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
| Name | Creator | Linux? | macOS? | Unix? | Windows? | Note | License |
| Praat | Paul Boersma and David Weenink of the University of Amsterdam | 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 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| Pierre Guillot at IRCAM, Paris | A software suite for analysing and exploring the content and characteristics of sounds. | GPL-3.0-or-later | |||||
| WaveSurfer | BSD-like |
Converters
| Name | Creator | Linux? | macOS? | Unix? | Windows? | Note | License |
| FFmpeg | Fabrice Bellard | Audio & video. | LGPL-2.1-or-later, GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||
| fre:ac | Robert Kausch | formerly BonkEnc | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||
| Libav | Libav team | Audio & video. | LGPL-2.1-or-later, GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||
| MPlayer | Audio & video. | GPL-2.0-or-later |
DJ software
| Name | Creator | Linux? | macOS? | Unix? | Windows? | Note | License |
| Mixxx | Mixxx Development Team | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| Xwax | Mark Hills | 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 | |||
| Ubuntu Studio | Linux distribution | various |
Modular systems
Notation
Players
| Name | GUI | Programming language | Database | Linux? | macOS? | Unix? | Windows? | Notes | License |
| Amarok | Qt | C++ | MySQL | Inactive since 2018 | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||
| Audacious | GTK / Qt | C | BSD 2-Clause | ||||||
| Banshee | GTK+ | C# | SQLite | Inactive since 2014 | MIT | ||||
| Clementine | Qt | C++ | SQLite3 | GPL-3.0-or-later | |||||
| DeaDBeeF | GTK+ | C, C++, Objective-C, Assembly | GPLv2, zlib | ||||||
| Exaile | GTK | Python | Pickle | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| Guayadeque | wxWidgets | C++, C | SQLite3 | GPL-3.0-or-later | |||||
| JuK | Qt | C++ | Linux | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| Miro | WebKit in GTK/Cocoa | Python | Discontinued in 2013 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| Muine | GTK# | C# | Can use GStreamer and xine | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| Nightingale | XULRunner | C++ | SQLite? | Fork of Songbird; inactive since 2014 | GPL v2, MPL, BSD | ||||
| Quod Libet | GTK | Python | Pickle | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| qmmp | Qt | C++ | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||||
| Rhythmbox | GTK | C | Not GNU Data Access | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| Sayonara Player | Qt | C++ | GPL-3.0-or-later | ||||||
| Songbird | XULRunner | C++ | SQLite? | Abandoned, final release on | GPL v2 with exceptions, Android client closed source | ||||
| Tomahawk | Qt | C++ | SQLite | Abandoned, final release on | GPL-3.0-or-later | ||||
| XMMS | GTK+ | C++ | 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 | ? | LGPL-2.1-or-later | ||||
| ChucK | Ge Wang, Perry Cook | ? | GPL-2.0-or-later Proprietary | ||||
| Nyquist | Computer Music Project at Carnegie Mellon University, Roger B. Dannenberg | ||||||
| Pure Data | Pd Community, Miller Puckette | BSD-3-Clause | |||||
| Sonic Pi | Sam Aaron | MIIT | |||||
| SuperCollider | SuperCollider community, James McCartney | ? | GPL-3.0-or-later | ||||
| TidalCycles | Alex McLean et al | GPL-3.0-or-later |
Radio broadcasting
See also [|streaming] below.| Name | Creator | Linux? | macOS? | Unix? | Windows? | Note | License |
| Airtime | Sourcefabric | Successor to Campcaster | From 2.5.2: AGPL-3.0-only 1.6 to 2.5.1: GPL-3.0-only | ||||
| Campcaster | Sourcefabric | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| OpenBroadcaster | OpenBroadcaster | AGPL-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 | GTK+ | multi-track audio recorder and editor | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||
| Audacity | Dominic Mazzoni | wxWidgets | multi-track audio recorder and editor | GPL-2.0-or-later, CC BY 3.0 | ||||
| Ecasound | limited support through Cygwin | command line | audio recorder | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||
| Gnome Wave Cleaner | Jeff Welty | GTK+ | audio editor | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||
| Jokosher | Jokosher community | GTK+ | GPL-2.0-only with exception | |||||
| LMMS | Tobias Doerffel | as of 0.4.0 with Qt4 | Qt | multi-track audio editor intended as a replacement for Cubase-like software | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||
| MusE | Qt | MIDI sequencer | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| Qtractor | Qt | A non-destructive multi-track audio and MIDI Workstation | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| Rosegarden | Chris Cannam | Qt | MIDI sequencer and multi-track recorder | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||
| SoX | command-line | multi-track audio editor/processor | LGPL-2.1-or-later, GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
| Sweep | Conrad Parker | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||||
| Traverso DAW | Remon Sijrier | multi-track audio recorder and editor | GPL | |||||
| WaveSurfer | Centre for Speech Technology at KTH | Tk | BSD-like |