FAQ:Installation and Plug-Ins

How do I download and install the LAME MP3 encoder?

Because of software patents, we cannot distribute MP3 encoding software ourselves. Follow these instructions to use the free LAME encoder to export MP3 files with Audacity.

Windows:

1. Go to the LAME download page
2. Under "For Audacity on Windows", left-click on the link "libmp3lame-win-3.98.2.zip" and save the zip anywhere on your computer
3. When you have finished downloading the zip, unzip it with 7-Zip or similar, and save the file lame_enc.dll that it contains anywhere on your computer
4. The first time you use the "Export as MP3" command, Audacity will ask you where lame_enc.dll is saved - navigate to that location, select lame_enc.dll and click "Open" then "OK"

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

Mac OS 9 or X:

1. Go to the LAME download page
2. Download either "Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity on OSX.dmg" or "LameLib-Carbon.sit", as required

Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity on OSX.dmg

1. When you have finished downloading, double-click the .dmg to mount it, then go to the Finder (in Safari, "Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity.pkg" will be extracted automatically after downloading).
2. Double-click "Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity.pkg". This will install the LAME binary "libmp3lame.dylib" in /usr/local/lib/audacity
3. The first time you use the "Export as MP3" command, Audacity will ask you where libmp3lame.dylib is saved - navigate to /usr/local/lib/audacity, select it and click "Open" then "OK"

LameLib-Carbon.sit

1. When you have finished downloading, extract the files with Stuffit Expander or similar (this may happen automatically)
2. Save the file called "LameLib" anywhere on your computer
3. The first time you use the "Export as MP3" command, Audacity will ask you where LameLib is saved - navigate to that location, select LameLib and click "Open" then "OK"

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

Other Frequently Asked Questions...

How do I download and install the FFmpeg Import/Export Library?

Windows:

1. Download the FFmpeg installer
2. Double-click the .exe file to launch the installer
3. In the "Extract to:" dialogue, enter or browse to the folder where you have Audacity installed, typically: C:\Program Files\Audacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode)
4. Click "Extract"
5. This will extract the following files to your Audacity installation folder:

avcodec-52.dll

avdevice-52.dll

avformat-52.dll

avutil-49.dll

ffmpeg.exe

libfaac-0.dll

libmp3lame-0.dll

pthreadGC2.dll

Windows 98/ME: The released 1.3.6 version of Audacity will misreport the above libraries as incompatible. Use this development build instead.

Windows 2000: The released 1.3.6 version of Audacity will misreport the above libraries as incompatible. Either add the Windows system file dbghelp.dll to your Audacity installation folder, or use the development build above. Note that build does not support Unicode.

Mac:

1. Download the FFmpeg installer
2. When you have finished downloading, double-click the .dmg to mount it, then go to the Finder (in Safari, "FFmpeg Libraries for Audacity.pkg" will be extracted automatically after downloading)
3. Double-click "FFmpeg Libraries for Audacity.pkg" to launch the installer
4. Follow the instructions to perform a "standard installation" ; do not change the "install location"
5. The libraries will be installed in /usr/local/lib/audacity

If Audacity reports the version of FFmpeg is "incompatible": this will usually be because you have set environment variables for dynamic library search which are picking up another copy of the FFmpeg library. You will need to either set the environment variables to pick up the FFmpeg library you downloaded, or remove them. You can adjust standard environment variables in your .profile or shell environment, or via a property list in ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist - see this Developer Connection article for details.

• Alternatively, you can build Audacity from CVS and link to a system copy of FFmpeg built from source, using these instructions.

Linux/Unix:

• You may download (or build) a suitable FFmpeg library for your own purposes. To build, obtain the source code from the FFmpeg project. 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.

If you compile Audacity from source code, it will link to the installed FFmpeg headers, which should always be compatible with an installed FFmpeg binary.

Installation:

Audacity should detect the Windows or Mac FFmpeg library automatically if it has been installed in the default location.

To locate it manually, open Preferences and click on the "Import / Export" tab:

If the "FFmpeg Library Version" says "not found":

1. Click "Find Library"
2. If a "Success" message indicates Audacity has now automatically detected the library and asks if you want to detect them manually, click "No", then OK to close Preferences.
3. If the "Locate FFmpeg" dialogue appears, click "Browse..."
4. Navigate to the avformat library, and select it. It may have different names, such as "avformat-52.dll" on Windows, "libavformat-52.dylib" on Mac or "libavformat.so.52" on Linux
5. Click "Open" then "OK", and "OK" again to close Preferences

"FFmpeg Library Version" should now show a number. If not, you may have installed the wrong libraries. Click the "Download" button to obtain the correct library for your operating system.

Other Frequently Asked Questions...

Why do I receive an error when I export to an FFmpeg format?

If you receive a "cannot find audio codec" error when exporting to an FFmpeg format, the FFmpeg library you are linking to does not support this codec. To export to this format, you will need a build of the FFmpeg library that supports this codec.

Distributable libraries will not include support for AMR narrow band or wide band, due to licensing issues. Exporting to AMR will return the error "FFmpeg cannot find audio codec 0x12000" (or "0x 12001" in the case of wide band). To obtain AMR export (and import) support, you could build FFmpeg yourself from source and enable libamr_nb and/or libamr_wb in the configure step.

Other Frequently Asked Questions...

How do I install VST plug-ins?

First, download and unzip the VST Enabler.

Place the unzipped VST Enabler, along with your VST plug-ins, into the “Plug-ins” folder in the Audacity installation folder. (On Mac OS X, this is usually in the Applications folder. On Windows, it is usually under Program Files.)

The next time you start Audacity, your VST effects will appear at the bottom of the “Effect” menu.

See also: Why do some VST plug-ins look wrong, or not work?

Other Frequently Asked Questions...

Why do some VST plug-ins look wrong, or not work?

The VST Enabler. is not yet able to display custom interfaces for plug-ins. Instead, it uses generic controls for all VST plug-ins. Because of this, many plug-ins will look or act differently than they do in other programs.

Other VST plug-ins may not work at all, because of bugs in the VST Enabler. You can contact us to report plug-ins that do not work.

Audacity also does not support VST instrument (VSTi) plug-ins.

Other Frequently Asked Questions...

What should I do if I have problems downloading or installing Audacity?

If you can't download Audacity, or if the downloaded setup file is corrupt, try downloading it from our alternate servers.

Other Frequently Asked Questions...