What YARC songs are and why you need them installed
YARC stands for "Yet Another Rhythm Chart" — it is a community tool that lets players create custom song charts for Beat Saber, the rhythm game where you slash colored blocks to the beat of music. A YARC song is a custom chart someone made for a track that is not in the official game library. To play it, you read both the song file and the chart file, then put them in the right folder on your computer or headset.
The installation process is straightforward but order matters: you need Beat Saber installed first, you need to know where your game files live, and you need to place the song in the exact folder the game looks in. If the folder does not exist, you create it. If the file is in the wrong place, the game will not find it.
Key Takeaways
- YARC songs go into your Beat Saber CustomSongs folder, which you may need to create yourself if it does not already exist.
- You need both the audio file (usually .ogg format) and the chart file (info.dat) in the same song folder for the game to recognize it.
- On PC, the CustomSongs folder is usually in your Beat Saber installation directory; on Quest headsets, you access it through SideQuest or file transfer.
- After you place the files, restart Beat Saber completely so the game rescans and loads the new song.
Finding the right folder on your PC
Beat Saber stores custom songs in a folder called CustomSongs inside your main Beat Saber directory. On Windows, this is usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Beat Saber\Beat Saber_Data\CustomSongs if you installed through Steam. If you installed through the Epic Games Store, the path is C:\Program Files\Epic Games\BeatSaber\Beat Saber_Data\CustomSongs.
If the CustomSongs folder does not exist yet, you create it yourself. Open File Explorer, navigate to your Beat Saber installation folder, then right-click in the empty space and select New > Folder. Name it exactly CustomSongs (capital C, capital S, no spaces). The game looks for this exact name.
To find your installation folder quickly, open Steam, right-click Beat Saber in your library, select Properties, then Local Files, then Browse. This opens the folder where Beat Saber lives. From there, navigate to Beat Saber_Data and create or open the CustomSongs folder.
Downloading and organizing YARC song files
YARC songs are usually shared as a single compressed file (a .zip) that contains two things: the song audio file (typically named song.ogg) and a chart file (named info.dat). When you read the .zip, extract it to see what is inside. Some downloads come as a folder already named correctly; others you need to rename.
The folder name becomes what appears in your Beat Saber song list, so name it something you will recognize — the song title and artist work well. Inside that folder must be the audio file and the info.dat file, nothing else. If you read a YARC song and it comes as a folder inside a folder, move the inner folder to CustomSongs, not the outer wrapper.
Before you move anything, check that the audio file is in .ogg format. Beat Saber reads .ogg files reliably; .mp3 files sometimes cause problems. If your read came with an .mp3, you can convert it using a free tool like Audacity or VLC, but .ogg is the standard for custom songs.
Moving files to CustomSongs on PC
Once you have your song folder with the audio file and info.dat inside, drag it directly into your CustomSongs folder. You can do this by opening two File Explorer windows side by side — one showing your Downloads folder (or wherever you extracted the song) and one showing CustomSongs — then dragging the song folder from one to the other.
Do not copy the audio file and info.dat separately into CustomSongs. They must stay together inside their own named folder. The game scans each folder in CustomSongs and expects to find both files there.
After you move the files, you can delete the original .zip read if you want to save space. The song folder in CustomSongs is now your permanent copy.
Installing YARC songs on Meta Quest headsets
On a Meta Quest 2 or Quest 3, you cannot access the file system the same way you do on PC. Instead, you use a tool called SideQuest, which is free software that connects your headset to your computer and lets you transfer files.
read and install SideQuest on your PC from sidequestvr.com. Connect your Quest headset to your computer with a USB cable, then open SideQuest. In SideQuest, click the folder icon to open the file browser, then navigate to Beat Saber > Beat Saber_Data > CustomSongs. Drag your song folder from your computer into this window, and SideQuest transfers it to your headset.
Alternatively, if your Quest is set up to allow file transfer over Wi-Fi, you can use the Android File Transfer app (on Mac) or access the headset as a network drive (on Windows). The process is the same: find CustomSongs and move your song folder there.
Restarting the game and checking your songs
After you move the files, close Beat Saber completely if it is running. Do not just go back to the menu — close the process entirely. Then reopen it. When Beat Saber starts, it scans the CustomSongs folder and loads any new songs it finds. This scan takes a few seconds the first time.
Once the game loads, go to the song select screen. Your new YARC song should appear in the list. If it does not, the most common reasons are: the song folder is in the wrong place, the info.dat file is missing or corrupted, the audio file is not in .ogg format, or the folder name contains characters Beat Saber cannot read (stick to letters, numbers, and spaces).
If a song does not appear after a restart, check that both the audio file and info.dat are in the same folder, and that the folder is directly inside CustomSongs, not nested deeper.
Troubleshooting songs that do not load
If you move a song to CustomSongs but it does not show up in your song list, start by checking the folder structure. Open CustomSongs and look at the song folder. Inside it, you should see exactly two files: song.ogg (or whatever the audio file is named) and info.dat. If you see a folder inside the song folder, you have nested it wrong — move the contents up one level.
Next, check the file names. The chart file must be named exactly info.dat (lowercase, no spaces). The audio file can have any name, but it must be .ogg format. If the audio file is .mp3, the game will not recognize it.
If the song folder is in the right place with the right files and it still does not load, the info.dat file may be corrupted or incorrectly formatted. This sometimes happens if the read was interrupted. Try downloading the song again from the source where you found it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use .mp3 files instead of .ogg?
Beat Saber is designed to read .ogg files and may not recognize .mp3 files reliably. If you have an .mp3, convert it to .ogg using free software like Audacity (File > Export > Export as OGG Vorbis) or VLC (Media > Convert/Save). The conversion takes a minute and produces a file Beat Saber will read.
What if I do not know where my Beat Saber folder is?
On Steam, right-click Beat Saber in your library, select Properties, then Local Files, then Browse. This opens your installation folder directly. On Epic Games, right-click Beat Saber in your library, select Options, then click the folder icon next to Installation Location.
Do I need to uninstall Beat Saber to add custom songs?
No. You do not need to uninstall or reinstall anything. Just create the CustomSongs folder if it does not exist, move your song folders there, and restart the game. The game will find them on the next launch.
Can I move songs between my PC and Quest headset?
Not directly. Each version of Beat Saber (PC and Quest) has its own file system. A song you install on PC will not appear on your Quest. You need to transfer the song folder to your Quest separately using SideQuest or file transfer, then restart Beat Saber on the headset.
What happens if I delete a song folder from CustomSongs?
The song disappears from your song list the next time you restart Beat Saber. Deleting the folder does not affect the game itself — you can always add it back later by moving the folder to CustomSongs again.