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Comparison of free software for audio

This comparison of free software for audio lists notable free and open source software for use by sound engineers, audio producers, and those involved in sound recording and reproduction.

Audio analysis

See also: Spectrum analyzer
Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
BRP-PACU Yes Yes Dual channel FFT tool for equalization of sound systems using the transfer function. GPL-2.0-or-later
Praat Paul Boersma and David Weenink of the University of Amsterdam Yes Yes Yes A program for the analysis of speech in phonetics. GPL-2.0-or-later
Sonic Visualiser Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary, University of London Yes Yes Yes GPL-2.0-or-later
WaveSurfer Yes Yes Yes BSD-like

Converters

See also: List of audio conversion software
Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
FFmpeg Fabrice Bellard Yes Yes Yes Yes Audio & video. LGPL-2.1-or-later, GPL-2.0-or-later
fre:ac Robert Kausch Yes Yes Yes Yes formerly BonkEnc GPL-2.0-or-later
Libav Libav team Yes Yes Yes Yes Audio & video. LGPL-2.1-or-later, GPL-2.0-or-later
MPlayer Yes Yes Yes Yes Audio & video. GPL-2.0-or-later

DJ software

See also: Category:Audio mixing software
Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
Mixxx Mixxx Development Team Yes Yes Yes Yes GPL-2.0-or-later
Xwax Mark Hills Yes No No No GPL-2.0-only

Distributions and other platforms

Various projects have formed to integrate the existing free software audio packages.

Name Creator Description Note License
AVLinux Linux distribution various
dyne:bolic Linux distribution various
Musix GNU+Linux Linux distribution various
Planet CCRMA set of packages (in RPM format)
Ubuntu Studio Linux distribution various

Modular systems

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
Integra Live Birmingham Conservatoire No Yes No Yes GPL-2.0-or-later
Libvisual Yes Yes Yes Yes LGPL-2.1-or-later
VisualAp Yes Yes Yes GPL

Notation

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
LilyPond Han-Wen Nienhuys and Jan Nieuwenhuizen Yes Yes Yes Yes a music engraving program GPL-3.0-or-later
MuseScore Werner Schweer Yes Yes Yes Various BSDs[1] Yes a WYSIWYG scorewriter with midi playback and audio export v4: GPL-3.0-only
v0-3: GPL-2.0-only
with font exception, Proprietary (mobile app and online service)
Impro-Visor Bob Keller Yes Yes Yes Yes lead sheet notation, jazz improvisation, auto-accompaniment GPL-2.0-or-later

Players

See also: Comparison of audio player software
Name GUI Programming language Database Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Notes License
Amarok Qt C++ MySQL Yes Yes Unstable Inactive since 2018 GPL-2.0-or-later
aTunes Swing Java Yes Yes Yes Yes GPL-2.0-or-later
Audacious GTK / Qt C Yes Yes BSD 2-Clause
Banshee GTK+ C# SQLite Yes Yes Yes Inactive since 2014 MIT
Clementine Qt C++ SQLite3 Yes Yes Yes Inactive since 2016 GPL-3.0-or-later
DeaDBeeF GTK+ C, C++, Objective-C, Assembly Yes Yes Yes GPLv2, zlib
Exaile GTK Python Pickle Yes Yes Yes GPL-2.0-or-later
Guayadeque wxWidgets C++, C SQLite3 Yes Development ceased as of September 29, 2023 GPL-3.0-or-later
JuK Qt C++ Yes Yes Yes Linux (KDE) GPL-2.0-or-later
Miro WebKit in GTK/Cocoa Python Yes Yes Yes Discontinued in 2013 GPL-2.0-or-later
Muine GTK# C# Yes Can use GStreamer and xine GPL-2.0-or-later
Nightingale XULRunner C++ SQLite? Yes Yes Yes Fork of Songbird; inactive since 2014 GPL v2, MPL, BSD
Quod Libet GTK Python Pickle Yes Yes Yes GPL-2.0-or-later
qmmp Qt C++ Yes Yes Yes GPL-2.0-or-later
Rhythmbox GTK C Yes Yes Not GNU Data Access GPL-2.0-or-later
Sayonara Player Qt C++ Yes Yes GPL-3.0-or-later
Songbird XULRunner C++ SQLite? Unofficial Yes Unofficial Yes Abandoned, final release on February 4, 2013 GPL v2 with exceptions, Android client closed source
Tomahawk Qt C++ SQLite Yes Yes Yes Abandoned, final release on April 15, 2015 GPL-3.0-or-later
XMMS GTK+ C++ Yes Yes Discontinued in 2007 GPL-2.0-or-later

Programming languages

Many computer music programming languages are implemented in free software. See also the comparison of audio synthesis environments.

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
Csound Csound community, Barry Vercoe Yes Yes No? Yes LGPL-2.1-or-later
ChucK Ge Wang, Perry Cook Yes Yes No? Yes GPL-2.0-or-later (Mac, Linux, Windows versions)

Proprietary (iOS version)

Nyquist Computer Music Project at Carnegie Mellon University, Roger B. Dannenberg Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pure Data Pd Community, Miller Puckette Yes Yes Yes Yes BSD-3-Clause
Sonic Pi Sam Aaron Yes Yes ? Yes MIIT
SuperCollider SuperCollider community, James McCartney Yes Yes Yes? Yes GPL-3.0-or-later
TidalCycles Alex McLean et al Yes Yes Yes Yes GPL-3.0-or-later

Radio broadcasting

See also streaming below.

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
Airtime (software) Sourcefabric Yes No ? No Successor to Campcaster
 From 2.5.2: AGPL-3.0-only
1.6 to 2.5.1: GPL-3.0-only
Campcaster Sourcefabric Yes No ? No GPL-2.0-or-later
OpenBroadcaster OpenBroadcaster Yes No Yes No AGPL-3.0-or-later
SDRangel Yes Yes Yes Yes GPL-3.0-or-later

Recording and editing

The following packages are digital audio editors.

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? GUI toolkit Note License
Ardour Paul Davis Yes Yes Yes Yes GTK+ multi-track audio recorder and editor GPL-2.0-or-later
Audacity Dominic Mazzoni Yes Yes Yes Yes wxWidgets multi-track audio recorder and editor GPL-2.0-or-later, CC BY 3.0 (documentation)
Ecasound Yes Yes Yes Yes limited support through Cygwin command line audio recorder GPL-2.0-or-later
Gnome Wave Cleaner Jeff Welty Yes No No GTK+ audio editor GPL-2.0-or-later
Jokosher Jokosher community Yes No Yes GTK+ GPL-2.0-only with exception
LMMS Tobias Doerffel Yes Yes as of 0.4.0 with Qt4 Yes Qt multi-track audio editor intended as a replacement for Cubase-like software (DAW) GPL-2.0-or-later
MusE Yes No No Qt MIDI sequencer GPL-2.0-or-later
Qtractor Yes No No Qt A non-destructive multi-track audio and MIDI Workstation (DAW) GPL-2.0-or-later
Rosegarden Chris Cannam Yes No No Qt MIDI sequencer and multi-track recorder GPL-2.0-or-later
SoX Yes Yes Yes Yes command-line multi-track audio editor/processor LGPL-2.1-or-later,

GPL-2.0-or-later

Sweep Conrad Parker Yes No Yes No GPL-2.0-or-later
Traverso DAW Remon Sijrier Yes Yes Yes multi-track audio recorder and editor GPL
WaveSurfer Centre for Speech Technology at KTH Yes Yes Yes Yes Tk BSD-like
Stargate DAW Stargate DAW Yes Yes Yes Yes multi-track audio recorder and MIDI Workstation (DAW) GPL-3.0-or-later

Softsynths

See also: Software synthesizer
Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
FluidSynth Yes Yes Yes Yes SoundFont player/renderer LGPL-2.1-or-later
TiMidity++ Yes Yes Yes Yes GPL-2.0-or-later
Yoshimi Alan Calvert Yes No Yes Various BSDs No Forked from ZynAddSubFX in 2009 GPL-2.0-or-later
ZynAddSubFX Paul Nasca Yes Yes Yes Yes GPL-2.0-or-later
WildMIDI Yes ? ? ? Some alternative to TiMidity Player: GPL-3.0-or-later
Library: LGPL-3.0-or-later

Streaming

These programs are for use with streaming audio.

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
Firefly Media Server Yes Yes Yes streams music to DAAP clients like iTunes and Rhythmbox GPL-2.0-or-later
Icecast Yes Yes Yes a broadcast server, serves audio signals to clients over the HTTP protocol GPL-2.0-only
VLC media player Yes Yes Yes Yes media and server programs for video and audio streaming VLC: GPL-2.0-or-later
libVLC: LGPL-2.1-or-later

Technologies

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) Yes the sound card driver and management system in the Linux kernel GPL-2.0-or-later
LGPL-2.1-or-later
aRts Yes an audio programming API and sound server for general desktop, no longer in development GPL
DSSI Yes a plugin architecture for software synthesizers LGPL-2.1-or-later
GStreamer Yes Yes Yes Yes a graph-based multimedia framework LGPL-2.1-or-later
JACK Audio Connection Kit (JACK) JACK Team, Paul Davis Yes Yes (JACK OS X) Yes (jackdmp) a sound server for integration of general and low-latency pro audio applications, including timebase transport GPL-2.0-or-later
LGPL-2.1-or-later
Linux Audio Developers Simple Plugin API (LADSPA) Yes a plugin architecture for digital signal processing LGPL-2.1-or-later
Open Sound System Yes Yes a sound card management and driver system for Unix operating systems BSD-2-Clause
CDDL-1.0
GPL-2.0-only
Proprietary (formerly)
PipeWire Wim Taymans Yes Yes (FreeBSD) a media daemon, unifying JACK Audio Connection Kit, PulseAudio, and GStreamer MIT License
PortAudio & PortMidi Ross Bencina Yes Yes Yes a cross-platform, open-source C language library for real-time audio & midi I/O MIT License
PulseAudio Yes Yes Yes (Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD) Yes a sound server for general desktop and multihost LAN applications LGPL-2.1-or-later
sndio Yes No Yes (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD) No sound and MIDI server ISC

Trackers

These music sequencer programs allow users to arrange notes (pitch-shifted sound samples) on a timeline: see tracker (music software).

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
MilkyTracker Yes Yes Yes Yes Also runs on various other platforms including Windows Mobile, PlayStation and AmigaOS 4. GPL-3.0-or-later
MilkyPlay: BSD-3-Clause
OpenMPT Olivier Lapicque No No No Yes Released as free software in 2004 BSD-3-Clause (since OpenMPT 1.17.02.53) / GPL-2.0-or-later, partly public domain
SoundTracker Yes No Yes No Fast Tracker clone GPL-2.0-or-later
SunVox Alexander Zolotov Yes Yes Yes Yes Also runs on Windows CE. Proprietary (Music Creation Studio)
BSD-3-Clause (Engine)
Noise Station Mark Sheeky No No No Yes CC BY-SA 4.0

Other

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License
Gnaural Yes Yes Yes Yes Binaural beat and pink noise generator GPL-2.0-or-later
Hydrogen Yes Yes Partial Partial an advanced drum machine GPL-2.0-or-later
libsndfile Yes Yes Yes Yes library for reading and writing many sound formats LGPL-2.1-or-later
EasyEffects Wellington Wallace Yes No Yes No Effects processing for applications using PipeWire sound server GPL-3.0-or-later

See also

References

  1. ^ "Download". MuseScore.org. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
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