Installing and updating Audacity on Windows

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

This page provides instructions for installing Audacity on Windows 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 M4A (AAC), AC3, AMR (narrow band) and WMA and also to import audio from most video 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 \nd FFmpeg.

Installation instructions

Save: On the download page, left-click the "installer" link (do not right-click). Left-clicking pops up the download box for the Audacity installer or in Microsoft Edge starts the download at once (at this point you will be on the FossHub site where our downloads are hosted). Save the download to your computer if prompted to do so. Check the browser preferences if necessary to find out where your downloads are saved. Then double-click the downloaded .exe file to start the installer. You must be logged in as an administrator on the computer to do this, or follow the prompts to confirm your permission to install.

Run: Using Internet Explorer and a few other browsers, you can left-click the "installer" link and select an option to "Run" the file. This launches the Audacity setup as soon as it has downloaded. Note: Some security programs will query or block installers running from the computer's temporary space.

Updating a previous installation

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. If the previous installation was Audacity 1.2 or 2.x, the installation directory is normally Program Files\Audacity (or Program Files(x86)\Audacity on 64-bit Windows). As long as you don't change the installation directory, Audacity will install over the previous 1.2 or 2.x 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.

Updating optional libraries:

• 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.
• If upgrading from Audacity 1.3.6 or earlier, you must update to the latest LAME library if you require MP3 export.

Otherwise there is no need to upgrade LAME or FFmpeg unless this is indicated in the Release Notes for the new version of Audacity.

If you prefer not to use the installer (or security restrictions prevent installing programs), left-click the link for the "zip" file instead. Then right-click the downloaded file and choose the option to extract the contents. You can also use 7-Zip or other extraction utilities.

Installing LAME on Windows

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.

1. Go to the external LAME download page
    Left-click this link, do not right-click.
2. Directly underneath "For FFmpeg/LAME on Windows click below:", left-click the link Lame v3.99.3 for Windows.exe and save the file anywhere on your computer.
3. Double-click "Lame v3.99.3 for Windows.exe" to launch it (you can safely ignore any warnings that the "publisher could not be verified").
4. Follow the Setup instructions to install LAME for Audacity, making sure not to change the offered installation location of "C:\Program Files\Lame for Audacity" (or "C:\Program Files (x86)\Lame for Audacity" on a 64-bit version of Windows).

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.

Troubleshooting

Occasionally, there may be a conflict where Audacity still tries to detect the path to an older lame_enc.dll file. To correct this:

1. Ensure there are no older versions of lame_enc.dll in any locations where Audacity detects it, namely:
• C:\Program Files\Lame for Audacity or C:\Program Files (x86)\Lame for Audacity (this is where the installer puts the new .dll)
• the Audacity installation folder (usually C:\Program Files\Audacity or C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity), or in the "Plug-Ins" folder inside that.
2. Exit Audacity and navigate to the audacity.cfg preferences file at:
• Windows XP: Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Audacity\audacity.cfg
• Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8: Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\audacity.cfg.

In order to see audacity.cfg, you may need to set the operating system to show hidden files and folders. See instructions for Windows 7 and Windows versions before 7.

3. Open audacity.cfg in a text editor such as Notepad, and delete the two lines starting with:
   • [MP3]
     MP3LibPath=
4. Save the changes to audacity.cfg and restart Audacity.

As an alternative to editing the audacity.cfg file, you may instead delete that file itself. However this will completely reset your Audacity Preferences, which may not be what you want.

Installing the FFmpeg Import/Export Library on Windows

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.

1. Go to the external download page
    Left-click this link, do not right-click.
2. Directly underneath "For FFmpeg/LAME on Windows click below:", left-click the link ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.exe and save the file anywhere on your computer.
3. Double-click ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.exe to launch the installer (you can safely ignore any warnings that the "publisher could not be verified").
4. Read the License and click Next, Next and Install to install the required files to C:\Program Files\FFmpeg for Audacity (or C:\Program Files (x86)\FFmpeg for Audacity on a 64-bit version of Windows).
   If you have the previous FFmpeg 0.6.2 installed to the same location, the FFmpeg 2.2.2 installation will overwrite the 0.6.2 installation with the new files. There is no need to uninstall FFmpeg 0.6.2 first.
5. If Audacity was running when you installed FFmpeg, either restart Audacity or follow the steps to manually locate FFmpeg.

Alternative zip download for FFmpeg 2.2.2

1. Go to the external download page
    Left-click this link, do not right-click.
2. Under "For FFmpeg/LAME on Windows click below:", left-click the link ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.zip and save the file anywhere on your computer.
3. Extract the contents to a folder called "ffmpeg-win-2.2.2" anywhere on your computer, then follow the instructions below to locate the file "avformat-55.dll" using the Libraries Preferences.

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.

Peter Sampson 23Feb16: ToDo-2 If these new pages are implemented then this link will need to be updated to the proper FAQ page.

Please see this FAQ for instructions on how to do this.