Where Does GIMP Store Brushes and Settings?
GIMP user profile folder on Windows, macOS and Linux, where custom brushes, scripts and config live.
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Custom GIMP content goes in your personal profile folder, versioned per release (2.10, 3.0 and so on). System folders hold factory content and get overwritten on updates.
The authoritative list is inside GIMP under Edit, Preferences, Folders. The first writable brushes path there is where new .gbr files belong.
Where GIMP stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\GIMP\[Version]
Example: %APPDATA%\GIMP\3.0\brushes. Renaming the version folder resets GIMP to defaults on next launch.
~/Library/Application Support/GIMP/[Version]
Same versioned layout. In Finder use Go > Go to Folder. Some builds fall back to ~/.config/GIMP instead; check Preferences, Folders when in doubt.
~/.config/GIMP/[Version]
Follows XDG config paths. Brushes, scripts and plug-ins each get their own subfolder under the version dir.
Frequently asked questions
I added brushes but they do not show. Why?
They are probably in the system folder or the wrong version folder. Move them to the first writable path in Preferences, Folders, Brushes, then hit refresh in the Brushes dialog.
How do I reset broken GIMP settings?
Close GIMP and rename the version folder. It rebuilds clean defaults on next start while your renamed copy stays as backup.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.