Are you searching for an Audacity download but unsure where to start?

Audacity is the world’s most popular free software for recording and editing audio. Millions have trusted this free, open source application since its release in May 2000. The process is straightforward once you know the right steps, whether you need an Audacity download for Mac or Windows.

This piece will walk you through everything you need to know. We’ll cover what makes Audacity software special and answer “is Audacity safe.” You’ll also learn how to install Audacity on your computer. Let’s get started!

What is Audacity Software

Audacity software is a multi-track audio editor and recorder designed for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. This free, open-source application licensed under GPL-2.0 has gained massive adoption. Audacity ranks as the second most popular download at FossHub with over 114.2 million downloads since March 2015. Google Code and SourceForge served it before, accumulating over 200 million downloads.

The software handles recording from multiple sources and post-processing tasks like normalization, trimming and fading. Audacity natively supports WAV, AIFF, MP3, Ogg Vorbis formats. The additional FFmpeg library provides support for M4A (AAC) and WMA. It works with LADSPA, LV2, VST, VST3, Audio Units, Vamp and Nyquist plugins.

Key capabilities include noise reduction based on sampling, pitch adjustment that maintains speed, and tempo changes that preserve pitch. Podcasters use it to record and edit spoken content. Musicians edit multiple parts and mix tracks. Field recorders and educators capture and analyze environmental sounds.

The answer to “is Audacity safe” is yes if you download it from the official Audacity website, Microsoft Store, winget, Github or FossHub. The software doesn’t store personal information. It only collects data for error reporting and updates.

How to Download Audacity

Windows users can download the installer for Intel processors in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. There’s also an ARM64 beta version available, though it lacks plugin support. You can install Audacity from the Microsoft Store as an alternative. Search for the application and click the “Get in Store app” button. Then click “Install.”

macOS users should select the Universal Binary download, which works across different Mac architectures. The download saves as a DMG file in your Downloads folder.

Linux users have the 64-bit AppImage available for download. You’ll need to make the AppImage executable before running it. You can install from your distribution’s repository using commands like sudo apt install audacity for Ubuntu or Debian-based systems and sudo yum install audacity for RHEL or Fedora. Arch Linux users can run sudo pacman -Syu audacity. Community-maintained Flatpaks and Snaps are also available from Flathub and Snapcraft.

To get early access, Audacity 4 Alpha 2 is available as a pre-release build for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

You can download Audacity through MuseHub as well, though the installation procedure is different from the standard method.