Pricing and availability
We compare 600+ stores and found this item at 1 store. Prices updated .
Price History
Based on price data from 1 merchant for "Audacity". Prices shown reflect NEW condition. Tracking began May 11, 2026.
* Product prices and availability are updated by Equipboard every 24hrs and are subject to change. Equipboard may receive compensation for purchases made at participating retailers linked on this site. This compensation does not affect what products or prices are displayed, or the order of prices listed. For more information, please refer to our affiliate disclosure.
Description
Audacity is your gateway to a world of sound possibilities, offering a robust and user-friendly platform for audio editing and recording. Renowned for its free and open-source nature, Audacity caters to musicians, podcasters, and sound engineers alike, providing a versatile toolset that spans across Windows, macOS, and GNU/Linux. Whether you're capturing live performances or digitizing old tapes, Audacity's multi-track recording capabilities ensure you get the best out of your audio projects.
Dive into its intuitive interface, where editing is a breeze with features like cut, copy, and paste, supported by an unlimited undo history to ensure your creative flow remains uninterrupted. Audacity supports a plethora of file formats, allowing seamless import and export, including the likes of WAV, MP3, and FLAC. Expand your sonic palette with a variety of built-in effects and plugin support, covering LADSPA, VST, and more, or even create custom effects using the Nyquist programming language.
For those who demand precision, Audacity offers high-quality resampling, dithering, and the ability to handle sample rates up to 384,000 Hz on supported devices. With robust analysis tools like spectrogram view and contrast analysis, you can delve into the intricacies of your audio with confidence.
Key Features:
- Free, open-source, and cross-platform software
- Multi-track recording and editing
- Supports WAV, AIFF, MP3, FLAC, and more
- Real-time effects preview with plugin support
- High-quality audio resolution up to 384,000 Hz
- Intuitive editing tools, including cut, copy, paste, and unlimited undo
- Extensive plugin support: LADSPA, LV2, VST, and Audio Unit
- Comprehensive analysis tools and spectrogram view
- Runs on Windows, macOS, and GNU/Linux
- Accessible interface with keyboard shortcuts and screen reader support
Product specs
| Operating Systems | Mac, Windows |
| Downloadable | free |
Videos
Kevin Stratvert
🔊 How to use Audacity to Record & Edit Audio | Beginners Tutorial
Reviews
PROS
-
Free and open-source, making it accessible to everyone
-
Supports a wide range of VST plugins and third-party tools
-
Effective for basic recording, editing, and sample manipulation
-
Lightweight, does not heavily tax system resources
-
Simple interface suitable for beginners
-
Offers spectral editing and mastering capabilities
-
Great for quick audio sampling and conversions
-
Allows monitoring of input levels before recording
-
Extensive community support and plugin availability
-
Perfect for analyzing and cleaning up recordings
CONS
-
Prone to crashing, especially with certain plugins
-
Limited for complex music production compared to professional DAWs
-
Does not natively support MIDI; requires additional setup
-
Interface can be perceived as outdated or counter-intuitive
-
Risk of data loss if project files and data folders are mishandled
Owner Insights
We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Audacity.
Features and functionality
-
Audacity allows importing corrupted audio files as raw data, which can be useful for recovering unusable files.
Source -
Audacity's loopback recording feature is used to capture desktop audio, which some users find useful for grabbing samples.
Source -
Audacity offers batch processing capabilities, making it efficient for handling multiple audio files at once.
Source -
Audacity's Ctrl-M function allows users to mark specific sections during recording for later use, making it easier to create promotional snippets or plan future content.
Source -
Audacity works internally in 32-bit floating-point, providing superior audio processing power compared to standard phone recording apps or basic Windows applications.
Source -
Audacity does not support real-time plugin processing, requiring users to wait for rendering, which limits its efficiency for complex projects.
Source
User experience
-
Some users appreciate Audacity's ability to quickly trim silences from the beginning and end of audio files and convert between formats.
Source
Use cases and applications
-
Audacity is noted for being effective in editing podcasts, especially in environments with background noise, using tools like previewing in and out points with the B key.
Source -
Audacity is favored for its ability to record and post-process audio in the same platform, eliminating the need to switch between different software for simple recording tasks.
Source -
The software is particularly appreciated for its ability to handle both single and multiple track recordings quickly, making it ideal for simpler projects that don't require a full DAW.
Source -
Audacity is commonly used for ripping vinyl, leveraging its robust editing and processing capabilities for converting analog recordings to digital formats.
Source -
Audacity remains useful for simple edits and recordings, especially when ease of use is prioritized over extensive DAW features.
Source
Software and compatibility
-
The data collection in Audacity is opt-in by default, focusing on telemetry for improving software performance, and can be manually checked to ensure it's off.
Source -
Audacity's lack of virtual instruments out of the box can be a limitation, as users must find third-party solutions for synthetic sounds.
Source
Comparisons
-
Audacity is compared to a notepad for quick drafts, lacking depth for professional music mixing compared to full DAWs like Reaper.
Source -
Audacity's audio editing capabilities are likened to MS Paint's simplicity, contrasting with more complex software like Reaper that offers comprehensive tools with fewer steps.
Source
Critic Reviews
4.0 out of 5
Based on 70 Reviews and 289 Ratings
78
Nice
For quick audio sampling and sample stretching, this little piece of freeware cannot be beat, you can easily add new plugins and it's factory defaults are pretty comprehensive. People who have used more comprehensive (read: expensive) software suites will think that it's cheap and useless, but this isn't directed toward professionals.
41029
I love to leave audacity open on my PC and Laptop with USB mics attached to quickly hit record on anything interesting my son says or any cool noises he makes with his toys. I have generated all sort of great one shots and loops this way. Sometimes I just leave Audacity in record for an hour and see what I get later. Totally CPU friendly way to sample your environment continuously while working from home....
2155
Works well, free, but limited functionality. Super intuitive.
Downloaded this program years ago when I needed to convert WAV files to MP3. Soon discovered you could do a lot more than just convert file formats. In fact, I have even edited out clips (from a recorded track that was clipping). I don't know how the compression and all that compares to more 'professional' programs, and I'm not really sure of the difference between Normalization and Gain boost, but ... you can make your tracks louder or softer. You can smooth out the volume overall. You can VERY EASILY trim, extend, merge, cut, and all that. Did I mention it's free?
370
Very useful.
I record most of my music in one shot. Audacity is very easy to use for this. You do not have to wait for plugins and such to load like Logic. Also, you can leave it running in the background without eating up as many resources. That way you can just click record and play when the mood strikes you.
77
Perfect in it's simplicity
The summary really says it all, it's extremely limited and you can't do a lot with it but what you CAN do is really all you need: record, slice, export. Also you can convert audio files easily with it.
115
Simple to use and great results - plus it's free!
Quite literally the Swiss Army knife of audio editing, Audacity is great for chopping up samples, applying light effects, recording incoming audio and doing transcoding. That it's still free, easy to pick up, features plenty of support and has tons of plugins is testament to how useful this programme remains for many thousands of users. Well worth picking up if you haven't already!
85
Best free audiorecording app there is!
I've been using Audacity for years. It's not only totally free, but it has all functions a good audio editor should have, plus many more. Also, it's easy to use, and until this very day it ran on every Windows OS I used without any troubles.
57
Stupidly Underrated
Yes, it's the butt of every producing joke that doesn't involve DubTurbo. But it can do some crazy things with samples, and with VST effect support you can do some crazy things with it. I've made tunes entirely out of a sine wave and stock effects, and while it certainly isn't practical or professional quality it's worth having to play around with stuff or at the very least convert your WAVs to FLAC.
253
Not perfect, but great for the price!
Audacity is a far from perfect program. If you need to do anything complex, there are better suited programs for that. With that said, though, for free, how can you lose? Audacity is a hugely useful tool to have in your back pocket, and if you know your way around it you can do more than you would imagine with it.
Artist usage
Add artist
At 8:38 in the video "HOW WE MADE 'USED TO LOVE' | The Martin Garrix Show S4.E4" on YouTube, it is visible that Audacity is pinned on Martin Garrix's laptop taskbar, confirming his use of the software.
At 20:40 in this video, deadmau5 mentions how he prefers to resample in Audacity.
In their MusicRadar interview, Nik, when asked what software other than Cubase he uses says: "Most of it happens inside Cubase. Outside of that, there isn't that much, other than Audacity to grab some stuff or PaulStretch for time-stretching things."
Mat Zo includes Audacity in the list of software and hardware that he uses in the studio (source is an email exchange with Mat Zo from Feb 2017).
At 0:20 the icon for Audacity can be seen in the top left corner of his background.
In this article Will Toledo talks about going from Audacity to Garage band and then finally Logic.
Album Usage
The Audacity has been featured on the following albums:
Genre Usage
Based on how artists on Equipboard use this gear, it is most commonly found in the following genres.
Used With
Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Audacity, it is most commonly used with the following gear.
Community setups
Show yoursMore DAW Software
Similar
Gear Guides
Most Popular Brands
-
Added to Equipboard on by
RreverendentityGear IQ 463
-