An audit log is the append-only record of everything that happened to a project: who committed what, who synced when, who locked a file and who released it, who was added to the team and who had their access changed. Unlike commit history, which records changes to files, an audit log records actions taken by people, including actions that never produced a commit at all.
On a game team the practical use is rarely compliance. It is answering questions that would otherwise turn into a Slack archaeology session. Who was the last person to touch the boss arena before the build broke? Why does this artist say they cannot check out a material? Did the contractor whose access we revoked last month ever download the full project? Each of those is a two-second lookup with an audit log and a frustrating afternoon without one.
For studios working under a publisher agreement or handling licensed content, the compliance use becomes real. Publishers increasingly ask who had access to unreleased material and when, and a log that records access rather than just changes is the only way to answer honestly.
In USourceControl, audit logging is included on the Studio plan. Every commit, sync, lock, unlock, force-release, permission change, and member addition or removal is recorded with actor and timestamp.