FAQ:Installation, Startup and Plug-ins - Audacity Manual
From Audacity Manual
If you can't download Audacity from our official download page
please check at
to see if the problem is with your connection. If the downloaded setup file is corrupt, it's a very good idea to clear the download list or cache in your browser or download manager then try downloading again.
If problems persist, please let us know at our .
Audacity provides ready-built installer programs for Windows and Mac, but Audacity can also be built from
on any platform. With a little knowledge, building is a great way to customize Audacity! For help, please see the Wiki documentation for ,
If you still cannot build Audacity, please ask on the
board on the .
Please tell us whether you are building from a release tarball or Audacity HEAD.
On Windows, please give all the instances of "ERROR" in the Visual Studio output window (including Linker errors).
For Mac and Linux, please provide the last lines of the configure or make output that fail.
For Linux, also tell us which distribution and release you are using (for example, Ubuntu 11.10 or Fedora 16).
Save: On the , left-click the "installer" link (do not right-click). Left-clicking pops up the download box for the Audacity installer or in Microsoft Edge starts the download at once (at this point you will be on the
site where our downloads are hosted). Save the download to your computer if prompted to do so.
Check the browser preferences if necessary to find out where your downloads are saved. Then double-click the downloaded .exe file to start the installer. You must be logged in as an administrator on the computer to do this, or follow the prompts to confirm your permission to install.
Run: Using Internet Explorer and a few other browsers, you can left-click the "installer" link and select an option to "Run" the file. This launches the Audacity setup as soon as it has downloaded. Note: Some security programs will query or block installers running from the computer's temporary space.
Updating a previous installation: If you install a new Audacity version after installing a previous one, the installer will offer to install to the same directory as the previous installation. If the previous installation was Audacity 1.2 or 2.x, the installation directory is normally Program Files\Audacity (or Program Files(x86)\Audacity on 64-bit Windows). As long as you don't change the installation directory, Audacity will install over the previous 1.2 or 2.x version, and any extra plug-ins you added to the "Plug-Ins" folder will still be available. If the previous version was 1.3.x, please uninstall 1.3 before installing the current 2.x version. After uninstalling 1.3, any extra plug-ins you added to that version will remain, and you can move them to the "Plug-Ins" folder of the new installation.
Updating optional libraries:
If upgrading from Audacity 2.0.5 or earlier, you must upgrade to the latest
library if you require import and export of , AC3, AMR (narrow band) and .
If upgrading from Audacity 1.3.6 or earlier, you must update to the latest
library if you require
Otherwise there is no need to upgrade LAME or FFmpeg unless this is indicated in the
for the new version of Audacity.
If you prefer not to use the installer (or security restrictions prevent installing programs), left-click the link for the "zip" file instead. Then right-click the downloaded file and choose the option to extract the contents. You can also use
or other extraction utilities.
This error occurs if you are running less than the latest "Service Pack" of updates for your Windows XP system.
To run on Windows XP 32-bit, Audacity requires the latest .
To run on Windows XP 64-bit, Audacity requires the latest .
To check if you have 32-bit or 64-bit XP, click Start, then Run, then type "winmsd.exe" (without quotes) and click OK. In "System Summary", the "Processor" item will start with x86 for a 32-bit system or IA-64 or AMD64 for a 64-bit system.
Please note that Windows XP is
so even with the latest Service Pack it will be unpatched against any new security vulnerabilities that appear. Consider if you can update to the much more secure Windows 7 or Windows 8. If this is not practicable, you could try installing a
operating system instead. Most versions of Linux are free and all are very secure.
If you remain with Windows XP, ensure you have a good third-party anti-virus application, though be aware that this will not give you complete protection if previously unknown security threats emerge. For extra protection, install the
from Microsoft on your XP system. This application is quite .
For Windows Vista and Windows 7, click the Windows Start button, then Control Panel, then "Programs". Under "Default Programs", click "Make a file type always open in a specific program".
Choose ".wav", ".mp3" or your chosen extension, then click "Change program..." and browse for Audacity to associate it with that file type.
Another method is to use the Windows Start button, type "Run" (without quotes), press ENTER, then type %windir%\system32\control.exe /name Microsoft.DefaultPrograms /page pageFileAssoc and press ENTER.
On any version of Windows you can instead set the default association of a file type with Audacity by right-clicking over any file of that type, choosing "Open with" then "Choose default program...".
If you have two different versions of Audacity, and you want to be able to choose which one, then you will need to rename one to give them different names, such as audacity.exe and audacity_old.exe.
Audacity can be uninstalled by choosing "Add/Remove Programs" or "Uninstall a program" in the Windows Control Panel. Select "Audacity" from the list and follow the instructions which will launch the Audacity uninstall program. Make sure you quit Audacity before uninstalling, or you will receive errors that some files could not be removed.
If the Control Panel cannot uninstall Audacity, open the folder in which you installed Audacity and double-click "unins000.exe" (this file might have other numbers in the name). This requires "unins000.dat" (or similar) to be present in the installation folder.
If you still cannot uninstall Audacity,
the installer again. Install Audacity to the same location you installed it to before (which happens by default). This will replace the uninstall files with good copies, then you can run the uninstaller again.
Uninstallation leaves your Audacity settings intact, in case you want to install Audacity again at some time in the future. If you want to remove your settings as well, delete Audacity's folder for application data whose location is given .
On OS X 10.7.5 and later, the Apple
feature controls launching of applications downloaded from the internet. If Gatekeeper won't launch Audacity because it is "from an unidentified developer" or "not downloaded from the Mac App Store", right-click or control-click on the Audacity application in Finder, choose "Open",
then in the dialog box that appears, choose "Open". You should then be able to launch Audacity normally on subsequent occasions.
Occasionally, you may see an error message that "Audacity is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Trash." If this message persists when you right-click or control-click over Audacity, open Apple menu & System Preferences... & Security & Privacy: General tab. Under the header "Allow applications downloaded from:", choose "Anywhere".
Audacity should now launch. It would now be advisable to change the "Anywhere" preference back to a more restrictive setting.
Incompatible audio device or audio drivers
If the Audacity hang or crash occurs after you added or enabled a new audio device, try removing or disabling that device (or ) then restart Audacity. If the problem occurred after a driver update, try rolling back to the previous set of drivers. On Windows, you can .
If the entire computer crashes, reboots or displays a blue screen message when you launch Audacity, this is almost always due to a bad or mismatched audio driver (or due to a system driver conflicting with your sound device). See how to
to diagnose crashes.
LADSPA, LV2, VST or Audio Unit plug-ins
A hang or crash could occur after you use the
dialog to add new , ,
(Mac OS X) effects. The crash or hang could occur immediately after pressing OK in the dialog, when using an effect, when exiting Audacity or when restarting it next time.
If Audacity crashes immediately after you enable one or more effects in the Plug-in Manager dialog, the effect(s) that crashed should be disabled next time you launch Audacity. They will be relisted in Plug-in Manager as "New" rather than "Disabled". If Audacity crashes when an effect is launched from the Effect Menu or applied to the audio, you can restart Audacity then try disabling the effect in the Plug-in Manager. This effect will then not be available in Effect Menu.
Sometimes it may not be obvious which effects to disable to solve a hang or crash. You might be able to identify offending effects from Audacity.zip if there is an Audacity . You can also try Windows Event Viewer (or more easily on Windows Vista and later, type "Reliability" without quotes in the Search box to open Reliability Monitor). To view Mac OS X reports, open /Applications/Utilities/Console.app then look at the System Diagnostic Reports.
Should it remain unclear which effects are responsible, it may be useful to reset Audacity to load only the enabled effects that it had on first installation. To do this, go to Audacity's folder for application data as follows:
Windows XP: Documents and Settings\&user name&\Application Data\Audacity\ (or type %appdata% in Explorer)
Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8: Users\&user name&\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\ (or type %appdata% in Explorer)
OS X: ~/Library/Application Support/audacity/ (use Go & Go to Folder in Finder)
Linux: ~/.audacity-data/ .
In that folder, delete the pluginregistry.cfg and pluginsettings.cfg files and restart Audacity.
Then you can use the Plug-in Manager dialog to selectively enable effects to find the possible culprit.
If you discover a specific plug-in that misbehaves in Audacity, please email our . Please include any available
that Audacity generates.
Resetting Audacity Preferences
The Audacity window could also fail to appear due to some Audacity configuration problem. To solve this, try .
Viruses and anti-virus scanning
Conflicts with other applications such as security or anti-virus applications can occasionally cause Audacity not to launch. Try turning off some of the more advanced behavior detection settings in the security application, or add an exception to its settings to make Audacity a trusted application. Conversely if you have not run a virus scan for a while, update your security application to the latest virus definitions and perform a thorough scan in case a newly acquired virus is the problem.
If you see a message that Audacity is already running when you attempt to restart it, go to Task Manager (Windows), Activity Monitor (Mac OS X) or similar to force quit Audacity.
Uninstalling Audacity does not automatically repair or reset your settings in Audacity . If you are trying to fix a problem with Audacity, take one of the following actions.
Quit Audacity and
using the audacity.cfg settings file. There is then no need to uninstall and re-install.
Alternatively, Windows users may run the installer and in the "Select Additional Tasks" screen, put a check in the "Reset Preferences" box. Complete the installation. On launching Audacity, a dialog will appear where you can confirm if you want to reset preferences just this once, or not.
Because of software patents, Audacity cannot include
encoding software or distribute such software from its own websites. Instead, use the following instructions to download and install the free and recommended
third-party encoder to export MP3 files with Audacity.
page for more details.
Go to the external  Left-click this link, do not right-click.
Directly underneath "TO DOWNLOAD Lame and FFmpeg for Windows, click links BELOW", left-click the link Lame v3.99.3 for Windows.exe and save the file anywhere on your computer.
Double-click "Lame v3.99.3 for Windows.exe" to launch it (you can safely ignore any warnings that the "publisher could not be verified").
Follow the Setup instructions to install LAME for Audacity, making sure not to change the offered installation location of "C:\Program Files\Lame for Audacity" (or "C:\Program Files (x86)\Lame for Audacity" on a 64-bit version of Windows).
You should now be able to export MP3s without any further configuration, choosing File &
then selecting "MP3 Files" in the .
Troubleshooting
Occasionally, there may be a conflict where Audacity still tries to detect the path to an older lame_enc.dll file. To correct this:
Ensure there are no older versions of lame_enc.dll in any locations where Audacity detects it, namely:
C:\Program Files\Lame for Audacity or C:\Program Files (x86)\Lame for Audacity (this is where the installer puts the new .dll)
the Audacity installation folder (usually C:\Program Files\Audacity or C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity), or in the "Plug-Ins" folder inside that.
Exit Audacity and navigate to the audacity.cfg preferences file at:
Windows XP: Documents and Settings\&user name&\Application Data\Audacity\audacity.cfg
Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8: Users\&user name&\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\audacity.cfg.
In order to see audacity.cfg, you may need to set the operating system to show hidden files and folders. See instructions for
Open audacity.cfg in a text editor such as Notepad, and delete the two lines starting with:
[MP3]MP3LibPath=
Save the changes to audacity.cfg and restart Audacity.
As an alternative to editing the audacity.cfg file, you may instead delete that file itself. However this will completely reset your , which may not be what you want.
On OS X 10.6 or later, Administrative (and occasionally, root) permissions may be needed on some machines to read the LAME library the installer places in /usr/local/lib/audacity. In case of difficulty, please download the zip version "Lame_Library_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_OSX.zip" from "Alternative zip download for Lame 3.98.2"
and follow the instructions.
Go to the external .
Download Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity on OSX.dmg.
When you have finished downloading, double-click the .dmg to mount it, then go to the Finder (in Safari, the "Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity" virtual disk image will be extracted and mounted automatically after downloading).
Double-click "Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity.pkg"; the standard OS X Installer will start
Click through the steps in the Installer, accepting the d this will install the LAME binary "libmp3lame.dylib" in /usr/local/lib/audacity.
Audacity should detect LAME automatically when you export as MP3. If Audacity cannot find LAME:
Click Audacity &
then choose "Libraries" on the left.
Click "Locate..." under "MP3 Export Library", then "Browse..." in the "Locate Lame" dialog.
The "Where is libmp3lame.dylib?" window will open at /usr/local/lib/ select "libmp3lame.dylib", click "Open" then "OK" and "OK".
Alternative zip download for Lame 3.98.2
Download "Lame_Library_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_OSX.zip" from the .
Extract the contents of the zip to a folder called "Lame_Library_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_OSX" anywhere you have full permissions (such as your Desktop).
Click Audacity &
then choose "Libraries" on the left.
Click "Locate..." under "MP3 Export Library", then "Browse..." in the "Locate Lame" dialog.
Navigate to and open the folder you extracted the zip to, select "libmp3lame.dylib", click "Open" then "OK" and "OK".
This is a good solution if Audacity does not recognize or work correctly with libmp3lame.dylib when installed to /usr/local/lib/audacity.
You should now be able to export MP3s without any further configuration, choosing File &
then selecting "MP3 Files" in the .
In case of difficulty please view our
You may download (or compile) then install a compatible version of the LAME MP3 encoder then
Most Linux distributions have some sort of package manager that fetches software packages from the Internet and installs them for you. Open that package manager, search for LAME, and install it if it is not already installed.
Some distributions (for example, current Ubuntu) package Audacity with MP3 encoding and FFmpeg (or ) already linked dynamically to the relevant system libraries. In these packaged Audacity builds there is no need to locate LAME or FFmpeg, so Audacity will have no "Libraries" Preferences.
Users compiling Audacity from
can similarly remove the "Libraries" Preferences by configuring Audacity with --disable-dynamic-loading then build Audacity linked to both system LAME and system FFmpeg or (libav). Audacity currently requires FFmpeg 1.2 to 2.3.x (or libav
0.8 to 10.x), so if system FFmpeg or libav is outside those versions you may first need to build an appropriate local version of FFmpeg or libav to link to.
In Ubuntu 11.10 and later the default package manager is the "Ubuntu Software Center". It is often most convenient to install the "Ubuntu Restricted Extras" as this includes LAME, FFmpeg and other useful media encoding/decoding tools.
If you wish to install only the LAME package required for MP3 export, search for LAME in the Ubuntu Software Center and install it.
The following are detailed instructions for installing LAME using the Synaptic package manager on recent Debian-based systems and in Ubuntu 11.04 and earlier.
Open Synaptic:
In GNOME (the default desktop environment for many Debian-based systems), access Synaptic by clicking System & Administration
In KDE there will be a similar menu accessible from the bottom-left of the screen
Enter the root password when asked for it.
In the Synaptic window, choose "Settings", then "Repositories"
In the "distribution Software" tab, check the box for "non free" (on Ubuntu based systems this is called "multiverse"), then hit the Close button.
Back in the main Synaptic Window, type "lame" in the "Quick search" box.
The search results will show the packages "lame" and "libmp3lame0" at mark both for installation by double-clicking.
Click "Apply", and on "OK" the LAME software will automatically download and install.
Right-click over the entry for "libmp3lame0" & Properties
On the "Installed Files" tab, note the location of "libmp3lame.so.0", probably at /usr/lib/libmp3lame.so.0
Close all the Synaptic windows
Open Audacity, click Edit &
then on "Libraries" in the list on the left
In "MP3 Export Library" check if a LAME version number displays to right of "MP3 Library Version". If so, LAME has been detected and you should now be able to export MP3 and skip the remainder of these instructions. If the MP3 Library is stated as "not found":
Click the "Locate..." button
In the "Locate Lame" dialog that appears, click "Browse"
In the "Where is libmp3lame.so.0?" dialog, navigate to the location you noted in step 9, select "libmp3lame.so.0", click "Open", then "OK" and "OK" to exit Preferences
If your distribution does not have a LAME package, please view these
The optional
allows Audacity to import and export a much larger
including , AC3, AMR (narrow band) and
and also to import audio from most video files.
Because of software patents, Audacity cannot include the FFmpeg software or distribute it from its own websites. Instead, use the following instructions to download and install the free and recommended FFmpeg third-party library.
FFmpeg 2.2.2 for Windows and Mac from the links below should be used with the .
The previous FFmpeg 0.6.2 for Audacity will not be recognized by Audacity 2.0.6 and later, and FFmpeg 2.2.2 will not be recognized by Audacity versions before 2.0.6.
FFmpeg 2.3.x shared libraries should also be recognized by Audacity 2.0.6 and later. FFmpeg 2.4.x and later is not supported, except for exports using Audacity's .
Advanced usage: If you already have Audacity-compatible FFmpeg 2.2.x or 2.3.x shared libraries in the system PATH, Audacity will use those as long as you don't install FFmpeg from the links below and as long as you don't specify the FFmpeg you want Audacity to use in .
Go to the external
 Left-click this link, do not right-click.
Directly underneath "TO DOWNLOAD Lame and FFmpeg for Windows, click links BELOW", left-click the link ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.exe and save the file anywhere on your computer.
Double-click ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.exe to launch the installer (you can safely ignore any warnings that the "publisher could not be verified").
Read the License and click Next, Next and Install to install the required files to C:\Program Files\FFmpeg for Audacity (or C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity on a 64-bit version of Windows).
If you have the previous FFmpeg 0.6.2 installed to the same location, the FFmpeg 2.2.2 installation will overwrite the 0.6.2 installation with the new files. There is no need to uninstall FFmpeg 0.6.2 first.
If Audacity was running when you installed FFmpeg, either restart Audacity or follow the steps to .
Alternative zip download for FFmpeg 2.2.2
Go to the external
 Left-click this link, do not right-click.
Under "TO DOWNLOAD Lame and FFmpeg for Windows, click links BELOW", left-click the link ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.zip and save the file anywhere on your computer.
Extract the contents to a folder called "ffmpeg-win-2.2.2" anywhere on your computer, then follow the instructions
to locate the file "avformat-55.dll" using the Libraries Preferences.
Installer:
Go to the external
 Left-click this link, do not right-click.
Directly underneath "TO DOWNLOAD Lame and FFmpeg for Windows, click links BELOW", left-click the link ffmpeg-mac-2.2.2.dmg and save the file anywhere on your computer.
When you have finished downloading, double-click the DMG file to mount it (if you download with Safari, the ffmpeg virtual disk image will be extracted and mounted automatically after downloading). If the DMG window is not on top, go to Finder, then under "Devices" on the left, click the "ffmpeg-mac-2.2.2" DMG.
In the DMG window, double-click the "ffmpeg-mac-2.2.2.pkg" to launch the standard OS X package installer.
Click through the steps in the installer, accepting the defaults in all cases. This will install the FFmpeg libraries in /Library/Application Support/audacity/libs.
Restart Audacity if it was running when you installed FFmpeg then Audacity should detect FFmpeg automatically.
If you have problems with Audacity detecting FFmpeg, follow the steps to .
Go to the external
 Left-click this link, do not right-click.
Directly underneath "TO DOWNLOAD Lame and FFmpeg for Windows, click links BELOW", left-click the link ffmpeg-mac-2.2.2.zip and save the file anywhere on your computer.
Some Mac computers may extract the files from the zip automatically to a new folder in the download directory. Otherwise, extract the contents to a folder called "ffmpeg-mac-2.2.2" anywhere you have full permissions (such as your Desktop). Then follow the instructions
to locate libavformat.55.dylib using the Libraries Preferences.
On OS X 10.6 or later, it is not recommended to extract the files to /usr/local/lib because on some machines, administrative or root permissions may be needed to read the FFmpeg library from there.
Compiling Audacity against another build of FFmpeg:
You can also build and install your own copy of FFmpeg 1.2 or later using source code from the . Then
, linking to your self-installed copy of FFmpeg according to
You may download (or compile) and install a compatible version of the FFmpeg or libav library for your purposes then
it in Libraries Preferences.
If you download a pre-built library, this might be either a "shared" or "static" build. A static build consists of a single libavformat library, whereas a shared build has at least three libraries (libavformat, libavcodec and libavutil). It is recommended to use a shared build, but Audacity will also work with a static build.
To build FFmpeg, obtain the source code from the . To build libav, obtain the source code from the . Configure the build with --enable -shared so that it builds the necessary shared object library (.so) files. If required, you can also configure to enable or disable particular encoding/decoding libraries. When you build Audacity from our , it will link to the installed FFmpeg headers.
Audacity 2.0.6 and later support FFmpeg 1.2 to 2.3.x (or libav 0.8 to 0.10.x).
Compiling Audacity against supported FFmpeg/libav: Dynamic loading (as in default Audacity ./configure) enables
for manual loading of
and FFmpeg/libav but requires building against the FFmpeg project.
No-longer-supported FFmpeg/libav: Audacity 2.0.6 and later may still build against unsupported FFmpeg/libav (such as FFmpeg 0.8 which is system-installed on Debian Wheezy), but configuring with --disable-dynamic-loading will usually be necessary. This will cause mono WMA files to export with no audio data.
See the "Compiling" section in the 2.0.6 or later
for more guidance.
Some Linux distributions or versions thereof may package Audacity with MP3 encoding and FFmpeg support already linked dynamically to the relevant system libraries. In these packaged builds there is no need to locate LAME or FFmpeg, so Audacity will have no "Libraries" Preferences.
Users compiling Audacity from source code can similarly remove the "Libraries" Preferences by configuring Audacity with --disable-dynamic-loading then build Audacity linked to system LAME and to a system (or local) version of FFmpeg 1.2 to 2.3.x or libav 0.8 to 0.10.x.
If you installed FFmpeg while Audacity was running, or if you installed FFmpeg to a non-default location, Audacity will ask you to configure Preferences to locate the FFmpeg library. To do this, access
then the "Libraries" tab on the left:
As seen in the image above, the "FFmpeg Library Version" will say "not found". To correct this:
Click the Locate... button to right of FFmpeg Library:.
If a "Success" message indicates Audacity has now automatically detected valid FFmpeg libraries and asks if you want to detect them manually, click No, then OK to close Preferences.
If the "Locate FFmpeg" dialog appears, click Browse....
Navigate to the avformat file in the folder that contains FFmpeg, and select it. The file may have different names, such as "avformat-55.dll" on Windows, "libavformat.55.dylib" on Mac or "libavformat.so.55" on Linux.
Click Open then OK and OK again to close Preferences.
FFmpeg Library Version should now show a set of three version numbers for the sub-libraries of FFmpeg ("F" for libavformat version, "C" for libavcodec version and "U" for libavutil version). If you still see "not found", you may have installed the wrong libraries. Click the Download... button to obtain the correct library for your operating system. You can also choose Help &
to see diagnostic information about FFmpeg detection.
plug-ins provide most of the optional effects underneath the divider in the . They are also used to provide some of Audacity's built-in audio
and . A wide range of additional Nyquist effect, generation and analysis plug-ins can be obtained from
on our Wiki.
To add a new Nyquist plug-in, put it in the Audacity "Plug-Ins" folder.
On Windows and OS X the "Plug-Ins" folder is in the directory where Audacity resides - usually C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86) on Windows or the "Applications" folder on OS X.
On Linux, the "plug-ins" folder is in usr/share/audacity if you installed an Audacity package supplied by your distribution, or usr/local/share/audacity if you compiled Audacity from source code. Optionally a "plug-ins" folder can be created in the home directory thus: ~/.audacity-files/plug-ins (you can also call the folder "plugins").
To load the new effects into Audacity so they are available in the menu, use the
Some Nyquist plug-ins could crash while processing very long audio selections (typically an hour or more). This is due to the plug-in using a large amount of memory and is a known issue in Audacity's current Nyquist implementation. Try using the plug-in on shorter selections instead.
Audacity supports almost all VST effect plug-ins on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux including "shell" VST's that host multiple VST effects.
To install new VST effects, place them in the "Plug-Ins" folder inside the Audacity installation folder. On Windows, this is usually under Program Files (or Program Files (x86) on 64-bit Windows). On Mac OS X, it is usually in the "/Applications" folder. On Linux, you must add a "plug-ins" folder to /usr/bin/ (if you installed a packaged version of Audacity) or to /usr/local/bin (if you installed a self-compiled version of Audacity). VST effects will also be found if they are added to (or already exist in) various .
You can install new VST effects into Audacity by using the Effect &
menu item. This opens the
dialog where you can select and enable the new effects then click OK to load them. Next time you launch Audacity the enabled effect(s) will be cached and you won't need to re-enable them.
The list of effects in the dialog will include any detected VST instrument (VSTi) plug-ins (such as synths) and any real-time VST effects that are capable of changing audio data while it's being written to disk. Neither of these are yet supported and they will not load even if you enable or re-enable them in the dialog.
Audacity will by default display VST effect plug-ins with a full graphical interface where the plug-in supplies this.
VST instruments (VSTi) (such as synths) and real-time VST effects (that change the audio data while it's being written) are not yet supported. These will not load even if you enable or re-enable them in the
plug-ins are not supported.
If any plug-in displays incorrectly, you can use the Manage button
in the effect's dialog then choose Options... to open the
for that effect. Then remove the checkmark from the "Enable graphical interface" checkbox  Enable graphical interface and click OK. When you reopen the effect it will display a simpler tabular interface.
On Windows and Mac OS X, Audacity is a 32-bit application so won't see 64-bit versions of VST plug-ins, even on 64-bit operating systems.
On GNU/Linux, 32-bit systems will have 32-bit versions of Audacity which won't see 64-bit VST plug-ins. 64-bit systems will have 64-bit versions of Audacity which will see 64-bit VST plug-ins but won't see 32-bit plug-ins.
If you experience a problem with a specific VST effect plug-in in Audacity, please .
is a more advanced evolution of the
plug-in architecture which was originally developed on Linux. Audacity supports both LV2 and LADSPA effects on Windows and Mac OS X as well as GNU/Linux. You can download and install a
for all operating systems. See
for where to install LADSPA plug-ins. You can then choose which LADSPA plug-ins to enable in the
There are not yet many pre-compiled LV2 plug-ins for Windows and Mac OS X, though it may be possible to compile some Linux LV2 plug-ins for other operating systems. To add a new LV2 effect, place its complete ".lv2" folder (not the files alone) at the top level of any of the
then enable it in the
plug-ins are usually for analyzing audio so will appear under Audacity's . You can do interesting things like attempt to track beats, note pitches, chords or frequencies. Any VAMP plug-ins whose output is suitable for a label track should work in Audacity on Windows, Mac OS X or GNU/Linux. To add a new VAMP analysis tool, add the plug-in's DLL, DYLIB or SO file and any supplied category or RDF files to any of the
then enable the tool in the
Audacity on GNU/Linux supports a large number of , ,
effects are now supported in Audacity on Linux and can be installed as described at . However native Linux VST effects are quite rare. Consequently, if a specific VST effect is required on Linux, it may be necessary to employ
such as running Audacity for Windows in a .
Audacity supports 64-bit effects in VST, LADSPA and VAMP format on 64-bit Linux systems (conversely, 32-bit plug-ins in those formats will not load into Audacity on 64-bit Linux).
Individual Nyquist and LADSPA plug-ins can be installed by putting the plug-ins into the Audacity "Plug-Ins" folder:
/usr/share/audacity/plug-ins if Audacity was installed from a repository package
/usr/local/share/audacity/plug-ins if you compiled Audacity from source code.
These locations are usually set as read-only, so the plug-ins will need to be copied as root (for example, by issuing an appropriate root command in the terminal, or by using the terminal to open a file manager application with root permissions).
Updating the repository package of Audacity may remove plug-ins that are not part of the package. To solve that problem you can:
Create a folder called .audacity-files in your home directory, create a sub-folder called Plug-Ins (or Plugins) then add your plug-ins into that
Add plug-ins to the Plug-Ins folder in the .audacity-data folder in your home directory.
The dot in the folder name .audacity-data and .audacity-files indicates that it is a hidden folder, but the "Plug-Ins" subfolder in either folder is accessible without root permissions and will not be modified by installing a new Audacity package.
Audacity installed from a repository package or
should automatically find LADSPA plug-ins installed in /usr/lib/ladspa. This may not be the case if you are compiling older source code. If necessary you can set an environment variable to indicate to Audacity where LADSPA plug-ins are installed. For Debian-based distributions this can be done by entering the following code at the command prompt (change &user& to your account user name):
export LADSPA_PATH=$LADSPA_PATH:/home/&user&/.ladspa:/usr/local/lib/ladspa:/usr/lib/ladspa
If you wish this path to be set each time you boot, the LADSPA_PATH environment variable may be added to ~/.profile or this file may be created if it does not exist. An example of how to add the LADSPA_PATH environment variable:
LADSPA_PATH=$LADSPA_PATH:/home/&user&/.ladspa:/usr/local/lib/ladspa:/usr/lib/ladspaexport LADSPA_PATH
For OpenSuse 64, LADSPA plug-ins may be found in /usr/lib64/ladspa. This path can be set by adding the following line to your /etc/environment file:
LADSPA_PATH=/usr/lib64/ladspa
plug-ins cannot be placed in the Audacity "Plug-Ins" folder or your .audacity-files folder. LV2 plug-ins should be installed by placing the complete .lv2 folder (not the individual files in that folder) in the root of ~/.lv2, /usr/local/lib/lv2, /usr/local/lib64/lv2, /usr/lib/lv2 or /usr/lib64/lv2. Alternatively the environment variable may be set as in this example:
export LV2_PATH=$HOME/.lv2:/usr/local/lib/lv2:/usr/lib/lv2
VAMP plug-ins may be installed in $HOME/vamp, $HOME/.vamp, /usr/local/lib/vamp or /usr/lib/vamp. Alternatively the VAMP_PATH environment variable may be set to any of those specified VAMP installation directories. VAMP plug-ins will normally be placed in the Analyze Menu of Audacity.
After installing effects, go to the
dialog to enable them in Audacity.
Useful External Links
Offline version created on