Audacity 4.0 has been released with a new Qt user interface, a new clip editing model and project file format – as well as a swathe of smaller improvements.
The Qt port of Audacity is more than a superficial – some would say much-needed – facelift, as the toolkit switch brings native HDPI scaling, light and dark mode support and is able to follow system accent colours in its UI. A new app logo compliment the refresh.
Customising Audacity’s interface is now possible. Toolbars and panels can be moved, popped-out or closed. Users can create UI layouts to suit their needs and save them as Workspaces to switch back to, alongside the built-in Modern, Classic and Music layouts.
Audacity 4.0 switches to a .aup4 project format that stores preview thumbnails and new clip and appearance data. It converts Audacity 3.x .aup3 and older .aup files to the new format – a one way process as converted projects can’t be saved to older formats.
Workflow is what most of Audacity’s users care about, and there are new clip editing features in v4.0:
- Easier clip selection (click to select, Shift + click to select multiple clips)
- Move, trim and retime multiple clips at the same time
- Clips grouping so clips stay together when moved, copied, pasted or duplicated
- Move clips between mono and stereo tracks, placed over other clips
- Dedicated split tool (press S, then click a waveform or clip header)
- Improved alignment guides and snap settings
- Intelligent pasting adapts based on context/tool
Changes to recording and playback include a draggable playhead visible during navigation, allowing recording to start anywhere on the timeline and improved audio device setup. Windows users get ASIO playback and recording support.
Live playback and recording meters appear in track headers, a redesigned and retooled Spectrogram is easier to use and faster at rendering and preset handling was made “consistent across built-in, destructive and realtime effects” – among other changes.
Long-time fans don’t need to fear change Some features have moved or changes but the project says “most Audacity 3 workflows remain available” – albeit a qualified most as the following Audacity 3 features are not included in the Audacity 4.0 release:
- Time Tracks
- Note/MIDI tracks
- Mixer
- Macro Manager and the scripting pipe
- VAMP and LADSPA plugin hosting
- Play-at-speed
Some export and rendering features and audio effects are also MIA, though the team say it’s hopeful missing features can return in a future release.
Audacity 4.0’s official release video gives a good look at many of the changes, big and small:
Download Audacity 4.0
Download Audacity 4.0 installers for Windows and macOS from the official website or the project GitHub, where AppImage builds for Linux are also provided in both 64-bit Intel/AMD and Arrch64/ARM64 builds.
Those wanting a traditional install can opt for the Audacity snap package on the Snap Store, or try the Flathub build – neither updated to v4.0 at the time of writing, but updates will likely arrive in due course.