Installing and updating Audacity on Mac OS X

Peter 14Feb16: This page is a draft work in progress.

• Peter 15Feb16: The H2 section "Installation instructions" comes direct from the Audacity website - I used these on Saturday to successfully install (as a Mac-virgin).

This page provides instructions for installing Audacity on Mac OS X computer platforms.

Installation instructions

Installation instructions using .dmg files:

1. Double-click the downloaded DMG to mount it.
2. Do not double-click the “Audacity” folder in the DMG window. Drag the entire “Audacity” folder icon to the /Applications folder icon on the right (or to any other location of your choosing).
3. Do not move the Audacity application or its support folders outside the "Audacity" folder.
4. Eject the DMG at bottom left of Finder, then launch Audacity.app from the “Audacity” folder in /Applications or from your chosen location.

Known Issue: Security settings on OS X 10.7 or later may block Audacity being launched. Most users on OS X 10.9.5 and later will experience this, due to changes made by Apple. To permanently enable Audacity launch, right-click or control-click on the Audacity application in Finder, choose “Open”, then in the dialog box that appears, choose “Open”.

Installing LAME on Mac OS X

Because of software patents, Audacity cannot include MP3 encoding software or distribute such software from its own websites. Instead, use the following instructions to download and install the free and recommended LAME third-party encoder to export MP3 files with Audacity. See the LAME Legal Issues page for more details.

On OS X 10.6 or later, Administrative (and occasionally, root) permissions may be needed on some machines to read the LAME library the installer places in /usr/local/lib/audacity. In case of difficulty, please download the zip version "Lame_Library_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_OSX.zip" from "Alternative zip download for Lame 3.98.2" below and follow the instructions.

• 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:
   1. Click Audacity > Preferences then choose "Libraries" on the left.
   2. Click "Locate..." under "MP3 Export Library", then "Browse..." in the "Locate Lame" dialog.
   3. The "Where is libmp3lame.dylib?" window will open at /usr/local/lib/audacity; select "libmp3lame.dylib", click "Open" then "OK" and "OK".

• 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.

Installing the FFmpeg Import/Export Library on Mac OS X

The optional FFmpeg library 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.

• 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.

FFmpeg 2.2.2 Mac from the links below should be used with the latest version of Audacity. The previous FFmpeg 0.6.2 for Audacity will not be recognized by Audacity 2.0.6 and later, and FFmpeg 2.2.2 will not be recognized by Audacity versions before 2.0.6. FFmpeg 2.3.x shared libraries should also be recognized by Audacity 2.0.6 and later. FFmpeg 2.4.x and later is not supported, except for exports using Audacity's command-line encoder.

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 don't install FFmpeg from the links below and as long as you don't specify the FFmpeg you want Audacity to use in Libraries Preferences.

• Installer:

1. Go to the external download page
    Left-click this link, do not right-click.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. In the DMG window, double-click the "ffmpeg-mac-2.2.2.pkg" to launch the standard OS X package installer.
5. 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.
6. Restart Audacity if it was running when you installed FFmpeg then Audacity should detect FFmpeg automatically.
7. If you have problems with Audacity detecting FFmpeg, follow the steps to manually locate FFmpeg.

• Zip file:

1. Go to the external download page
    Left-click this link, do not right-click.
2. 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.
3. 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.
   On OS X 10.6 or later, it is not recommended to extract the files to /usr/local/lib because on some machines, administrative or root permissions may be needed to read the FFmpeg library from there.

• Compiling Audacity against another build of FFmpeg:

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.

Peter 05Nov15: ToDo-1 the above link in the forum "these principles" is broken and I have no idea how to fix it. Indeed a similar link on the Forum is similarly broken.