Steam doesn’t use a single folder for every game’s save data. Save locations vary by game, developer choice, and whether Steam Cloud is active. Knowing where to look is half the battle when you need to back up progress or restore after a reinstall.

The Two Places Steam Games Usually Save

Most PC games installed through Steam store their save data in one of two places:

  1. Windows user profile folders — inside %APPDATA%, %LOCALAPPDATA%, or Documents\My Games. These are local files on your hard drive.
  2. Steam Cloud — an optional per-game feature where Steam automatically uploads saves to Valve’s servers when you quit. Not every game supports it.

Common Local Save Paths for Steam Games

Here are the most frequently used local save folders:

  • C:\Users\[Name]\AppData\Roaming\[GameName]\ — via %APPDATA%
  • C:\Users\[Name]\AppData\Local\[GameName]\ — via %LOCALAPPDATA%
  • C:\Users\[Name]\Documents\My Games\[GameName]\
  • C:\Users\[Name]\Saved Games\[GameName]\

A small number of games write saves directly into Steam’s own installation folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\[SteamID]\[AppID]\remote\

This path is common for older Valve titles and some games built with Steamworks’ legacy cloud API.

How to Find Your Steam ID

If a game uses the userdata folder, saves sit inside a numeric folder named after your Steam ID. The easiest way to find yours:

  1. Open the Steam client
  2. Go to Steam › Settings › Account
  3. Your Steam ID appears in the Account Details panel, or click View profile in browser and note the 17-digit number in the URL

Does Steam Cloud Replace Local Saves?

Not entirely. Steam Cloud syncs a copy to Valve’s servers, but the local file still exists on your machine. When you reinstall a game, Steam re-downloads the synced version — which is usually your most recent save.

However, the cloud can conflict with a manually restored local backup if the file timestamps don’t match. The safest approach: back up the local save folder and leave Steam Cloud enabled. You then have two redundant copies. If there’s ever a conflict on launch, Steam will prompt you to choose which version to keep.

How to Check Whether a Game Uses Steam Cloud

In the Steam client, right-click the game in your library, select Properties, and look at the General tab. If “Keep game saves in the Steam Cloud for [game name]” is listed and ticked, that game uses cloud sync.

You can also check the game’s page on this site — cloud sync status is listed alongside the save path for every entry.

A Faster Way to Find Any Game’s Save Location

Rather than hunting through Windows Explorer, use the search on this site. Each game page shows the exact folder path, the files to copy, and cloud sync status across all platforms.

Browse all game save locations →