Ryujinx saves your game progress in a specific folder on your computer, not inside the emulator itself

When you play a game in Ryujinx, the emulator creates a folder structure on your hard drive to hold save data, screenshots, and other files. This folder is separate from where Ryujinx itself lives. On Windows, Ryujinx stores saves in C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Ryujinx. On Mac, the path is ~/Library/process Support/Ryujinx. On Linux, it's ~/.config/Ryujinx. Knowing where these files live matters if you want to back them up, move them to another computer, or troubleshoot a save that isn't loading.

The saves themselves sit inside a subfolder called nand, which mimics the storage structure of an actual Nintendo Switch. Inside that folder, you'll find another folder called user, and within that are numbered folders representing different user profiles on your emulated Switch. Each profile folder contains the actual save data for the games you've played.

Key Takeaways

  • Ryujinx saves are stored in AppData\Roaming\Ryujinx on Windows, not in the game folder or the Ryujinx program folder.
  • The path to your actual save files is Ryujinx > nand > user > [profile number] > save, and each game gets its own numbered folder inside save.
  • You can copy your entire Ryujinx folder to back up all your saves, profiles, and settings at once.
  • If you move Ryujinx to a different computer, copying the nand folder to the same location on the new machine will restore all your saves and profiles.

Finding the AppData folder on Windows

The AppData folder is hidden by default in Windows, so you won't see it if you open File Explorer and navigate manually. The fastest way is to use the address bar. Open File Explorer, click the address bar at the top, and type %appdata%, then press Enter. Windows will take you directly to the Roaming folder. From there, look for the Ryujinx folder.

If you prefer not to use the address bar, you can unhide AppData. Open File Explorer, click the View tab at the top, then check the box next to "Hidden items". Now you can navigate to C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming and find Ryujinx the normal way. Once you've found it once, you can pin the Ryujinx folder to your Quick Access sidebar so you don't have to hunt for it again.

Understanding the folder structure inside nand

The nand folder contains everything Ryujinx needs to run like a Switch. Inside nand, you'll see folders named system and user. The system folder holds emulator settings and firmware files. The user folder is where your profiles and saves live. Each profile gets a folder with a long string of numbers and letters — this is the profile ID. Inside each profile folder, you'll find a save subfolder, and inside that are numbered folders for each game you've saved.

The game folders are named with numbers that correspond to the game's title ID in the Switch system. You don't need to memorize these numbers — Ryujinx keeps track of which number belongs to which game. If you want to know which folder holds which game's save, you can check the Ryujinx log file or straightforward look at the file modification dates to see which folder was updated most recently when you played a game.

Backing up your saves to another location

The simplest backup method is to copy your entire Ryujinx folder to an external drive or cloud storage. Plug in an external drive or open your cloud storage folder (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox), then navigate to your Ryujinx folder in AppData. Right-click it, select "Copy", then navigate to your backup location and paste. This creates a complete copy of all your saves, profiles, and emulator settings in one step.

If you only want to back up saves without copying the entire folder, you can navigate to Ryujinx > nand > user > [your profile number] > save and copy just the save subfolder. This is faster if you have a lot of games, but make sure you're copying the right profile folder if you have multiple profiles set up in Ryujinx.

Moving saves to a different computer

To transfer your saves to another computer, copy your Ryujinx folder from the source computer to an external drive or cloud storage, then copy it to the same location on the new computer. On the new machine, navigate to AppData\Roaming (or the equivalent on Mac or Linux), delete or rename any existing Ryujinx folder, and paste the one you copied. When you launch Ryujinx on the new computer, all your profiles and saves will be there.

If you only want to transfer saves for specific games, copy just the save subfolder from your profile on the source computer, then paste it into the same profile folder on the new computer. Make sure the profile folder already exists on the new machine — if you haven't created a profile yet, launch Ryujinx once to generate the default profile structure, then paste your saves into it.

What to do if saves aren't showing up in Ryujinx

If you've copied saves to a new computer and Ryujinx isn't recognizing them, check that the folder path is exactly right. The saves must be in Ryujinx > nand > user > [profile ID] > save. If the folder structure is wrong, Ryujinx won't find them. Also verify that you copied the entire nand folder, not just the save subfolder, because Ryujinx needs the system folder and profile structure to work correctly.

Another common issue is that the profile ID on the new computer might be different from the one on the source computer. If you created a new profile on the new machine, it will have a different ID number. In this case, you need to either copy your saves into the new profile's folder, or copy the entire profile folder from the source computer (including the profile ID folder itself) into the user directory on the new machine. Ryujinx will recognize the profile when you restart the emulator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I edit my save files directly?

You can open the save folder and see the files, but the save data is in a binary format that isn't human-readable. Editing them directly will corrupt them. Some community tools exist for specific games, but they're not official and may not work with newer Ryujinx versions. Your safest option is to play the game and let Ryujinx handle the saves.

What happens if I delete the nand folder?

Deleting the nand folder will erase all your saves, profiles, and emulator settings. Ryujinx will create a new nand folder with default settings the next time you launch it, but your saves will be gone. Always back up your nand folder before deleting anything.

Can I use the same save file in multiple Ryujinx installations?

Yes, as long as both installations are on the same computer. You can copy the save folder from one Ryujinx installation to another, and the saves will work. If you're moving between computers, copy the entire nand folder to avoid profile ID mismatches.

Why is my AppData folder so large?

The nand folder can grow large because it contains not just saves, but also firmware files, shader caches, and other emulator data. Shader caches in particular can be several gigabytes. If you need to free up space, you can delete the shader cache folder (Ryujinx > nand > system > gpu_cache) without losing your saves, though Ryujinx will need to rebuild it the next time you play.

Can I transfer saves between Ryujinx and the official Switch?

No. Ryujinx saves are not compatible with an actual Nintendo Switch, and Switch saves cannot be imported into Ryujinx. The save formats are different, and Nintendo doesn't allow transfers between emulators and official hardware.