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Saving and exporting projects

There are two ways to get your work out of Audacity: Saving the project, and exporting audio.

Saving projects (.aup3)

You can save projects using the File -> Save Project -> Save Project menu. A saved project has the most information about your project available. If you save a project, you can change realtime effects later on, or untrim clips.
Warning: Avoid saving active projects on external drives, USB sticks, or network storage. Audacity requires fast, uninterrupted access to your storage when recording and editing.

Exporting audio (.mp3, .wav, .ogg, ...)

Note: You may need to install FFMPEG to access some of these options.
You can export your project into an audio file using the File -> Export Audio... menu item. Exported audio files can be opened with a wide variety of programs.
The Export Audio Window
Tips & Tricks
  • Use mono if you don't need directionality (eg. if you're just recording your voice).
  • As an alternative to MP3, the Opus and M4A (AAC) options deliver higher quality at the same file size compared to MP3.
  • As an alternative to WAV, the FLAC and Wavpack options offer lossless compression, reducing file sizes by up to half while not losing any information.