Can't open an MP3 file

If you see an error when importing an MP3 file, it can have the following causes:

• Your file isn't using the MP3 codec, but instead is using a codec associated with another file extension (for example, the Advanced Audio Codec (aac) usually is found in .m4a files, and PCM Wave is usually found in .wav files). A true MP3 file will show MPEG Audio, Version 1, Layer 3. To solve this error, you can use MediaInfo to find out what the actual codec used in the file, and change the file extension accordingly (for example rename the audio.mp3 file to audio.m4a).

• Your file is partially broken (Huffman Data Overrun). This is a bug with Audacity versions 3.1.3 and earlier, and you can fix it by installing the latest version of Audacity.

• Your file is fully broken. If it can't be opened in Audacity, or anywhere else, your file might just be broken. This itself may have several reasons:

  • If you just recently downloaded it from the internet, you may want to try downloading it again - in case there was a transmission error.

  • If you just created it yourself, it might be that there was a write error. If possible try saving the file again, re-installing the app that was used to create it, or using a different app to create it.

  • If you had the file on your computer for a long time and it worked in the past, it might be that your hard drive is starting to fail.

No audio is coming through headphones

There can be several reasons for this. Some things to try:

• If using a wired headphone, make sure that the wire is plugged in and that the plug is clean.

• Make sure that the headphones are selected in the Audio Settings output. Note: On some devices, the internal card - usually called something among the lines of "HD Audio" are handling both internal speakers and headphones, depending on which is plugged in. You may need to select this option anyway even if it says "Speaker" instead of "Headphones"

• If you connected the headphones after starting Audacity, you may need to go to Transport -> Rescan Audio Devices to make them show up in the Audio Setup list.

(this probably is a category on its own, but let's write it on this page for now)

• Making new tracks

• Use case: spoken word with music in the background

• Mute & Solo

• Moving clips & Sync lock

• Splitting a recording into several tracks

Saving projects

You can save projects using the File > Save Project menu. A saved project (.aup3) has the most information about your project available, but can only be opened in Audacity. There are three options available, each useful for a different use case:

• Save Project (Ctrl+S/Cmd+S) will save your current project. If you save for the first time, you may need to specify where to save it to.

• Save Project As... will save your project in a new place and continue editing on it, should you want the original project to remain untouched.

• Backup Project... will save the current state of the project in a new file, but won't switch to it.

Exporting audio

You can export your project into an audio file using the File > Export menu. Exported audio (.mp3, .wav, .ogg, and more) can be opened with a wide variety of programs, and uploaded to some social media, but may have worse quality and lose some Audacity-specific information.

In the File > Export menu, you'll see a few different options:

• Export as MP3, Export as WAV and Export as OGG will export your project into the selected format.

• Export Audio... (Ctrl+Shift+E/Cmd+Shift+E) will provide you options to export to more uncommon formats, such as FLAC, M4A, AC3, WMA, AMR, MP2 and custom FFMPEG exports.

• Export Selected Audio... will export only the current selection time range, instead of the entire project.

• Export Multiple... (Ctrl+Shift+L/Cmd+Shift+L) will let you export different parts of the audio based on either tracks or labels.

There are also two additional options which export non-audio data:

• Export Labels... will export labels if you have any.

• Export MIDI... will export the currently selected note track as a MIDI or Allegro file. You can only export one note track at a time.

Getting started

Featured

Contribute to this site

Pages under this section are just stubs. Feel free to work on them. Check out the and for more info

We maintain a list of free VSTs and similar plugins on plugins.audacityteam.org. You can find, test and add plugins to the list.

To do this, you can get access to the plugins space via and then edit the relevant sections.

Exact details can be found here:

From

Audacity is being developed on . Most information necessary to contributing code can be found there, such as .

If you know Audacity well, but don't want to write tutorials, you can help users out directly. The most active communities in this regard are:

• The Audacity Forum,

• the Discord community, and

• the Audacity subreddit.

Resetting from within Audacity

You can reset Audacity by going to the following menus:

• To reset the toolbars only: View -> Toolbars -> Reset Toolbars

• To reset everything: Tools -> Reset Configuration

Purging the settings folder

If you cannot open Audacity or want a more thorough cleanup, you can also delete the configuration files manually. They can be found in the following locations:

• Windows: C:\Users\<yourname>\AppData\Roaming\audacity\

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/audacity/

• Linux: ~/.config/audacity/ Additionally, the XDG folders ~/.cache/audacity, ~/.local/share/audacity and ~/.local/state/audacity are used on Linux.

You can delete all contents of the folder to get Audacity back to "factory settings". Alternatively, you can also only delete certain elements of it:

• audacity.cfg is responsible for all preferences

• pluginregistry.cfg contains a registry of all plugins and whether they can be used.

• pluginsettings.cfg contains last used settings of effects as well as user presets.

Additionally, you may find some other files and folders there, eg. for macros, custom themes or plugins. These can also be deleted though, typically deleting the audacity.cfg and pluginregistry.cfg is enough in most troubleshooting scenarios.

• Synchronizing with claps

• https://alphamanual.audacityteam.org/man/Rhythm_Track

Downloading & installing realtime effects

While Audacity doesn't yet ship with realtime effects, you can download plugins for it. Currently supported plugin formats are Audio Units (macOS only), VST3, VST, LV2, and LADSPA. We have collected some plugins which we know to work on but you can find many more across the web. Once you install the plugins, they should be detected by Audacity once you restart it, if not, see the installation instructions.

Adding effects to a track

You can add realtime effects using the following steps:

Changing effect settings

You can change the effect settings by clicking on the effect's name. This will open a settings window, often with a graphical interface which looks nothing like Audacity itself. You still can interact with the main Audacity window while the effect settings are open.

Bypassing an effect

You can press the blue power button next to an effect (or the entire effects stack) to bypass it, causing it to be not applied to your audio.

Applying an effect stack to the waveform

It generally is not necessary to apply the effect stack. The stack is automatically applied when exporting the audio.

That said, you can apply the effect stack to the waveform by first selecting the track and then going to Tracks > Mix > Mix and Render.

Using the Click Removal effect

The click removal effect can automatically remove clicks across an entire track.

To use it:

1. Select the audio you want to remove the clicks from. Tip:

2. Go to Effect > Click Removal

3. Set the threshold and max spike width. The default should work in most cases. You can preview the effect to get a feel of how it'll affect the track.

4. Click OK to apply the effect.

Repairing individual clicks

The Repair effect can be used to repair short clicks. To use it:

1. Select a short (max 128 samples) part of audio. Tip: You can set the selection clocks in the bottom toolbar to display start and length of the selection, and change the clocks to display samples rather than milliseconds.

2. Go to Effect > Repair.

Silencing the section

In most cases, having brief amounts of silence is preferable to loud clicks, so completely muting clicks is a valid strategy if other methods fail. For this, simply select the click and press the Silence button (Shortcut: Ctrl+L / Cmd+L).

This page is an overview of prominent new functionality that has been introduced in Audacity 3.0.4

Version 3.0.4 is a hotfix release.

Contents

Fixed a bug with envelope points, which could multiply uncontrollably and cause Audacity to crash. In particular:

• #1476: Envelope points are multiplied when using Filter Curve EQ or Graphic EQ

• #1477: Filter Curve EQ will crash if there is an envelope point outside of the selection

Updating from Audacity 2.x to Audacity 3.x

With the release of Audacity 3.0.0 the project file structure of Audacity was changed significantly with the entire project contained in a single unified database file.

If you have already updated to any 3.x version you should already be aware of this.

But if you are updating from any earlier 2.x Audacity version please read Updating from Audacity 2.x to Audacity 3.x.

Audacity 3.x can usually open AUP files created in older 2.x.x versions of Audacity, but saving the project in 3.x will prevent it opening again in Audacity versions prior to 3.0.0.

• Note that this will leave behind the old AUP file and its associated _data folder which you will probably want to delete to recover disk space.

• Audacity version 3.x should be able to open projects from Audacity 1.1 onwards - but not from 1.0

Audacity comes with 4 themes preinstalled: Light, Dark, Classic and High Contrast. You can switch between themes by going to Edit -> Preferences -> Interface (macOS: Audacity -> Preferences -> Interface)

Once you have chosen a theme, click OK to close the preferences dialog and load the new theme.

Installing custom themes

Custom themes commonly are distributed as files called ImageCache.png. You can find some custom themes here:

To install a custom theme, place the ImageCache.png in the following folders. You may create the folders if they aren't present.

• Windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\Theme\custom\

• MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/audacity/Theme/custom/

• Linux: ~/.local/share/audacity/Theme/custom/

Then,

1. restart Audacity,

2. open the Preferences -> Interface page,

3. select Custom as the theme and

4. press OK.

TODO

1. Connect your Microphone

You can connect your mic by plugging it into the appropriate port. In general, this means:

• If you have a USB mic, plug it into a USB port.

• If you have a mic with a 3.5mm jack, plug it into a mic-in port.

• If you have an XLR mic, plug it into an XLR-USB audio interface and the interface into the USB port.

The exact details depend on both your exact computer model and your microphone model. Please see their respective manuals or support pages for further information. You may need adapters if your computer is missing appropriate ports.

2. Select your Microphone

Select the microphone to record from the list of available recording devices in the Audio Setup toolbar

You may see some unexpected devices here (for example, webcams), as well as virtual devices (software pretending to be a microphone). Choose the entry that matches the microphone you actually want to use.

You can also use the Audio Setup toolbar to select whether you'll be recording in Mono or Stereo.

3. Test your Settings

Turn on the monitoring (shown below) and tap onto your mic. If you see the green bar move when tapping the mic, you have selected the correct device in the previous step.

Then try to speak in a normal volume. In general, the volume should remain in the green zone throughout (in general, between -18 and -12 dB is best).

Next, make a test recording. To start recording your voice in Audacity, simply press the red record button.

When you have made the recording, listen back to it. If everything went well, you should now hear your voice clearly and you should now be able to continue with the next steps.

Common problems

If you run into trouble with any of these steps, you may find the solution here:

Next Steps

• Once you've made your recording, make sure to save your work. This applies regardless of whether you intend on editing it later or not.

• If you want to edit your recording afterwards:

The recording and playback levels can be set using the sliders in the Recording and Playback meter toolbars:

• The slider with the microphone icon sets the recording volume on a system level. If the operating system is prohibiting this action, this slider will be inactive.

• The slider with the speaker icon sets the playback volume relative to the system volume. It does not affect the volume of exported files, use the gain sliders on each track to edit those.

The setup program may return one of the following exit codes:

Before returning an exit code of 1, 3 or 4 an error message explaining the problem will normally be displayed.

Future versions may return additional exit codes, so applications checking the exit code should be programmed to handle unexpected exit codes gracefully. Any non-zero exit code indicates that Setup was not run to completion.

Audacity 3.3.2 was released on 5. May 2023.

This is a hotfix release.

Bug Fixes

• Linux AppImage fails to start.

• Issues with selection and time toolbars on Linux packages.

• Missing duration input in generators on Linux packages.

• Potentialy extreme memory usage with Jack host.

• Anonymous upload to is disabled.

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.3 is tested on Windows 10 & 11

  • Windows Vista, 7 and 8.1 should still work, but are no longer tested.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.3 is tested on macOS 12 & 13

  • OS X 10.9 and onwards should still work, but are no longer tested.

Linux

• In addition to the traditional update path via package managers, Audacity is distributed as an AppImage. The AppImage gets updated at the same time as the Windows and macOS versions, so if you collaborate with users on those platforms, you may want to use the AppImage over your distribution's package manager.

• Linux support is tested with AppImages on Ubuntu 20.04 & 22.04.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Compiling from source

Audacity is not yet compatible with Conan 2.

With Audacity 3.2 you can quickly share audio online using the new service . To do this, simply click the Share Audio button.

You can now upload your audio by pressing Continue. If you'd like to link an existing audio.com first, you can do that by clicking Link Account.

Audacity will now prepare the track for upload and upload your audio.

After your audio has been uploaded, press Continue. You will be taken to the audio.com website.

On audio.com you now can either create an account to use this with, or copy the anonymous link. To share the link,

1. Close the sign up panel,

2. click the share button (shown below) and

3. select Copy Link

You now can share your audio by sending this link to people.

Linking audio.com to Audacity

Linking your audio.com account to Audacity lets you get the sharable link from Audacity itself. To link your account,

1. Press the Share Audio button. Note: You need to have some sort of audio present in your project for this button to work

2. Your browser will open audio.com

3. Login or sign up if you aren't yet logged in

4. You will see the following page:

5. Click on "Link audacity".

6. You may see a popup asking you whether you want to open in Audacity. Click the option that opens Audacity

Audacity provides you with two different built-in normalization effects available through the Effect -> Volume and Compression menu:

• Loudness Normalization

• Normalize

Normalize

Normalize is a peak normalization effect which apply gain or reduction to the selected audio so the level of the peak is changed to the desired level. You set the desired level of the peak (in dBFS) before applying the effect. This effect does not take into account the perceived loudness of the selected audio only the desired peak level.

Loudness Normalization

By comparison Loudness Normalization will calculate the perceived loudness of the selected audio and then apply gain or reduction to the audio so a desired loudness level is reached. You set the desired loudness (in LUFS, Loudness Units relative to Full Scale).

To apply Loudness Normalization:

• Select the region containing the audio that you want to normalize. It could be an audio clip or the entire track.

• Click Effect -> Volume and compression -> Loudness Normalization... to open the Loudness Normalization window

• Set the target loudness in LUFS units using the Normalize perceived loudness to field.

• Keep Normalize stereo channels independently disabled If you are normalizing a stereo track (Left and Right channels) with the audio levels already balanced as this mode will preserve its original stereo balance.

• Disable Treat mono as dual-mono (recommended) if you are normalizing a mono track.

Changing the speed while preserving pitch

To change the speed while preserving the pitch, select the audio you want to apply the effect on and go to Effect > Change Tempo

Drag the slider or enter some numbers to change how much you want to speed up or slow down your audio. The controls are linked, so you just need to change the value you care about, the rest will update accordingly.

For extreme slowdowns (10x slower to thousands of times slower), you may want to use Effect > Paulstretch instead.

Changing speed and pitch at the same time

To change speed and pitch at the same time, use Effect > Change Speed.

Unlike , the Change Speed effect keeps the waveform mostly intact, so you can use this method repeatedly without any major loss in quality.

Dynamically changing the speed over time

You can change the speed of an entire project over time using Time Tracks. To add one, go to Tracks > Add New > Time Track. You only can have one time track per project.

Then click on the blue line and drag it upwards or downwards to change the speed at that time. Every time you click, a new control point is added, allowing you to change the speed over time

Changing playback speed

If you want to preview your audio at a faster or slower rate than normal, but without affecting the final product, you can use the Play-at-Speed toolbar

To use it, drag the slider to the desired speed (between 0.01x and 3x) and then click the small play button next to it to playback your audio at that speed. You can use the normal stop and pause controls to stop/pause playback.

Audacity 3.2.5 was released on 1 Mar 2023

This is a hotfix release. It fixes the following bug:

• #Fixed a bug where Audacity could accidentally spam

Supported platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.2 supports Windows 10 & 11

  • Windows Vista, 7 and 8.1 should still work, but are no longer tested.

  • Downloads for older versions are available on the page on the Audacity Website.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.2 supports OS X 10.9 and later, and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at .

Linux

• In addition to the traditional update path via package managers, Audacity 3.0.3 and onwards are distributed as an AppImage. The AppImage gets updated at the same time as the Windows and macOS versions, so if you collaborate with users on those platforms, you may want to use the AppImage over your distribution's package manager.

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu 20.04.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Audacity can record and playback audio on your Windows PC using one of the following three alternative interfaces:

• MME

• Windows DirectSound

• Windows WASAPI

ASIO (Audio Stream Input / Output) is an additional proprietary interface to record and playback audio in Microsoft Windows. ASIO bypasses the Windows audio mixing components to provide lower latency direct communication between computer audio software and hardware. Most audio recording interfaces manufacturers provide a driver to support ASIO.

• ASIO supports 24-bit sampling which is only otherwise available using or WDM-KS (Windows Driver Model Kernel Streaming). 24-bit sampling allows greater dynamic range, lower theoretical and greater resolution at lower audible volumes.

• An unmixed ASIO output is "bit identical" to the original source.

• Multiple physical input and output channels of the hardware are accessed over one single device.

Windows interface protocol support multi-channel recording on some sound devices, but not the very low latencies that are possible on ASIO.

Audacity 3.1.1 was released on 11. Nov 2021.

Changes and improvements since previous version

Audacity 3.1.1 replaces all previous versions.

This is a hotfix release. It fixes the following bugs:

• Fixed FFMPEG imports only importing the left channel

• Improved Audacity's performance when many clips are present

• Fixed a crash with detach at silences

• Fixed clip name corruption when applying effects to adjacent clips

• Fixed a crash with the time shift commands

• Fixed custom themes not working

Other than that, this release is identical to Version 3.1.0.

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.1.x requires the CPU to support the instruction set which should be available on any Intel hardware produced after 2001 and any AMD hardware produced after 2003.

  • To check what SSE levels your CPU supports, you can install .

  • If your hardware only supports SSE, you may download Audacity 2.0.6 see the page on the Audacity Website.

• 3.1.x does not support Windows XP.

  • You may try 2.2.2 on XP, but it is unsupported.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.1.x is for Intel Macs running OS X 10.7 and later and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at .

Linux

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu Linux.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Audacity 3.2.4 was released on 27 Jan 2023

This is a hotfix release. It fixes the following bug:

• # Fixed the meters not retaining size

A full list of changes can be found .

Supported platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.2 supports Windows 10 & 11

  • Windows Vista, 7 and 8.1 should still work, but are no longer tested.

  • Downloads for older versions are available on the page on the Audacity Website.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.2 supports OS X 10.9 and later, and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at .

Linux

• In addition to the traditional update path via package managers, Audacity 3.0.3 and onwards are distributed as an AppImage. The AppImage gets updated at the same time as the Windows and macOS versions, so if you collaborate with users on those platforms, you may want to use the AppImage over your distribution's package manager.

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu 20.04.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Audacity 3.1.2 was released on 16. Nov 2021.

Changes and improvements since previous version

Audacity 3.1.2 is a hotfix release for Audacity 3.1.

It fixes the following bugs:

• Fixed UTF8 support in clip titles

• Fixed data loss on joining clips

• Fixed a crash with exporting resampled tracks

• Fixed a crash when opening projects with very small double values

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.1.x requires the CPU to support the instruction set which should be available on any Intel hardware produced after 2001 and any AMD hardware produced after 2003.

  • To check what SSE levels your CPU supports, you can install .

  • If your hardware only supports SSE, you may download Audacity 2.0.6 see the page on the Audacity Website.

• 3.1.x does not support Windows XP.

  • You may try 2.2.2 on XP, but it is unsupported.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.1.x is for Intel Macs running OS X 10.7 and later and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at .

Linux

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu Linux.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

When you select an effect to apply to your audio (for example Effect > Noise Removal & Repair > Noise Gate...) Audacity will show you the effect settings window where you can change the different values according to your needs.

After you find the settings that best suit your needs you can use the Presets & settings button to save your settings for future use:

• Click the Presets & settings button and select Save preset...

• After saving your presets you can recall them the next time you need to apply the same effect. Click the Presets & settings button, select User Presets... and select the name of the previously save presets:

These help articles have been created by the following people:

• Leo Wattenberg

• Gonzalo Guzmán

• (add your name here if you're editing some pages!)

License

Contents on this page are licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution license. This does not necessarily apply to embedded videos.

Contributors of the old Manual

manual.audacityteam.org has been made possible by a tremendous amount of effort from the following people:

• Gale Andrews

• Richard Ash

• David Bailes

• Christian Brochec

• Matt Brubeck

• John Colket

• James Crook

• Steve Daulton

• Scott Granneman

• Greg Kozikowski

• Leland Lucius

• Dominic Mazzoni

• Edgar Musgrove

• Tony Oetzmann

• Alexandre Prokoudine

• Peter Sampson

• Martyn Shaw

• Vidyashankar Vella

• Bill Wharrie

• Leo Wattenberg

Translators:

• Carmelo Battaglia (Italian)

• Leo Clijsen (Dutch)

• Olivier Humbert (French)

• André Leu (French)

• Thomas De Rocker (Dutch)

• Daniel Winzen (German)

Some of their efforts have been ported over to this site.

Audacity 3.2.1 was released on 05 Oct 2022

This is a patch release for Audacity 3.2. It fixes some bugs.

Changes and improvements since previous version

• #3686 Fixed Audacity crashing on startup on some systems.

• #3694 Fixed a crash when applying Waves Berzerk Distortion Mono to a mono track.

• #3699 Fixed a freeze when very quickly starting and stopping playback.

• #3747 macOS: Homebrew FFmpeg installs are now found automatically.

• #3594 macOS: Fixed Melda VST Plugin UI.

• #3474 Building with VST3 support is now possible without Conan.

A full list of changes can be found on Github.

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.2 supports Windows 10 & 11

  • Windows Vista, 7 and 8.1 should still work, but are no longer tested.

  • Downloads for older versions are available on the Legacy Windows page on the Audacity Website.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.2 supports OS X 10.9 and later, and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at http://audacityteam.org/download/legacy-mac/.

Linux

• In addition to the traditional update path via package managers, Audacity 3.0.3 and onwards are distributed as an AppImage. The AppImage gets updated at the same time as the Windows and macOS versions, so if you collaborate with users on those platforms, you may want to use the AppImage over your distribution's package manager.

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu 20.04.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Noise Reduction

The Noise Reduction effect works best to remove a constant source of noise, like the hiss of fans, the hum of fridges, or whines, whistles and buzzes.

To use it, use the following steps:

1. Locate a section of your recording that's just your background noise, preferably a few seconds long, and select it.

2. Go to Effects > Noise Reduction and press the "Get noise profile" button.

3. Select all the audio for which you want to reduce the noise.

4. Go to Effects > Noise Reduction again. You now can tweak the settings of the reduction to your liking. Tip: While tuning the settings, use the "Residue" toggle to hear what sound will be removed.

5. Once you're satisfied with the result, click OK to apply it to the selected audio. Note: If you used the Residue toggle before, make sure to switch it back to Reduce before pressing OK.

Noise Gate

The Noise Gate effect attenuates any sound quieter than a certain threshold while leaving sounds louder completely unaffected. To use it

1. Select a part of the audio that's just background noise.

2. Go to Effects > Noise Gate... to open the effect.

3. Click Select Function: Analyse Noise Level and press OK. Audacity will now tell you where your noise level lies and recommending a threshold.

4. Select the audio you want to apply the effect to.

5. Go back into Effects > Noise Gate..., set it back to Select Function: Gate, and enter the threshold level from earlier.

6. Tweak the other parameters as sound best to you.

7. Press OK to apply the noise gate.

Notch Filter

The notch filter removes a hum or whistle at a specific frequency. To use it:

1. Select the audio you want to apply the effect on

2. Go to Effects > Notch Filter to open the effect.

3. Enter the frequency you want to reduce, together with the Q-value (how many frequencies around the main one you want it to affect - the higher the number, the less frequencies).

4. Press OK to apply the effect.

Audacity 3.0.5 was released on 29 Sep 2021.

Changes and improvements since previous version

Audacity 3.0.5 replaces all previous macOS versions.

This is a hotfix release that fixes a bug on macOS that could corrupt project files when being opened via cmd+o on languages where the decimal separator wasn't a dot.

Other than that, this release is identical to Version 3.0.3.

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.0.5 requires the CPU to support the SSE2 instruction set which should be available on any Intel hardware produced after 2001 and any AMD hardware produced after 2003.

  • To check what SSE levels your CPU supports, you can install CPU-Z.

  • If your hardware only supports SSE, you may download Audacity 2.0.6 see the Legacy Windows page on the Audacity Website.

• 3.0.5 does not support Windows XP.

  • You may try 2.2.2 on XP, but it is unsupported.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.0.5 is for Intel Macs running OS X 10.7 and later and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at http://audacityteam.org/download/legacy-mac/.

Linux

• In addition to the traditional update path via package managers, Audacity 3.0.3 and onwards are distributed as an AppImage. The AppImage gets updated at the same time as the Windows and macOS versions, so if you collaborate with users on those platforms, you may want to use the AppImage over your distribution's package manager.

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu Linux.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Audacity 3.3.1 was released on 28. Apr 2023.

This is a hotfix release.

Bug Fixes

• #4600 Fixed cut lines massively inflating project size.

• #4612 Fixed custom project sample rates being uneditable.

• #4604 Fixed crash reporting being disabled.

• #4234 Audacity now shows an error if the upload to audio.com exceeds file size limits.

• #4114 Fixed an error in calculating channels when uploading to audio.com.

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.3 is tested on Windows 10 & 11

  • Windows Vista, 7 and 8.1 should still work, but are no longer tested.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.3 is tested on macOS 12 & 13

  • OS X 10.9 and onwards should still work, but are no longer tested.

Linux

• In addition to the traditional update path via package managers, Audacity is distributed as an AppImage. The AppImage gets updated at the same time as the Windows and macOS versions, so if you collaborate with users on those platforms, you may want to use the AppImage over your distribution's package manager.

• Linux support is tested with AppImages on Ubuntu 20.04 & 22.04.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Compiling from source

Audacity is not yet compatible with Conan 2.

Importing a file

To start editing, you need some sort of sound to edit. You can either record some sound, or import an existing sound file (for example, an MP3 or WAV) by dragging & dropping it into the project window. You can also import files via the File > Import menus.

Once you have that, you will see a waveform of your sound:

This waveform is a visual representation of the song. The larger the blue "blob" is, the louder the section. Lines standing alone ("spikes") indicate sudden and short loud sections such as clicks, snaps, claps and drum hits. With a bit of practice, you can use the waveform to quickly find your way around an audio file.

Removing sections of a song

To remove a section of an audio file, first select the section by clicking and dragging in the waveform.

Once you have a selection, press Delete or Backspace to delete it.

Moving sections of audio (clips)

Audacity supports clips, which are pieces of audio inside the project which can be moved independently. Technically, any audio you record or import already exists as a clip, denoted by the rounded clip handle bars above the waveform.

You can click + drag on the clip handle bar to move a clip around.

Splitting up clips

To split a clip into two independent clips,

1. Click into the waveform where you want to split the clip.

   Tip: To make precise adjustments, zoom in first.

2. Right-click > Split Clip (Ctrl+I / Cmd+I)

Resizing and trimming clips

To trim a clip, hover with your cursor around the upper third of the left or right edge of a clip:

Then click and drag the edge to trim the clip to it's desired length.

Applying Effects

Audacity supports a wide range of effects and effect plugins. These effects can be used for Noise reduction & removal and more, and while each effect does different things, they all generally can be applied in the following way:

1. Select the audio you want to apply the effect to.

2. Go to the Effect menu.

3. Select the effect you want to use. Typically, a window like this will open:

4. Tweak the effect to your liking. You can click the Preview button to hear a short sample before applying it to the whole selection.

5. Press OK to apply the effect.

Audacity 3.2.2 was released on 06 Dec 2022

This is a patch release for Audacity 3.2. It enables use of VST2 as realtime effects and fixes some bugs.

Changes and improvements since previous version

• #2850 VST2 effects are now realtime capable. Additional plugins have been added to

• #3696 Improved accessibility of the meters

• #3769 Fixed a crash when editing some macro parameters

• #3792 Fixed some play commands getting stuck in play mode

• #3670 Audacity no longer quietly discards changes in realtime effects but instead asks if you want to save before quitting

• #3838 Plugin scanning now lets you skip individual plugins if scanning gets stuck on them

• #3980 Plugin scanning no longer produces "Audacity crashed" windows when a plugin fails validation, and no longer shows the plugins in the macOS dock during validation

• #3883 Fixed an issue with labels losing focus on macOS Ventura

• Fixed various plugin-specific issues

A full list of changes can be found on Github.

Supported platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.2 supports Windows 10 & 11

  • Windows Vista, 7 and 8.1 should still work, but are no longer tested.

  • Downloads for older versions are available on the Legacy Windows page on the Audacity Website.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.2 supports OS X 10.9 and later, and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at http://audacityteam.org/download/legacy-mac/.

Linux

• In addition to the traditional update path via package managers, Audacity 3.0.3 and onwards are distributed as an AppImage. The AppImage gets updated at the same time as the Windows and macOS versions, so if you collaborate with users on those platforms, you may want to use the AppImage over your distribution's package manager.

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu 20.04.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Crossfading Clips

If you have two clips in one track you'd like to crossfade, you can use Crossfade Clips effect. To use it:

1. Have two clips in one track.

2. Select the region you'd like to apply the crossfade to. Try to select roughly the same amount of time in both clips.

   Note: Any empty space between the clips will be automatically removed and ignored in the crossfade.

3. Use Effects > Fading > Crossfade Clips to crossfade the clips.

Crossfading between Tracks

To crossfade between tracks, use the following steps:

1. Position the clips on the tracks so that they overlap in the range you want to crossfade, and select the audio in the overlapping region in both clips:

2. Use Effects > Fading > Crossfade Tracks to crossfade the tracks.

Error opening sound device

This error indicates a problem with the hardware used for playback, whether it is permissions, drivers, connections, or if you ask the device to do something it cannot do. You can attempt the following steps to resolve it.

Error opening recording device

This error indicates a problem with the hardware used for recording, whether it is permissions, drivers, connections, or if you ask the device to do something it cannot do. You can attempt the following steps to resolve it.

Error code 11, error code 13, error code 101 and "Audacity failed to read a file in C:"

These errors can occur when attempting to load a damaged .aup3 project file. Damaged project files can be recovered as described in the following article.

Error -9996 Invalid Device Error

This error indicates that the device that's being attempted to use is not valid, for example:

• The device got unplugged

• The device has a faulty or loose connection

• The device itself is faulty or not a real audio device.

This error can also occur when you are trying to record a number of channels that is not supported in the current configuration

This error can also occur when using Audacity on Windows with Windows WASAPI as the Host if the selected recording device is being used exclusively by another application. Some applications that could make use of the recording device exclusively are ASIO4ALL, Voicemod (when configured to do so) or Voicemeeter (when configured to do so).

You can attempt to fix this issue with the following methods:

• Use a different USB port and USB cable. This will resolve the issue if the fault was in the cable.

• Use a different audio host. Sometimes WASAPI works when MME doesn't, sometimes it's the other way round.

• Use a different number of channels. For example, some Realtek only work when recording in Mono, while some others only work in Stereo when recording a (loopback) stream.

Error -9997 Invalid Sample Rate

This error can indicate an unsupported sample rate. Double-check that both your OS settings and the Audacity project rate are set to a supported sample rate (usually 44100 Hz or 48000 Hz).

This error can also occur when using Audacity on Windows to record a track while listening another existing track (also known as overdubbing) with Windows WASAPI as the Host if the sample rate of the recording device is different than the sample rate of the playback device. If possible set the same sample rate for your devices or use MME as the Host.

This error can also occur when you are trying to record a number of channels that is not supported in the current configuration To fix this, you can do the following:

• Use a different audio host. Sometimes WASAPI works when MME doesn't, sometimes it's the other way round.

• Use a different number of channels. For example, some Realtek only work when recording in Mono, while some others only work in Stereo when recording a (loopback) stream.

Error -9999 Unanticipated Host Error

This error means "something is wrong", most commonly

• A lost connection to a USB audio device

• Missing microphone permissions from the operating system.

• Your device is unable to playback other tracks while recording. Turning off Overdub via Transport -> Transport Options may fix this.

You can try the , or attempt any of the other workarounds of this page.

Audacity did not recognize the type of this file

This error occurs when the file you're trying to open has no decoder available. You can attempt the following things to fix it:

• Install FFMPEG. FFMPEG allows you to open most kinds of media files. Read more:

• Check if the file you're trying to open actually is what it says on the tin. For example, some lower-quality programs name any audio file *.mp3, regardless of whether it actually is an MP3 file. Read more:

• Check if your file is an actual audio file. Some files which are used to output audio in certain programs don't actually contain sound themselves, but are instructions for for the program to make some sounds. Try to see if the program used to create the file has an export button. If not, you can also try recording desktop audio while playing back the file in another program. Read more:

• Check if you have accidentally created custom import rules. In Edit -> Preferences -> Extended Import (on macOS: Audacity -> Preferences -> Extended Import), make sure that you have not created any custom rules. If there are any rules, you can safely delete the rules.

• Import the audio as RAW. This only works on uncompressed audio. You can do so via File -> Import -> Import raw data...

Unable to open, exception code 0xc0000005

This is caused by a corrupted audacity.cfg file, such as when upgrading from Audacity 3.1.3 to Audacity 3.2. You can solve this issue by upgrading to Audacity 3.2.1.

Missing Plugins

This is caused by missing . You can replace any missing effects from the effects sidebar.

The Audacity IPC server failed to initialize

If you are on a low-end machine, this may be caused by insufficient resources, specifically memory.

This also can happen if you assign yourself a static IP in the hosts file. If that's the case, simply commenting out the assignment may solve this.

Error code=12 : "cannot allocate memory"

This is caused by an unexpected system state. Rebooting the computer resolves it.

Spectrogram View

Each track in Audacity can be viewed in a Spectrogram view:

To access it, click on the track menu dropdown and select Spectrogram.

The track menu also features Spectrogram settings, where you can tweak the scale, the colors, the used algorithms and the window size.

Increasing Accuracy in Spectrogram View

You may notice that the spectrogram is somewhat blurry usually, where even if you have a precise frequency, the spectrogram makes it look like a whole range of frequencies is being played. This is an inherent mathematical tradeoff related to the window size:

Depending on what you're after, you can change the window size to fit your analysis: Smaller window sizes benefit time resolution, larger window sizes benefit frequency resolution.

You can change both the window size and the algorithm in the spectrogram settings found in the Track Menu dropdown.

Zooming in on specific frequencies

You can zoom vertically in Spectrogram View by right-clicking the frequency scale.

Additionally, while hovering over the frequency scale, you can

• Ctrl+Scroll to zoom in/out on the frequency scale and

• Shift+Scroll to scroll up/down while staying on the same zoom level.

Plot Spectrum

To use Plot Spectrum,

1. select the audio you're interested in analyzing

2. go to Analyze -> Plot Spectrum.

Options

Algorithm

• Spectrum (default) Plots the fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the data, with the FFT window size being determined by the Size dropdown. The amplitudes are normalized such that a 0 dB sine (pure tone) will be (approximately) 0 dB on the graph.

• Autocorrelation These options measure to what extent the sound repeats itself. This is done by taking two copies of the audio, and moving one forward by one sample. The two copies are then multiplied together, and all the values added up. This is repeated for two samples difference and so on, up to the number of samples in the size option. This gives a small result if the waveform is random (for example, noise) and a large result if it is repetitive (like a musical note). By looking at the peaks in the plot, the key frequencies present can be determined even if there is a lot of noise.

• Cepstrum The cepstrum of an audio signal is related to the spectrum, but presents the rate of change in the different spectrum bands. It's particularly useful for properties of vocal tracks and is used, for example, in software to identify speakers by their voice characteristics.

Function

Function offers choices like Rectangular, Hann, Hamming and others. We suggest you use the default Hann for most situations.

Exporting a spectrum for further analysis

Click the Export... button to export the current view as a tab-separated value text file.

Analyzer Plugins

Audacity supports the Vamp plugin format among others. Many of them can be found in the .

Using the Track Controls

You can adjust volume and panning per track on the left-hand side of any track:

Using the Mixer Board

You can access the Mixer Board via View > Mixer Board.

This shows all track controls side-by-side, with a volume slider on the left per track, as well as per-track volume meters.

By default, the icon for each track is the Audacity logo, but it can be changed if the track name contains the following keywords:

Rendering the mix

Once you have your changes to mixing, panning and other real-time effects final and want to apply them onto the waveform itself, you can render the mix using Tracks > Mix > Mix and Render. This replaces all selected tracks with the mix. If you have used many tracks and real time effects, this may considerably improve performance.

Vocal Removal with vocals in the center and instruments spread around them

If the vocals are panned in the center of a stereo track this method can sometimes be effective by removing what is common to both tracks (that is, the vocals), leaving behind what is different (that is, the instrumentals).

Audacity includes the Vocal Reduction and Isolation effect which provides the Remove Vocals option that you can use to try to remove vocals from a stereo track.

Vocal Reduction and Isolation also lets you specify the audio frequency range for vocals (by default 120 to 9000 Hz). This can help cure the common problem where center-panned bass or Hi-hat is also removed when removing vocals.

Isolating Vocals

You can also use the effect to attempt to isolate the vocals by choosing one of the Isolate Vocals options from the dropdown menu in the dialog.

Note that the end result may not be total vocal isolation or even satisfactory isolation of the vocals; it all depends on how the original recording was engineered.

Using AI models to separate vocals

To use AI models in Audacity, you first need to download the current alpha with this feature from

Once you have installed this version, you can download and apply AI models via Effects → Deep Learning Effects.

Audacity 3.0.4 was released on 24. Aug 2021.

Changes and improvements since previous version

Audacity 3.0.4 replaces all previous versions.

This is a hotfix release that fixes a bug with envelope points, which could multiply uncontrollably and cause Audacity to crash. In particular:

• : Envelope points are multiplied when using Filter Curve EQ or Graphic EQ

• : Filter Curve EQ will crash if there is an envelope point outside of the selection

This fix re-introduces an earlier, but way less destructive bug:

• / : Some effects delete Envelope Control Points, or do not move them when timeline changes

Other than that, this release is identical to Version 3.0.3.

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.0.4 requires the CPU to support the instruction set which should be available on any Intel hardware produced after 2001 and any AMD hardware produced after 2003.

  • To check what SSE levels your CPU supports, you can install .

  • If your hardware only supports SSE, you may download Audacity 2.0.6 see the page on the Audacity Website.

• 3.0.4 does not support Windows XP.

  • You may try 2.2.2 on XP, but it is unsupported.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.0.4 is for Intel Macs running OS X 10.7 and later and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at .

Linux

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu Linux.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Audacity 3.2.3 was released on 27 Dec 2022

This is a patch release for Audacity 3.2. It adds ability to share audio publicly and fixes some bugs.

Changes

• Audio can now be shared publicly on audio.com

• fixed the screenshot tool

• selecting audio no longer marks the project as changed

• a new toolbar with cut/copy/paste buttons has been added

• Plain UI for VST3 effects no longer show MIDI CC parameters

• the effects sidebar no longer can fill the entire screen

A full list of changes can be found .

Supported platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.2 supports Windows 10 & 11

  • Windows Vista, 7 and 8.1 should still work, but are no longer tested.

  • Downloads for older versions are available on the page on the Audacity Website.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.2 supports OS X 10.9 and later, and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at .

Linux

• In addition to the traditional update path via package managers, Audacity 3.0.3 and onwards are distributed as an AppImage. The AppImage gets updated at the same time as the Windows and macOS versions, so if you collaborate with users on those platforms, you may want to use the AppImage over your distribution's package manager.

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu 20.04.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Audio loops are a type of music that plays a few bars on repeat over and over. They can be created by taking a sample out of pre-existing content and looping it seamlessly.

1. Enable playback looping

To enable playback looping, simply click onto the loop button (1). When you do this, you'll note the blue looping region appear in the timeline (2). You can move the region and it's in and out point individually by dragging it.

2. Finding the looping region

When making a loop out of music, you often will be able to see repetitions in the waveform as your source material will probably contain some loop already (for example a drummer playing the same beat throughout the song). You can use these to roughly find good looping regions and position your looping region above it.

Fine-tuning the loop and removing clicks

To make the loop seamless, you may need to zoom in some more, using Ctrl+Scroll (Cmd+Scroll) or the magnifying glass.

3. Turn your loop into a clip

Once your loop sounds right, you can select it's length in the waveform. A yellow line will appear when your cursor is lined up with the loop region properly. Once you have made the selection, you now can simply right-click > Split Clip (Ctrl+I, Cmd+I).

Once you have the clip, you can copy-paste it anywhere in your project.

See also:

Fixing bad sections as they occur (Punch-and-roll recording)

If your audio recording broke and you immediately noticed it (for example because you misspoke your script or had to cough), it is possible to stop the recording and immediately fix the mistake by using Punch-and-roll recording. To use it:

1. Record as normal until you make the mistake.

2. Stop the recording.

3. Choose a splicing point by clicking into the audio before the mistake happens. For spoken content, this should be between words so you can drop in easier. Note: All audio on the track after the splicing point will be deleted.

4. Start a Punch-and-roll recording with Transport > Recording > Punch and roll record (Shift+D). This will playback a couple of seconds of your recording so you can find the right rhythm and tone as before, and at the splicing point you set in step 3, it will switch to recording mode and make a crossfade.

5. From here on out you can continue recording as usual. If you make the same mistake again, you can stop the recording and undo (Ctrl+Z / Cmd+Z) and try again. If you make another mistake later on, you can do another Punch and Roll recording by repeating the steps above.

Fixing a bad section afterwards

If your audio recording broke at one specific point in time (for example because an ambulance drove by), but you only notice it after having recorded everything, it is possible to re-record this section using punch-in repair.

To use it:

1. Select the bad part of the recording and silence it. You can do this by clicking the Silence Audio Selection button (found next to the undo and cut/copy/paste buttons), or by pressing Ctrl+L (Cmd+L)

2. Select a couple of seconds of audio before and after the bad part. With overdubbing turned on, recording will playback the recording back to you and help you match the timing.

3. Do the re-recording on a new track. To do this, Shift-click the record button or press Shift+R. It will automatically start recording from the beginning of your selection.

Related pages

• To hide the cut a bit better, a crossfade may help:

• If your new take is slightly longer or shorter than the gap left in the original recording, you can split the clip:

• You can use a similar technique to continuously fix mistakes as they occur during a recording session using

Setting up for music workflows

You can enable a more musical view in Audacity as follows:

1. Right-click the Timeline Ruler and select Beats and Measures.

2. Go to View -> Toolbars and enable Time Signature Toolbar (beta).

3. In the Time widget, select beats or for more subdivisions, beats and 16th.

4. Enable Snapping, and set the snapping interval to a musical option (eg 1/4, 1/8 or 1/16).

Once you have enabled all of them, your Audacity may look something like this:

Detecting tempo (BPM)

It is important to enter a tempo that matches your content, otherwise none of the features outlined above work properly.

• If you're recording music on your own, try playing to a metronome to ensure you stay in tempo.

• If you're using music downloaded from the web, try figuring out its tempo. In some cases, a web search for song title tempo is sufficient.

• You also can download a bpm detection plugin. The features several tempo detection plugins, such as:

  • IBT - INESC Beat Tracker

  • Simple Fixed Tempo Estimator form the Vamp SDK example library

  • Tempo and Beat Tracker: Tempo from the Queen Mary University of London

Preparing clips for snapping

Audacity will snap the beginning of the clip to the beats and measures grid, depending on your tempo and snapping setting. If your first beat doesn't start exactly at the start of the clip, you can trim the beginning of the clip. To trim a clip, simply drag the upper edge of it inwards.

Aligning to beats and measures

Once you have everything set up and snapping enabled, simply dragging your clips will align them to the beat and measures grid.

Testing Audacity is one of the best ways to find bugs.

Nightly builds

You can download the latest master build from https://audacityteam.org/nightly. These builds reflect the state the master branch. Anything in the master branch has passed at least a quick round of QA to validate that the features the change touched still work for the common use cases.

Before features go into the master branch, they live in pull requests. Each pull request comes with its own builds, available through the "Checks" tab inside the PR and then the "Artifacts" dropdown in the top right. Additionally, you can get builds which are still in development from https://github.com/audacity/audacity/actions. Both methods require a Github account.

When you do find something that breaks, make sure to file a bug (or comment on the pull request that introduces the bug if it's unmerged)!

Alpha, Beta and Release builds

Before each release, a branch is split off master named "release-x.x.x". This release branch contains all features which will be part of the next Audacity release. Bug fixes which go towards this release will be made inside this branch. You can get builds for it via https://github.com/audacity/audacity/actions; the nightly link will continue to give you master branch builds.

During the release process we may designate certain builds as "alpha" or "beta" and release them on https://github.com/audacity/audacity/releases. This is to invite testing from a wider audience.

Tools

Audacity comes with some tools to aid you with testing.

Macros

See https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/macros.html - these can make it easier for you to do repeated tasks.

Journaling

Journaling is a feature that records all your actions and lets you replay them. This feature is currently under development and not really ready.

1. start Audacity in journaling mode, <<TODO: HOW??>> do a certain task, and then close Audacity again. This will generate a journal file, which you can find in <<WHERE>>.

2. Copy the journal file to a new folder (eg: QA-tests) and name it so that you can easily find it again.

3. Launch Audacity from the command line, like this:

path\to\audacity.exe -j QA-tests\yourtest.txt

path/to/audacity -j QA-tests/yourtest.txt

path/to/audacity -j QA-tests/yourtest.txt

This article addresses the following error codes in Audacity:

• Error code 11

• Error code 13

• Error code 101

• "Audacity failed to read a file in C:" (or D:, E:, ...)

Make sure you use the latest version of Audacity. See Downloading & installing Audacity for more information.

Sometimes, just opening the file in the latest version automatically recovers the project. If not, proceed with the following steps:

First, download the latest version of the Audacity Project Tools:

After downloading, follow the instructions relevant to your system. Note: macOS is not supported yet.

This page is an overview of prominent new functionality that has been introduced in Audacity 2.4.2

Version 2.4.2 is primarily a maintenance release for bug-fixing, so there are not many new features.

• Details of all the major changes since 2.4.1 can be found in .

Reset Configuration|Easy configuration reset

A new command has been added to the Help menu: Help > Reset Configuration.

This resets your Audacity configuration, preferences (except Extended Import), export settings and toolbars, to default settings.

User presets in Effects, Generators and Analyzers are left untouched, as are any Macros you may have created and plug-ins.

MP3 exports and imports without padding

Audacity now supports LAME's gapless playback info, allowing MP3s to be exported and imported without additional padding.

Other applications that support the LAME tag, for example audio player applications, will be able to read MP3 files exported by Audacity without the padding.

Bug Fixes

In less than a month we have foxed a further 29 bugs in this maintenance release.

Here is a small selection of some of the most important.

Key P1 bugs fixed

• P1 - Windows: Crash when importing (or editing) to a disk with insufficient disk space available

• P1 - Mac: Attempting to export as M4A(AAC) yields an FFmpeg error message

• P1 - Windows: WAV Export runs 6 to 7 times slower than on 2.3.3

• P1 - Macros with Nyquist effects don't apply saved parameters

• P1 - Mix Stereo down to Mono fails if space at start of track.

• P1 - Windows: with an empty rules list in "Extended Import" prefs - Tab or Home crashes Audacity

• P1 - Mac: AudioUnit effects are not applied if you initially use the preview

• P1 - Win/Linux: OPUS import fails

Key P2 bugs fixed

• P2 - Undocking meter toolbars while playing/recording results in a frozen meter

• P2 - A region label gets split on inserting audio when Sync-lock is turned on

• P2 - Time toolbar displays incorrect time if project rate isn't 44100

• P2 - Time toolbar: Opening and closing preferences resets format to hh:mm:ss

• P2 - Nyquist Effects do not display a Progress Dialog if run from a Macro.

• P2 - Real-time effects - Enable checkbox has no effect

• P2 - Mix and Render to New Track selects left channel of new stereo track

• P2 - Mac/Linux: Old (PowerPC) projects open flat-lined or with corrupted display on Intel machines

• P2 - audacity 2.3.3 config with Spectral Selection toolbar corrupts lower dock in 2.4.x and can crash

• P2 - Possible crash when clearing text field in Gain dialog

Links

- detailed release notes for this release of Audacity

Only the left channel is recording

Most microphones are mono microphones, so they by default record on the left channel only. To hear your audio on both channels, make sure you record in mono.

Audacity is not detecting the audio device I just connected

If you connect an external audio device (such as a USB microphone or USB headset) to your computer while Audacity is already running, it won't be detected automatically by Audacity.

To solve this, make sure the device is detected by the operating system, then select Transport > Rescan Audio Devices from the Audacity Menu Bar. The new device should appear as an option on the Recording or Playback device selection dropdown in the Device toolbar.

Audacity is not playing back what is being recorded

Enable the Software Playthrough option to listen what is being recorded. You will hear the audio through the selected playback device.

You can turn Software Playthrough on and off in the Transport > menu.

If you want to listen to the input when not recording it first enable Software Playthrough and then click in the to turn on .

Delay and echos when recording

usually causes a delay (latency) of the live recording input due to the time it takes to reach your headphones. To prevent this, turn software playthrough off. This can be done by choosing Transport > Transport Options > and clicking it to remove the check (tick) mark.

To listen to the live recording input without playthrough latency requires hardware monitoring - that is; the input signal must be routed directly through the audio device from the input to the output rather than being passed through software from input to output.

Enabling hardware monitoring is not possible with all audio devices. In particular it can only be achieved when the same device is used for input and output. For example, monitoring a USB microphone through headphones that are plugged into a different audio device will always have latency. If hardware playthrough is not available with your hardware it may be necessary to listen to the audio source directly (acoustically) rather than through the computer.

For some typical examples of how to set up equipment to record without playthrough latency, see this Tutorial about .

Crackles, pops and distortion in the recording

If you hear crackles, pops, or distortion when the recording is loud, or if the waveform is clearly touching the top and bottom edges of the track, you probably have , which means that the signal has exceeded the maximum allowed level.

Try lowering the recording level using the Audacity or the slider in the operating system. You can also check to see if you can lower the volume on the input source itself (such as the tape deck, record player or microphone). Many sound cards and USB turntables or USB tape decks have an independent volume control for the playback signal level. See for more help with USB turntables or tape decks.

When recording, try to aim for a maximum peak of around –6 in the so as to prevent the meter's coming on. If the meters are set to , the equivalent level to aim for is 0.5. Clicking and dragging on the meter's right edge lets you expand the meter to gauge levels more easily. After recording, you can boost the level safely using the or effects.

Vertical red lines in the recording

This is a visual indication that your recording has . See the immediately previous question above.

The vertical red lines show where the clipping has occurred; these clipping indicators can be turned on and off (Audacity default setting is "off") by selecting View > .

Recording slider is greyed out

The recording slider in is purposely disabled if it cannot directly manipulate the operating system's slider for the sound device, or if that device has no system slider. Turning down the Audacity slider to prevent distortion would be inadequate unless it also turned down the system slider. It would only make existing distortion quieter instead of removing it.

If the slider is disabled, check first in that you are selecting the correct device. Audacity should be able to control the recording level of most built-in sound devices subject to the device having appropriate .

If necessary look in the operating system mixer or in the audio interface's control panel for an input slider. For Windows see . To locate the system mixer for Mac and Linux see the help on our Wiki for or .

External recording devices such as or interfaces may not have an operating system slider, especially on Mac. For all cases where there is no system slider, try to adjust the playback level on the recording device itself.

Writing Tutorials and User Guides

Audacity welcomes contributions to both and , whether it's a small spelling correction or an entirely new guide. If you're not sure what to start with, check out some good first issues:

Gitbook works a bit like a wiki in that you can edit all pages freely, but unlike a wiki, it uses git's "everyone has their own branch" principle. That is to say that the changes you make are independent of everyone else's changes, and won't show up on the main (live) website until the branches are merged.

To some degree, this means that you can do whatever you want in your branch. That said, there's some things which make things easier for everyone involved:

When editing on Gitbook, you can edit existing pages, but you cannot create new ones. If you'd like to make a page about a new topic, write to LWinterberg in the . You also can hand in Markdown files or Word documents to him directly to add. This restriction does not apply when , however, there are other when editing through GitHub.

Making Video Tutorials

Video tutorials are highly appreciated as part of a guide. You can upload them to YouTube (or Vimeo/Dailymotion/...) and embed them in your guides, or in other people's guides, like this:

We have some requirements for which video tutorials are accepted into Audacity Support pages (see the for more info)

1. Select the loopback device

2. Check if everything is set up correctly

Recording the desktop audio will record all desktop audio, including notification-pings, games, and Audacity itself (for example, other tracks in the timeline if you're using overdub). So unless you specifically want these noises, make sure to turn them off.

3. Record

Hit the record button to record your desktop audio.

Audacity 3.3 was released on 24. Apr 2023

This release is mostly focused on under-the-hood changes

Changes

• Some of the built-in effects are now realtime capable (Bass & Treble, Distortion, Phaser, Reverb and Wahwah).

• #4352 Added a new effect: Shelf Filter.

• Added an initial (beta) version of Beats and Bars. See Aligning music to beats and measures for further info.

• #4414 reworked the bottom toolbar dock:

  • Project Sample Rate is now found in Audio Setup -> Audio Settings (formerly known as Project Rate).

  • The Snapping Toolbar (formerly known as Snap-To) is now independent of the Selection Toolbar.

  • Added a new Time Signature Toolbar (beta). It is hidden by default. See Aligning music to beats and measures for further info.

• #4212 Improved Zooming behavior slightly (more to come in the future).

• #4393 Added a new ruler, Linear (dB). This ruler goes from 0 dBFS to -∞ dBFS and better reflects the volume as shown in the recording/playback meters.

• #3820 When copying clips between projects, you now can choose between whether to copy smart clips or just the visible portion.

• #4133 added a delete button to the Cut/Copy/Paste toolbar.

Bugfixes

• #1584 Audacity no longer dithers tracks unnecessarily.

• #2427 Linux playback now handles output latency better (less stutters).

• #3796 The EQ effect no longer resets clip names.

• #4417 Resampling a track no longer trims it.

Libraries

• FFmpeg 6 (avformat 60) is now supported.

• Moved from Breakpad to Crashpad.

• Extracted various libraries from within Audacity.

A full list of changes can be found on Github.

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.3 is tested on Windows 10 & 11

  • Windows Vista, 7 and 8.1 should still work, but are no longer tested.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.3 is tested on macOS 12 & 13

  • OS X 10.9 and onwards should still work, but are no longer tested.

Linux

• In addition to the traditional update path via package managers, Audacity is distributed as an AppImage. The AppImage gets updated at the same time as the Windows and macOS versions, so if you collaborate with users on those platforms, you may want to use the AppImage over your distribution's package manager.

• Linux support is tested with AppImages on Ubuntu 20.04 & 22.04.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Compiling from source

Audacity is not yet compatible with Conan 2.

Audacity 3.1.3 was released on 23. Dec 2021.

Changes and improvements since previous version

Audacity 3.1.3 is a patch release for Audacity 3.1.

It improves the following aspects:

• Improved performance. Loading in projects especially should now be up to 50x faster compared to 3.1.0. #2121 #2087 #2065 #2267

• Added snap guides when resizing clips #2066

• Added new shortcuts for looping: Shift+L for "Set Loop to Selection", Shift+Alt+L for "Clear Looping Region" #2209

• Added a new selection region indicator in the timeline (identical in function as the one found pre-3.1, but with updated visuals)​ #2067

• Changed error messages to look less like a crash report #2178

• Re-added the Quick Play indicator (green triangle and line) that got lost during 3.1.0 development #2122

• Fixed Play-at-speed not updating the playback speed dynamically #2149

• Fixed looping regions being created unintentionally when attempting to use Timeline Quick Play #2182

• Fixed looping sometimes playing the wrong audio #2103

• Fixed a bug that could cause data-loss when joining multiple clips #2226

• Fixed scrub preview visibility #2294

• Fixed a bug when trying to locate FFMPEG manually #2282

• Fixed a glitch with Loop Playback #2314

• Fixed a crash and a macOS-specific bug when renaming sync-locked clips using a dialog box. #2199, #2198

• Fixed a crash when releasing a clip handle #2147

• Fixed a freeze when closing Audacity with the logging window open #2114

• Fixed a crash when loading a saved project using certain compilers #2216

• Fixed a crash on paste after running macros #2021

• Fixed a crash when cancelling a nyquist prompt #2239

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.1.x requires the CPU to support the SSE2 instruction set which should be available on any Intel hardware produced after 2001 and any AMD hardware produced after 2003.

  • To check what SSE levels your CPU supports, you can install CPU-Z.

  • If your hardware only supports SSE, you may download Audacity 2.0.6 see the Legacy Windows page on the Audacity Website.

• 3.1.x does not support Windows XP.

  • You may try 2.2.2 on XP, but it is unsupported.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.1.x is for Intel Macs running OS X 10.7 and later and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at http://audacityteam.org/download/legacy-mac/.

Linux

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu Linux.

  • Other Linux distributions should work, but aren't tested by the Audacity team.

Example 1: Loud MP3

A batch processing Macro to compress and normalize WAV files then convert them to MP3:

1. Insert Compressor to reduce the dynamic range of each WAV, also normalizing them to maximum amplitude of 0 dB

2. Insert Export as MP3 to convert them to MP3 format

3. Click Apply Macro to: Files... to select the files on which to run the Macro.

4. Click OK to close the Manage Macros window

Example 2: NR&EQ

An effects automation Macro for the current project that applies noise reduction and equalization:

1. Insert Normalize with settings of:

   1. Remove any DC offset

   2. -10 dB (to allow for boosting frequencies later in the Macro without clipping)

2. Insert Noise Reduction

3. Insert Filter Curve EQ (to perform the frequency adjustment)

4. Insert another Normalize at different settings (without offset removal, setting a final amplitude of -1 dB)

5. Click OK to close the Manage Macros window

When later needed in your workflow, choose Tools > Apply Macro..., select the NR&EQ Macro then click Apply Macro to: Project to apply the Macro to the selected track(s) in the current project window.

Useful Commands

The Select command with 'Relative To=Selection' can be used to extend and contract a selection.

Command: "Select: RelativeTo=Selection Start=-1 End=1" Description: This command expands a selection by two seconds

Command: "Select: RelativeTo=Selection Start=1 End=-1" Description: This command contracts a selection by two seconds

Command: "Select: RelativeTo=Selection Start=1 End=1" Description: This command moves a selection right by one second

Command: "SelTrackStartToEnd" Description: This command (from Select > Region > Track Start to End) Selects all audio in all selected tracks.

Command: "SelNextClip" and "SelPrevClip" Description: These commands are useful with Clips

Extra Macros

Spectral Magickes Wacky-Macro

This Macro takes a single mono track, and converts it to a stereo track, with one channel a spectrogram and the other a wave.

It is one example of how to creatively abuse the Macro system, since audacity is not set up to handle mixed views on wave tracks.

• Note the use of a TrackCount of 0.5 to select just one of two channels in a stereo track.

• The TrackCount of 0 is used to unselect all tracks.

SelectAll:
Duplicate:
Select:"Mode=Set"
SetTrack:Pan="-1"
Select:"Mode=Set" Track="1"
SetTrack:Pan="1"
Select:Mode="Set" TrackCount="2"
MixAndRender:
Select:Mode="Set" TrackCount="0.5"
SetTrack:Display="Spectrogram"
Select:"Mode=Set" TrackCount="0"

Reparations Magicke Spell

With normal project rate of 44100Hz, this selects about 126 samples centered on the cursor, and applies the 'Repair' effect to it. 'Repair' can only handle up to 128 samples.

SelectTime:End="0.00143" RelativeTo="Selection Start" Start="-0.00143"
Repair:Use_Preset="<Factory Defaults>"

Audacity Wiki

The Audacity Wiki has been shut down.

You may find the information you were looking for in the following places:

A wikidump of the Audacity Wiki as of March 31, 2023 can be found in the Internet Archive. It can be accessed and worked with in the same way as Wikipedia's dumps.

Device preferences

In Audacity version 3.3.0, the Device preference page has been renamed to Audio Settings.

Project Rate

In Audacity version 3.3.0, the Project Rate has been renamed to Project Sample Rate and moved into the Audio Setup button -> Audio Settings

Cut, Copy and Paste buttons

The Cut, Copy and Paste buttons have been removed from the Edit Toolbar in version 3.2.0.

Audacity version 3.2.3 introduced the Cut/Copy/Paste Toolbar which is disabled by default. Check View > Toolbars > Cut/Copy/Paste Toolbar to enable it.

You can also access the Cut/Copy/Paste functionality in the following ways instead:

• Right-click the selected audio and choose Cut/Copy/Paste

• In the Edit menu, choose Cut/Copy/Paste

• Use shortcuts:

  • Ctrl+X is cut (Cmd+X on macOS)

  • Ctrl+C is copy (Cmd+C on macOS)

  • Ctrl+V is paste (Cmd+V on macOS)

Device Toolbar

The Device toolbar has been replaced by the Audio Setup button in version 3.2.0. However, you can re-enable it via View -> Toolbars -> Device Toolbar.

Zoom Tool

The Zoom Tool has been removed in version 3.2.0. All of it's functionality can be accessed via the Zoom buttons, or via Ctrl+Scroll (Cmd+Scroll)

Time Shift Tool

Audacity's Time Shift Tool has been removed in version 3.1.0. It got replaced by drag handles at the top of every clip. You now can time-shift audio without having to switch into a special mode.

Any page of both support.audacityteam.org and plugins.audacityteam.org can be edited either on Gitbook (see Writing Tutorials and User Guides for instructions) or using Markdown syntax on GitHub.

Editing through Github.com

A link for GitHub is shown either on the right-hand side or in an overflow menu of any page:

Once you are on GitHub, you will see a pencil in the top right of the file.

You now can make your changes to the page.

Once you are done, press Propose Changes

This brings you to a page where you can review your changes. If you are satisfied, click Create Pull Request.

After you click "create pull request", it will show up on https://github.com/audacity/audacity-support/pulls and await review by an Audacity team member.

Editing through a local editor

You can edit Markdown in any text editor. More advanced editors like VSCode may show useful shortcuts and visualizations for easier and faster editing, but in principle, even the simplest text editors like Windows Notepad can be used to create them.

To get started, first clone the repository, either using git clone https://github.com/audacity/audacity-support.git by clicking the code button on https://github.com/audacity/audacity-support and opening it in GitHub Desktop

Once it's cloned, you'll find the files of support.audacityteam.org in the main branch, and the files of plugins.audacityteam.org in the plugins branch. Any additional branches have been split off from the main branch to preserve documentation for previous versions of Audacity.

Technical notes

Outside from the syntax requirements, there are some more technical things you need to be aware of:

• The sidebar menu is handled through SUMMARY.md, not the file structure itself. If you want the page you created to show up in the sidebar, you will need to update this file accordingly. That said: Try to match the structure of SUMMARY.md with the folder structure.

• While you technically can work directly in your fork's main/plugins branch, it is highly recommended to make a new branch based on upstream/main or upstream/plugins instead for your changes. This way, you can always fast-forward merge the latest changes into your fork.

• When updating your fork's side-branches to the latest state of main, rebase it if possible.

Rescan audio devices

If Audacity shows you an error message when trying to record or playback audio start using Transport > Rescan Audio Devices to update the list of devices.

After rescanning audio devices try selecting a different host using the Audio Setup button and make sure the desired device is selected as your Recording or Playback Device

If the error is still present try changing the Project Rate to a different value:

Recording and Playback Levels

Verify that the Recording Meter Toolbar and the Playback Meter Toolbar sliders are set to an appropiate level. Place the mouse cursor over the meter and Audacity will display the corresponding level

Privacy permissions

Some operating systems may block access to the microphone for untrusted apps. You need to allow microphone access for Audacity in order to record.

Enable the microphone

If your microphone is not listed under the Audio Setup > Recording Device dropdown, select Transport > Rescan Audio Devices to refresh the list of recording devices. If it still doesn't appear after rescanning it could be disabled in your operating system audio settings. You need to enable it in order to record.

Update sound device drivers and firmware

It is recommended to update drivers for audio devices you are using. The way to do that depends on the specific device but in general it is recommended to visit the manufacturer support website.

Some audio devices install a complementary application that provides options to check for firmware and driver updates.

Using Windows Device Manager

Windows users can try to manually update drivers using Device Manager, before looking for drivers on the Internet. This is easiest, but may not necessarily find the latest or most appropriate drivers.

• Windows 10 / Windows 11: Right click the Start button and select Device Manager

• Windows 8 / Windows 7 / Windows Vista: Click Start > Control Panel then using the "Category" view, click "Hardware and Sound", find "Devices and Printers" near the top of the screen then click on "Device Manager" (the last item in the list underneath). "Icons" views have a direct link to Device Manager, as does "Classic View" on Windows Vista only.

Then expand Sound, video and game controllers by clicking on the + sign, right-click over the sound device and click Update driver.

After the update (even if more recent drivers were not found), you should right-click over the device again, click Properties and then on the Driver tab to check the "Driver Provider". You don't want drivers from Microsoft - in most cases these are only generic drivers, not specifically matched to your hardware. This often leads to problems such as not being able to select the correct input, or recordings not being made correctly. These must be replaced with drivers made by the manufacturer of your hardware, so they are correctly matched to that hardware.

If you have now got updated non-Microsoft drivers, try them and see if your recording problem is solved.

Check physical connections

Use the Recording Meter Toolbar to check the audio level that Audacity is receiving from the selected Recording Device. Click on the microphone icon to Start/Stop monitoring the audio level.

If there is no level present on the meter check if the microphone is muted in your operating system audio settings:

You can also check if your device provides some physical control to mute or set the audio level.

If the controls on your device are properly set you should check the connections between the computer and the recording device.

WASAPI and USB devices

Due to a Windows limitation, you cannot use WASAPI on a USB device while listening back on an onboard audio card. Use MME or DirectSound instead, or use the USB device for both the input and output (if possible).

Audacity 3.0.2 was released on 19th Apr 2021.

Checksums

Changes and improvements since previous version

Audacity 3.0.2 replaces all previous versions.

• Over 30 bugs fixed since 3.0.0

Full details of new features in the visual guide to

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 3.0.2 requires the CPU to support the instruction set which should be available on any Intel hardware produced after 2001 and any AMD hardware produced after 2003.

  • To check what SSE levels your CPU supports, you can install .

  • If your hardware only supports SSE, you may download Audacity 2.0.6 see the page on the Audacity Website.

• 3.0.1 does not support Windows XP.

  • You may try 2.2.2 on XP, but it is unsupported.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 3.0.2 is for Intel Macs running OS X 10.7 and later and macOS.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at .

Linux

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu Linux.

  • Audacity may compile on Gentoo, Debian, Mint.

  • Audacity does not currently compile on SuSE Linux.

Buglists

We probably track more bugs than you are interested in...

We used to have a separate page with a dynamic buglist for each version, but nowadays we recommend instead to visit our for current bug status.

We do use this detail in our own QA work.

Highlighted Issues

Below are listed what we believe are the most common and important issues with 3.0.2 for most users.

macOS Big Sur

Accessibility

• Less of Audacity is properly accessible to visually impaired users than we would like. Currently the best supported platform for accessibility is Windows. We lost a lot of custom accessibility programming when we had to move to a more recent version of the wxWidgets library.

Internationalization

• Audacity is only partially translated in many languages. We also have some issues, for example, with Right-To-Left Languages.

Selected Bugzilla-Tracked Bugs

• Click on the bug numbers to see work done on these bugs.

Audacity 2.4.1 was released on 20th May 2020.

Checksums

Changes and improvements since previous version

Audacity 2.4.1 replaces all previous versions. It contains a rapid fix for a serious bug in the briefly issued Audacity 2.4.0 release.

• Over 100 bugs fixed since 2.3.3

Full details of new features in the visual guide to

Supported Platforms

Windows

• Audacity 2.4.1 requires the CPU to support the instruction set which should be available on any Intel hardware produced after 2001 and any AMD hardware produced after 2003.

  • To check what SSE levels your CPU supports, you can install .

  • If your hardware only supports SSE, you may download Audacity 2.0.6 see the page on the Audacity Website.

• 2.4.1 does not support Windows XP.

  • You may try 2.2.2 on XP, but it is unsupported.

macOS / Mac OS X

• Audacity 2.4.1 is for Intel Macs running OS X 10.7 and later and macOS including Catalina.

  • There are legacy versions for older OS X at .

Linux

• Linux support is tested on Ubuntu Linux. Use the CMake build. The Automake build is no longer reliable.

  • Audacity may compile on Gentoo, Debian, Mint.

  • Audacity does not currently compile on SuSE Linux.

Interactive Buglist Page

We probably track more bugs than you are interested in...

On the dynamic buglist page you can select to view:

• Complete list of bugs in 2.3.3 that we have fixed for 2.4.1

• Known bugs on the OS you use Mac, Windows or Linux.

• Known bugs to do with accessibility or localization.

• Workarounds for some bugs.

• Serious bugs and less serious bugs.

You can choose various combinations of these. However, there are probably too many minor bugs and too much detail on that dynamic buglist page for most users.

We do use this detail in our own QA work.

Highlighted Issues

• Below are listed what we believe are the most common and important issues with 2.4.1 for most users.

Accessibility

• Less of Audacity is properly accessible to visually impaired users than we would like. Currently the best supported platform for accessibility is Windows. We lost a lot of custom accessibility programming when we had to move to a more recent version of the wxWidgets library.

Internationalization

• Audacity is only partially translated in many languages. We also have some issues, for example, with Right-To-Left Languages.

Selected Bugzilla-Tracked Bugs

• Click on the bug numbers to see work done on these bugs.