and changes nothing.

Export Library

Settings › Library & Storage › Export Library copies every track into a folder of your choice, on the iPhone for example to iCloud Drive or a USB stick. On the Mac the command is File › Export Library…. The result is a folder every other player and file manager understands:

Luma Mediathek 2026-10-23/
  Artist/Album/01 Title.flac
  Artist/Album/cover.jpg
  Playlists/Sunday Morning.m3u8
  Luma Daten.json

• Folders are named after the album artist and the album. On albums with several discs the files are called 1-01 Title, 2-01 Title and so on.
• The files are exact copies in their original format. Info you edited in Luma is already inside the files, as long as Luma could write it there.
• cover.jpg (or cover.png) is the album artwork as Luma shows it.
• The Playlists folder holds every playlist as an .m3u8 file with relative paths. So you can move the whole export and the playlists keep working. Grey songs are left out, because there's no file for them.
• Luma Daten.json is the same full backup as above, with playlists, collections, likes and stats, for reading back into Luma. It's only created if you have at least one playlist. Otherwise, export it separately with Export Data.

Before copying, Luma checks that there's enough space at the destination. If you cancel, everything copied so far stays, including covers and playlists for that part. The Luma folder in the Files app isn't allowed as a destination, because Luma would import everything in it right away.

Share Audio Files

On iPhone and iPad, touch and hold a song, album, artist or playlist and choose Share Audio Files (for a single song Share Audio File). The iOS share sheet then offers Save to Files, AirDrop and other apps. Luma gives the files readable names:

Grey songs in a playlist are skipped. The copies only sit in a temporary folder for a moment and take up no extra space.

Which way for what?

• Playlists, collections, likes and stats onto a new device or after a reinstall: Luma Data.
• A complete backup outside iCloud, a move to a Mac or to another player: Export Library.
• A few albums for a friend or your computer: Share Audio Files.

More workflows step by step are in Tips and special cases.

Still have a question or found a mistake? Email hello@suenavus.com.