Installing and updating Audacity on Mac OS X/macOS

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 and updating Audacity on Mac OS X and macOS computer platforms.

• In addition to basic Audacity you may wish to install the optional LAME MP3 encoding software
• Also the optional FFmpeg library which allows Audacity to import and export a much larger range of audio formats including AC3, AMR (narrow band) and WMA and also to import audio from most video files. But note that on Mac Audacity can import, without FFmpeg, M4A (AAC), MP4 (including videos) and all other QuickTime-supported files.

Because of software patents, Audacity cannot include LAME or FFmpeg encoding software or distribute such software from its own websites. Instead, use the instructions below to download and install the free and recommended third-party libraries for LAME and FFmpeg.

Contents

1. Installation instructions
2. Check for Updates
3. Installing LAME on Mac
4. Installing the FFmpeg Import/Export Library on Mac

Installation instructions

Installation instructions using .dmg files:

1. On the download page, left-click the "installer" link, the .dmg file, (do not right-click). This takes you to the FossHub site where our downloads are hosted and the download should commence.
2. Double-click the downloaded DMG to mount it.
3. 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). You need the administrator password to copy the Audacity folder to /Applications.
4. Do not move the Audacity application or its support folders outside the "Audacity" folder.
5. Eject the DMG at bottom left of Finder, then launch Audacity.app from the “Audacity” folder in /Applications or from your chosen location.

ToDo-2 Gale 07Jan17: The below should not be true from 2.1.3 onwards due to codesigning, though the ZIP still needs to be made available and tested for this. The advice should be amended accordingly to refer to pre-2.1.3 (there are bound to be some reading this online who are not using 2.1.3).

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”.

System Requirements

Audacity for Mac is a Universal Binary for OS X 10.6 and later. Audacity runs best with at least 1 GB RAM and a 1 GHz processor (2 GB RAM/2 GHz on OS X 10.7 and later).

For lengthy multi-track projects, we recommend a minimum of 2 GB RAM and 2 GHz processor (4 GB RAM on OS X 10.7 and later).

The 2.1.1 release was the final release for PPC Macs.

Audacity project compatibility

Any AUP project file created by Audacity 1.3.0 or later should open in current Audacity.

Projects created in Audacity 1.2.6 or earlier should open in current Audacity, but the project format is different so it is recommended to backup the 1.2.6 or earlier project first. To make a backup, copy the AUP file and _data folder and paste them into a different folder. If there are problems opening the 1.2 project in current Audacity, open the backup copy in Audacity 1.2.x, export each track as WAV then import the WAV files into current Audacity. Audacity 1.2 versions can still be obtained if necessary from http://www.oldfoss.com/Audacity.html.

Once you save the project in current Audacity, it cannot be opened in legacy Audacity 1.2 versions.

Check for Updates

You can check to see if you have the latest version of Audacity by using Help > Check for Updates....

This takes you to the 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 Audacity > About Audacity....

Installing LAME on Mac

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 10.6.7 or later, Administrative (and occasionally, root) permissions may be needed on some machines to use the LAME library the installer places in /usr/local/lib/audacity. We recommend using the first-mentioned instructions below for the zip download for LAME 3.98.2, rather than using the LAME installer.

• Recommended zip download for LAME 3.98.2

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 "Lame_Library_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_OSX.zip" .
3. Double-click the downloaded ZIP file. On most Macs this should extract the contents of the ZIP to a new sub-folder "Lame_Library_v3.98.2_for_Audacity_on_OSX" in the folder you downloaded to. Optionally, open that new subfolder then copy the file "libmp3lame.dylib" and paste it anywhere you have full permissions (such as your Documents folder).
4. Click Audacity > Preferences... then choose "Libraries" on the left.
5. Click Locate... to right of "MP3 Library:", then in the "Locate Lame" dialog that appears, click Browse....
6. Navigate to and open the folder where "libmp3lame.dylib" is, and select the "libmp3lame.dylib" file. If the file is grayed out, change the File type: dropdown entry to All Files or Dynamic Libraries.
7. Click Open to return to the Locate Lame dialog.
8. Click OK in the Locate Lame dialog then OK to exit Preferences.

If you place the libmp3lame.dylib file in the same folder where Audacity.app is installed, then Audacity will detect LAME automatically and you don't need to browse for it in Libraries Preferences.

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.

• Installer

1. Go to the external download page
    Left-click this link, do not right-click.
2. Directly underneath "For FFmpeg and LAME on Mac OSX click below:", left-click the link "Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity on OSX.dmg".
3. When you have finished downloading, double-click the DMG to mount it, if it has not been mounted automatically already.
4. In the DMG window, or using the menu item for the mounted DMG in the Finder sidebar, double-click "Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity.pkg" to launch the standard OS X Installer.
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... to right of "MP3 Library:", then in the "Locate Lame" dialog that appears, click Browse....
   3. The "Where is libmp3lame.dylib?" window will open at /usr/local/lib/audacity. Select the "libmp3lame.dylib" file. If the file is grayed out, change the File type: dropdown entry to All Files or Dynamic Libraries.
   4. Click Open then OK and OK.

Installing the FFmpeg Import/Export Library on Mac

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.
• 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.

But note that on Mac Audacity does not need FFmpeg to import M4A (AAC), MP4 (including videos) and all other QuickTime-supported files.

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.

• Installer:

1. Go to the external download page
    Left-click this link, do not right-click.
2. Directly underneath "For FFmpeg/LAME on Mac 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 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 entire contents of the downloaded ZIP file 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 Git sources according to mac/Build.txt, linking to your self-installed copy of FFmpeg according to these principles.

Peter 05Nov15: 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.

• Gale 28Apr16: I fixed the link on this page and in the Forum topic.

Locating the FFmpeg library manually

If you installed FFmpeg while Audacity was running, or if you installed FFmpeg to a non-default location, Audacity will ask you to configure Preferences to locate the FFmpeg library. To do this, access Preferences then the "Libraries" tab on the left:

Unlike in the image above, the "FFmpeg Library Version" will say "not found". To correct this:

1. Click the Locate... button to right of FFmpeg Library:.
2. If a "Success" message indicates Audacity has now automatically detected valid FFmpeg libraries and asks if you want to detect them manually, click No, then OK to close Preferences.
3. If the "Locate FFmpeg" dialog appears, click Browse....
4. Navigate to the avformat file in the folder that contains FFmpeg, and select it, "libavformat.55.dylib" on Mac.
5. Click Open then OK and OK again to close Preferences.

FFmpeg Library Version should now show a set of three version numbers for the sub-libraries of FFmpeg ("F" for libavformat version, "C" for libavcodec version and "U" for libavutil version). If you still see "not found", you may have installed the wrong libraries. Click the Download... button to obtain the correct library for your operating system. You can also choose Help > Show Log... to see diagnostic information about FFmpeg detection.