Audacity

Audacity is a free open-source digital audio editor and recording application originally developed by Dominic Mazzoni and Roger Dannenberg at Carnegie Mellon University in 2000, now maintained by Muse Group and downloaded over one hundred million times, providing multi-track audio recording, editing, mixing, and effects processing capabilities on Windows, macOS, Linux, and other operating systems, widely used by podcasters, musicians, voice actors, educators, and audio enthusiasts for professional-quality audio production without expensive software licenses. The multi-track editing supports unlimited audio tracks displayed as waveforms on a timeline, with capabilities for cutting, copying, pasting, and arranging audio clips, envelope-based volume automation, time-shifting and alignment of tracks, and non-destructive editing that preserves original audio data while applying real-time effects. The recording features support recording from microphones, line-in inputs, and system audio through WASAPI, Core Audio, or ALSA, with overdubbing for layering new recordings over existing tracks, latency correction for synchronized monitoring, and punch-and-roll recording for seamless error correction. The effects library includes normalization, amplification, compression, equalization with graphic and curve interfaces, noise reduction using spectral analysis, reverb, echo, delay, chorus, pitch shifting, tempo changing, fade in and out, crossfade, and silence reduction, with support for LV2, VST2, VST3, Audio Unit, and Nyquist plugin formats for third-party effects. The spectrogram view enables visual frequency analysis. The label tracks support annotation and chapter marking. The batch processing chains apply effects to multiple files. The export supports WAV, AIFF, MP3, OGG, FLAC, and through FFmpeg integration, AAC, WMA, and other formats. Designed for podcasters, musicians, voice actors, educators, and audio hobbyists.