Installing plugins

You can download various plugins here:

Audacity Plugins

Most plugins get automatically activated once you install them on your system.

Caution:

• 64-bit Audacity can only run 64-bit plugins, and 32-bit Audacity can only run 32-bit plugins.

• Additionally, Apple Silicon (arm64) Audacity cannot run Intel (x86-64) plugins and vice versa.

• "Instrument" versions of plugins (VSTi, LV2i) are not supported.

Manually installing plugins

If a plugin doesn't get found by Audacity, or doesn't come with an installer, move the plugin files to one of the following locations:

Windows

You can access the Common Files folder quickly by hitting 🪟 WINDOWS key + R to launch Run and typing %ProgramFiles%\Common Files

• VST2: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST2 or C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins

• VST3: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3

• LV2: C:\Program Files\Common Files\LV2 Note: Always copy the complete .lv2 folder

• LADSPA: C:\Users\<username>\Appdata\Roaming\audacity\Plug-ins\ Note: You can quickly access this folder by hitting 🪟 WINDOWS key + R to launch Run and typing %AppData%\audacity\Plug-ins

• Vamp: C:\Program Files\Vamp Plugins\

• Nyquist: See below

macOS

All Plugins can be installed per-user (~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/...) or system-wide (/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/...). In following, only the system-wide path is named

• Audio Unit: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/

• VST2: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/

• VST3: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/

• LV2: ~/.lv2 or /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2, Note: always copy the entire .lv2 folder

• Vamp: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Vamp

• Nyquist: See below

Linux

• LV2: ~/.lv2, /usr/local/lib/lv2 (for 32-bit) or /usr/local/lib64/lv2 (for 64-bit) Note: Always copy the entire .lv2 folder

• VST2: ~/.vst or /usr/local/lib/vst Note: Many VST effects are Windows-only

• VST3: ~/.vst3 or /usr/local/lib/vst3

• LADSPA: ~/.ladspa or /usr/local/lib/ladspa

• Vamp: ~/.vamp or /usr/local/lib/vamp

• Nyquist: See below

Installing Nyquist plugins

To install a Nyquist Plugin, follow these steps:

1. Download the plugin(s) in question.

2. Open Audacity, and go to Tools > Nyquist Plugin Installer

3. Click Browse and locate your downloaded plugin(s)

4. Click Open, then Apply and finally OK.

5. Restart Audacity.

6. The plugin should now be available in the corresponding Generate, Effect or Analyze menu.

Deactivating and re-activating plugins

1. Go to Tools > Plugin Manager

2. Select the plugins or effects you want to deactivate

3. Click Disable.

4. To re-enable a plugin, select them and click Enable.

5. Click OK to close the Plugin Manager and save your settings.