Heads Up: Avoid Moving Default App Folders to Prevent File Path Issues - Bugs and Issues - Topaz Community
Topaz Video Projects Moving your project folder or saving .tvai project files outside of their default location can cause the app to lose track of file referenc..." /><br>Topaz Video Projects Moving your project folder or saving .tvai project files outside of their default location can cause the app to lose track of file referenc..." />
Heads Up: Avoid Moving Default App Folders to Prevent File Path Issues
Topaz Video
Bugs and Issues
in-progress
margaux.topazlabs
(Margaux Topazlabs)
May 26, 2026, 5:04pm
We’ve seen a number of support tickets related to file path errors, missing models, and project issues that trace back to folders being moved from their default locations. To help avoid these problems, here’s what we recommend keeping in place:
Project Files
Windows: C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Topaz Video Projects
Mac: Documents > Topaz Video Projects
Moving your project folder or saving .tvai project files outside of their default location can cause the app to lose track of file references, leading to errors on launch or during processing.
We also strongly recommend not deleting projects through the app’s UI if you have moved it outside of the default location. If you need to delete a project, navigate to the project folder on your system and delete it directly from there instead.
Models Folder
Windows: C:\ProgramData\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video\models\models\
Mac: /Applications/Topaz Video.app/Contents/Resources/models
Moving the models folder can cause the app to fail to locate or load AI models, resulting in errors during export.
If you have already moved any of these folders and are experiencing issues, we recommend reinstalling the app and allowing it to recreate the default folder structure from scratch.
The program deleted everything from the C: drive
Topaz Video 1.6.0
urix.lookin
(urix.lookin)
May 26, 2026, 9:54pm
I experienced such behaviour. I tend to save Topaz projects inside corresponding folders for convenience, such as moving the whole project folder to another drive/machine or deleting project after completion. Remember, Topaz generates tons of PNG previews and sometimes creates video previews which are not deleted after removing inputs from peoject - polluting default project folder with unfinished work.
Version 1.6 though created ‘previews’ and ‘thumbnails’ folders at the root of the C drive, while project was at D.
I knew about this behaviour and safely deleted them afterwards.
Chamberhouse
May 26, 2026, 10:36pm
As an additional precaution, Topaz should have also advised Mac users to ensure that Topaz Video and other Topaz apps do not have Full Disk Access enabled in System Settings | Privacy & Security.
After all, who knows what other dangerous file deleting bugs still remain?
a-cli-user
(a-cli-user)
May 27, 2026, 10:54pm
>Mac: /Applications/Topaz Video.app/Contents/Resources/models
It remains a point of insanity that TVAI and Topaz Video do not store models in the canonical location of /Library/Application Support/com.topaz/models or $HOME/Library/Application Support/com.topaz/models
Models may change, models may remain the same between versions…
Dynamically downloading the models, but saving them to the app bundle is utter insanity. config files, models, temp files should never write to the executable app bundle. Once installed, the app bundle should never change unless it is an app version update.
using the app folder as storage is horrible
and by storing models in Application Support… end users would not have to redownload all the models again for each update, saving users pain and misery… and saving Topaz CDN $$$. Think of how many TB of model data that a user re-downloads across a couple of years.
sdfgsdgssdgdt363fg
(sdfgsdgssdgdt363fg)
May 20, 2026, 3:05pm
Hi, I tried Topaz Video 1.6.0 for the first time, and the results are absolutely stunning. However, I ran into a very nasty bug.
I created a new profile and set the location to my Desktop. Then I decided to delete it via the program’s context menu. As a result, the program froze, and I discovered that all my files on the C: drive had been deleted. Everything was wiped — the drive was 200 GB full, but only 18 GB remained, consisting only of files in the Windows folder. Everything else was gone.
After a reboot, the system wouldn’t load. Oh man, now I have to spend a week setting everything up again((
I didn’t have any critical files on that drive, but someone else might. Please be careful and use backups.
Windows 10 22H2, RTX 5070 12GB
margaux.topazlabs
(Margaux Topazlabs)
May 20, 2026, 5:58pm
Thank you for taking the time to report this. We’ve seen a small number of reports describing similar behavior and are actively investigating to understand the common factors involved. We want to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, we’d strongly...