FAQ:Installation and Plug-Ins



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What should I do if I have problems downloading or installing Audacity?
If you can't download Audacity from our official download page http://audacityteam.org/download/ or if the downloaded setup file is corrupt, try downloading it from our alternate servers. On the page you come to, click the link that says "Looking for the latest version?". If you want the zip version of Audacity for Mac or Windows, click on the link for the "audacity" folder then on the page you come to, click the link for the Audacity version folder at the top of the list.

What should I do if I get errors building Audacity?
Audacity provides ready-built installer programs for Windows and Mac, but Audacity can also be built from source code on any platform. With a little knowledge, building is a great way to customize Audacity! For help, please see the Wiki documentation for Windows, Mac and Linux.

If you still cannot build Audacity, please ask on the Compiling Audacity board on the Forum.


 * 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).

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Windows: How do I install Audacity, and do I have to uninstall a previous version first?
Save: On the download page, left-click the "installer" link to save it to your computer. Check the browser preferences if necessary to find out where your downloads are saved. Alternatively, right-click over the link, "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" and choose the location to save the file to. Then double-click the downloaded .exe file to start the installer. You must be 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 immediately. 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 (or  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: Otherwise there is no need to upgrade LAME or FFmpeg unless this is indicated in the Release Notes for the new version of Audacity.
 * If upgrading from Audacity 2.0.5 or earlier, you must upgrade to the latest FFmpeg library if you require import and export of M4A (AAC), AC3, AMR (narrow band) and WMA.
 * If upgrading from Audacity 1.3.6 or earlier, you must update to the latest LAME library if you require MP3 export.

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Windows: How can I fix "Entry Point Not Found" when first launching Audacity on Windows XP?
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 Service Pack 3.
 * To run on Windows XP 64-bit, Audacity requires the latest Service Pack 2.

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.

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Windows: How can I make Audacity launch when I double-click a WAV or other audio file?
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...".



Windows: How do I uninstall Audacity?
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, download 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 here.

See also: How do I reset my Audacity settings?

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Mac OS X: Why do I see "unidentified developer", "Mac App Store" or "damaged" messages when I launch Audacity?
On OS X 10.7.5 and later, the Apple Gatekeeper 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. 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.

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How can I solve Audacity not appearing or crashing on launch, or crashing after I add a plug-in?
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 updating its drivers) then restart Audacity. If the problem occurred after a driver update, try rolling back to the previous set of drivers. On Windows, you can revert driver changes caused by Windows Update.

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). You can inspect the memory dump of the computer to identify the source of the problem.

LADSPA, LV2, VST or Audio Unit plug-ins

A hang or crash could occur after you use the Manage Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog to add new LADSPA, LV2, VST or Audio Unit (Mac OS X) effects. The crash or hang could occur immediately after pressing OK in the dialog, when exiting Audacity or when restarting it next time.

If this occurs, try going to Audacity's folder for application data as follows:


 * Windows XP: (or type %appdata% in Explorer)
 * Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8: (or type %appdata% in Explorer)
 * OS X: (use Go > Go to Folder in Finder)
 * Linux:.

In that folder, delete the pluginregistry.cfg and pluginsettings.cfg files and restart Audacity. Audacity will now only load the enabled effects that it had on first installation. Then you can use the Manage Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog to selectively enable effects to find the possible culprit.

On Mac OS X, you can identify a plug-in which crashed from the Mac crash report. To view saved reports, open Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder then on OS X 10.5, type, on OS X 10.6 to 10.9 inclusive type  or on OS X 10.10 type.

Resetting Audacity Preferences and whitelisting it in anti-virus applications

The Audacity window could also fail to appear due to some Audacity configuration problem. To solve this, try resetting the Audacity Preferences.

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. back to top

How do I reset my Audacity settings?
Uninstalling Audacity does not automatically repair or reset your settings in Audacity Preferences. If you are trying to fix a problem with Audacity, take one of the following actions.
 * Quit Audacity and reset Preferences 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.

See also:
 * Windows: How do I uninstall Audacity?
 * How can I solve Audacity not appearing or crashing on launch, or crashing after I add a plug-in?

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Windows

 * 1) Go to the external LAME download page Left-click this link, do not right-click.
 * 2) Directly underneath "For FFmpeg/LAME on Windows click below:", left-click the link Lame v3.99.3 for Windows.exe and save the file anywhere on your computer.
 * 3) 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").
 * 4) 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 > Export Audio... then selecting "MP3 Files" in the Export Audio Dialog.

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\ \Application Data\Audacity\audacity.cfg</li> Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8: Users\ \AppData\Roaming\Audacity\audacity.cfg.</li></ul>

 Open audacity.cfg in a text editor such as Notepad, and delete the two lines starting with: [MP3] MP3LibPath= </li></ul>  Save the changes to audacity.cfg and restart Audacity.</li></ol>

Mac OS X

 * Installer
 * 1) Go to the external LAME download page.
 * 2) Download Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity on OSX.dmg.
 * 3) 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).
 * 4) Double-click "Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity.pkg"; the standard OS X Installer will start
 * 5) Click through the steps in the Installer, accepting the defaults in all cases; this will install the LAME binary "libmp3lame.dylib" in /usr/local/lib/audacity.
 * 6) Audacity should detect LAME automatically when you export as MP3. If Audacity cannot find LAME:
 * 7) Click Audacity > Preferences then choose "Libraries" on the left.
 * 8) Click "Locate..." under "MP3 Export Library", then "Browse..." in the "Locate Lame" dialog.
 * 9) The "Where is libmp3lame.dylib?" window will open at /usr/local/lib/audacity; select "libmp3lame.dylib", click "Open" then "OK" and "OK".

<div id="maclame_zip">
 * Alternative zip download for Lame 3.98.2
 * 1) Download "Lame_Library_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_OSX.zip" from the external download page.
 * 2) 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).
 * 3) Click Audacity > Preferences then choose "Libraries" on the left.
 * 4) Click "Locate..." under "MP3 Export Library", then "Browse..." in the "Locate Lame" dialog.
 * 5) 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 > Export Audio... then selecting "MP3 Files" in the Export Audio Dialog.

In case of difficulty please view our detailed instructions on the Audacity Wiki.

Linux/Unix
You may download (or compile) then install a compatible version of the LAME MP3 encoder then locate it in Libraries Preferences.

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.

Removal of Libraries Preferences
Some distributions (for example, current Ubuntu) package Audacity with MP3 encoding and FFmpeg (or Libav) 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 source code 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.

Installing LAME on Ubuntu 11.10 and later
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.

Installing LAME on other Debian-based systems
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.


 * 1) Open Synaptic:
 * 2) *In GNOME (the default desktop environment for many Debian-based systems), access Synaptic by clicking System > Administration
 * 3) *In KDE there will be a similar menu accessible from the bottom-left of the screen
 * 4) Enter the root password when asked for it.
 * 5) In the Synaptic window, choose "Settings", then "Repositories"
 * 6) In the "distribution Software" tab, check the box for "non free" (on Ubuntu based systems this is called "multiverse"), then hit the Close button.
 * 7) Back in the main Synaptic Window, type "lame" in the "Quick search" box.
 * 8) The search results will show the packages "lame" and "libmp3lame0" at the top of the list; mark both for installation by double-clicking.
 * 9) Click "Apply", and on "OK" for any warnings; the LAME software will automatically download and install.
 * 10) Right-click over the entry for "libmp3lame0" > Properties
 * 11) On the "Installed Files" tab, note the location of "libmp3lame.so.0", probably at /usr/lib/libmp3lame.so.0
 * 12) Close all the Synaptic windows

<div id="locate_linlame">

Locating LAME

 * 1) Open Audacity, click Edit > Preferences then on "Libraries" in the list on the left
 * 2) 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":
 * 3) Click the "Locate..." button
 * 4) In the "Locate Lame" dialog that appears, click "Browse"
 * 5) 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 instructions on the Audacity Wiki.

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Windows
<ol> Go to the external download page Left-click this link, do not right-click.  Directly underneath "For FFmpeg/LAME on Windows click 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 Audacity was running when you installed FFmpeg, either restart Audacity or follow the steps to manually locate FFmpeg.</ol>

<div id="winff_zip">
 * Alternative zip download for FFmpeg 2.2.2
 * 1) Go to the external download page Left-click this link, do not right-click.
 * 2) Under "For FFmpeg/LAME on Windows click below:", left-click the link ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.zip and save the file anywhere on your computer.
 * 3) Extract the contents to a folder called "ffmpeg-win-2.2.2" anywhere on your computer, then follow the instructions below to locate the file "avformat-55.dll" using the Libraries Preferences.

Mac OS X
<div id="macff_dmg"> <ol> Go to the external download page Left-click this link, do not right-click.  Directly underneath "For FFmpeg/LAME on Mac OSX click 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. <li> Restart Audacity if it was running when you installed FFmpeg then Audacity should detect FFmpeg automatically. <li>If you have problems with Audacity detecting FFmpeg, follow the steps to manually locate FFmpeg.</ol>
 * Installer:

<div id="macff_zip"> <ol><li> Go to the external download page Left-click this link, do not right-click. <li> Directly underneath "For FFmpeg/LAME on Mac OSX click below:", left-click the link ffmpeg-mac-2.2.2.zip and save the file anywhere on your computer. <li> 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 below to locate libavformat.55.dylib using the Libraries Preferences. </ol>
 * Zip file:

<ul style="list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none">You can also build and install your own copy of FFmpeg 1.2 or later using source code from the FFmpeg project. Then build Audacity from SVN, linking to your self-installed copy of FFmpeg according to  these principles. </ul>
 * Compiling Audacity against another build of FFmpeg:

GNU/Linux
You may download (or compile) and install a compatible version of the FFmpeg or libav library for your purposes then locate 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 FFmpeg project. To build libav, obtain the source code from the libav project. 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 source code, it will link to the installed FFmpeg headers.

FFmpeg version support
<ul style="list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none">See the "Compiling" section in the 2.0.6 or later Release Notes for more guidance.</ul>
 * Compiling Audacity against supported FFmpeg/libav: Dynamic loading (as in default Audacity ./configure) enables Libraries Preferences for manual loading of LAME 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.

Removal of Libraries Preferences
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.

Locating the FFmpeg library manually
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 Preferences then the "Libraries" tab on the left:
 * [[Image:Preferences Libraries notFound basic7.png|link=]]

As seen in the image above, the "FFmpeg Library Version" will say "not found". To correct this:
 * 1) Click the  button to right of FFmpeg Library:.
 * 2) If a "Success" message indicates Audacity has now automatically detected valid FFmpeg libraries and asks if you want to detect them manually, click, then  to close Preferences.
 * 3) If the "Locate FFmpeg" dialog appears, click.
 * 4) 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.
 * 5) Click  then  and  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 button to obtain the correct library for your operating system. You can also choose to see diagnostic information about FFmpeg detection.

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<div id="vst_install">

How do I install VST plug-ins?
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 system or user locations.

You can install new VST effects into Audacity by using the menu item. This opens the Manage Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog where you can select and enable the new effects then click to load them. Next time you launch Audacity the enabled effect(s) will be cached and you won't need to re-enable them.

See also: Why do some VST plug-ins not work or display incorrectly?

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<div id="vst_faulty">

Why do some VST plug-ins not work or display incorrectly?
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 Manage Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog. VST 3 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 VST Effect Options for that effect. Then remove the checkmark from the "Enable graphical interface" checkbox and click. When you reopen the effect it will display a simpler tabular interface.

If you experience a problem with a specific VST effect plug-in in Audacity, please contact us. See also: How do I install VST plug-ins?

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<div id="lv2_vamp">

What are LADSPA, LV2 or VAMP plug-ins and how do I install them?
LV2 is a more advanced evolution of the LADSPA 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 set of over 90 LADSPA plug-ins for all operating systems. See Adding a LADSPA plug-in for where to install LADSPA plug-ins. You can then choose which LADSPA plug-ins to enable in the Manage Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.

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 LV2 search locations then enable it in the Manage Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.

VAMP plug-ins are usually for analyzing audio so will appear under Audacity's Analyze Menu. 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 VAMP search locations then enable the tool in the Manage Effects, Generators and Analyzers dialog.

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<div id="linux_plug-ins">

How do I install plug-ins on Linux?
Audacity on GNU/Linux supports a large number of Nyquist, LADSPA, LV2 and VAMP effects. VST effects are now supported in Audacity on Linux and can be installed as described at VST Effects. However native Linux VST effects are quite rare. Consequently, if a specific VST effect is required on Linux, it may be necessary to employ workarounds such as running Audacity for Windows in a virtual machine.

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: 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). Audacity installed from a repository package or compiled from source 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 to your account user name): export LADSPA_PATH=$LADSPA_PATH:/home/ /.ladspa:/usr/local/lib/ladspa:/usr/lib/ladspa If you wish this path to be set each time you boot, the LADSPA_PATH environment variable may be added to ~/.profile or this file may be created if it does not exist. An example of how to add the LADSPA_PATH environment variable: LADSPA_PATH=$LADSPA_PATH:/home/ /.ladspa:/usr/local/lib/ladspa:/usr/lib/ladspa export 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
 * /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.

LV2 and VAMP 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. back to top

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