Installing and updating Audacity on Windows
- The LAME library is now included as part of Audacity, this is encoding software to enable MP3 exports.
- You may wish to download the optional FFmpeg library which allows Audacity to import and export a much larger range of audio formats including M4A (AAC), AC3, AMR (narrow band) and WMA and also to import audio from most video files.
Note carefully that simply re-installing Audacity will not clear and reset your Audacity settings for preferences and plug-ins. For instructions on how to achieve this please see Reset Audacity Settings. |
Contents
- Installing Audacity on Windows
- Updating Audacity on Windows
- Import-Export libraries
- Installing the FFmpeg Import/Export Library on Windows
- Reset Audacity Settings
- Project compatibility
Installing Audacity on Windows
Go to the Windows Download page of the Audacity site and follow th instructions there.
System Requirements
For detailed system requirements for a Windows installation see this page on the Audacity Website
Updating Audacity on Windows
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.
- The installation directory is normally Program Files\Audacity (or Program Files(x86)\Audacity on 64-bit Windows).
- As long as you do not change the installation directory, Audacity will install over the previous 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.
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. |
Check for Updates
You can check to see if you have the latest version of Audacity by using
.This takes you to the Windows Download page of the Audacity website where you can check what the latest release version of Audacity is.
You can then compare the latest release with the version you have now as shown by using
.
Import-Export libraries
LAME for MP3 export
The software patent on LAME encoding library has expired, so now the LAME library for MP3 export is built-in with Audacity for Windows.
Installing the FFmpeg Import/Export Library on Windows
- 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.
- 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 do not install FFmpeg from the links below and as long as you do not specify the FFmpeg you want Audacity to use in Libraries Preferences.
For full instructions please see Installing FFmpeg for Windows.
Reset Audacity Settings on Windows
As stated in the introduction on this page, simply re-installing Audacity will not clear and reset your Audacity settings for preferences and plug-ins.
The data for these are stored in a folder called audacity in the >Appdata>Roaming folder in your user directory.
On Windows the full pathname is: C:\Users\<your username>\Appdata\Roaming\audacity
First you will need to quit Audacity.
To completely reset your Audacity settings
Navigate to that audacity folder with Windows Explorer and delete the entire contents. Then restart Audacity.
To reset just your Audacity preferences
Navigate to that audacity folder with Windows Explorer and delete the audacity.cfg file. Then restart Audacity.
To reset just your plug-ins
Navigate to that audacity folder with Windows Explorer and delete the:
- pluginregistry.cfg file
- pluginsettings.cfg file
- Plug-Ins folder
Then restart Audacity
Projects saved by old versions of Audacity
Current Audacity is compatible with project files saved by versions of Audacity 1.3.x and later, including 2.x.x.
Links
> Installing Effect, Generator and Analyzer plug-ins on Windows