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Audacity

Audacity

Overview

What is Audacity?

Audacity is a free and open source audio recording and editing software.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Audacity has been widely used by various individuals and organizations for a range of audio editing needs. Its robust features make it a …
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Pricing

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What is Audacity?

Audacity is a free and open source audio recording and editing software.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

What is GarageBand?

Apple offers GarageBand, a digital audio workstation packaged with its operating system.

What is Audition?

Adobe offers Audition as part of the Creative Cloud suite, a sound and audio editing and creation application.

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Product Details

What is Audacity?

Audacity Video

A basic tutorial on how to do simple audio editing in Audacity for your podcast, videos, or presentations.

Audacity Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Audacity is a free and open source audio recording and editing software.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 5.

The most common users of Audacity are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(101)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Audacity has been widely used by various individuals and organizations for a range of audio editing needs. Its robust features make it a preferred choice for editing audio in video recordings and podcast episodes, as users have found it helpful for cleaning up audio and making the editing process easy. With Audacity, users can accomplish advanced tasks such as compressing and normalizing audio for multiple platforms. It is also handy for syncing prerecorded audio segments to presentations, allowing attendees to view them at their own pace. Faculty and staff use Audacity to create media for students, including classroom use and public-facing content like podcasts. It is appreciated by film, TV, and commercial composers due to its speed and small footprint, making it ideal for recording audio for YouTube channels without the need to purchase expensive software. Additionally, Audacity is commonly utilized by instructors to support students in developing audio editing skills for podcasts. Its cost-effectiveness and cross-platform compatibility make it a popular choice in the podcast production industry for multi-track editing and post-processing. Audacity's simplicity, ease of use, and ability to trim, edit, and extract audio in various formats make it a favorite tool among users with varying audio needs. Whether it's editing meeting recordings, creating music samples or karaoke tracks for sale on websites, or simply applying quick tweaks and cuts in video production work, Audacity proves to be a reliable secondary audio editing software. Its versatility extends even further, as it is used by linguistics labs for recording and manipulating audio data for analysis and by eLearning video producers for seamless audio editing tasks such as adding music and ensuring smooth transitions. Overall, users rely on Audacity for its ability to efficiently handle a wide range of audio editing tasks with its user-friendly interface.

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Robust Audio Editing: Users have consistently praised Audacity for its robust capabilities and wide variety of controls, with many stating that it meets their audio editing needs. The program allows users to splice audio segments together seamlessly, ensuring a smooth editing experience. Additionally, the availability of basic editing features such as cuts and fades is appreciated by users who are looking to make simple edits.

Ease of Use: Many reviewers have highlighted how easy it is to navigate and use Audacity's user interface. They find it simple and intuitive, even for those with minimal experience in audio editing. The program's workflow is considered easy and straightforward, allowing users to quickly complete tasks without feeling overwhelmed. Furthermore, the learning curve for Audacity is small, making it accessible to new users who want to get started with audio editing right away.

Free and Cost-effective Solution: The fact that Audacity is free has been widely appreciated by users looking for a budget-friendly option. Its open-source nature makes it accessible to anyone without having to spend money on expensive software. Users also value the program's compatibility with both Mac and PC platforms, allowing a wide range of individuals to access its features at no cost.

Onboarding Tutorial Needed: Some users have suggested that Audacity could benefit from implementing an onboarding tutorial walkthrough within the software to help new users understand its full capabilities and features.

Issues with Exporting Files: Several reviewers have reported encountering difficulties when exporting files in specific formats. They mentioned having to download patches or additional plugins to enable the desired functionality.

Messy Dashboard and Navigation: A common complaint among users is that the dashboard of Audacity appears cluttered and lacks intuitive design, making it challenging to navigate through the various options efficiently. Improving the navigation system would greatly enhance the overall usability of the software.

Users commonly recommend using Audacity for simple audio works, home projects, or low budget editions. It is suggested as a support tool for audio editing, including audio on video, and for filtering out background noise from recordings or for experimenting. Audacity is frequently recommended for quick edits on small audio projects. However, some users caution against considering it a professional digital audio workstation or a tool for creating high-quality audio files. Despite this, many believe that Audacity is a great tool for beginners in audio editing and offers simplicity and power for editing or creating tracks. Users also recommend Audacity for podcasting needs, easy and straightforward audio editing, basic sound editing, desktop audio editing, and personal or business use. It is highly recommended for technical and hands-on teams on a limited budget. Users suggest trying out Audacity due to its user-friendly nature and the belief that it can rival paid products in terms of features. They also recommend watching tutorials and consulting online manuals for assistance. Overall, users think Audacity is an excellent choice for beginners, a good starting point for those entering the field of audio editing, and a reliable option for basic yet powerful audio editing tasks.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-11 of 11)
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Tamar Weinberg | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The best support comes from communities and blog posts, but there really is no authoritative answer for anything. You basically have to wing it. However, since there's no financial barrier to entry, everyone is creating their own help documents so you're bound to find a solution.
February 16, 2020

Fun, fancy, and free!

Jennifer Stirling | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The program is so easy to use I haven't had to use customer support very much. However, when I have emailed their customer service team I have always gotten a response within a 24 hour period and the advice and solutions they have given me have always been helpful and respectful.
Keith Lillico, M.Ed, MBA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Unlike paid software, there is no formal support. However, with its wide usage, it is very simple to find tutorials and guides on the internet. It is also one of the few pieces of free software that I have seen courses built for on Lynda.com. If you look hard enough you can find the answer to any question.
Justin McClelland | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
There is a ton of documentation and help articles online for Audacity. I've never wanted to accomplish something with this software, where I couldn't find out how. Though many of the articles are by the community and not the vendor, none-the-less, the support is phenomenal.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have not used direct support for Audacity, other than using the information available on their website, which resolved the issues we were experiencing so we had a good experience in that regard.
As this is Open Source FREE software, I don't believe there is direct support available.
In saying that, it has the following great support options:
  • Online documentation and FAQ
  • Online tutorials covering all functions
  • Online user forums where questions are asked and answered by other users
  • Online wiki with more information
With these options most issues should be able to be resolved to get full use from Audacity.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As it is an open-source program, there are videos that users can find. However, there is no technical support by email, telephone or social media. On their website, they have a FAQ document and forums.
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