Comparison of free software for audio

Short description: none

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.

## Contents

* 1 Audio analysis
* 2 Converters
* 3 DJ software
* 4 Distributions and other platforms
* 5 Modular systems
* 6 Notation
* 7 Players
* 8 Programming languages
* 9 Radio broadcasting
* 10 Recording and editing
* 11 Softsynths
* 12 Streaming
* 13 Technologies
* 14 Trackers
* 15 Other
* 16 See also
* 17 References

## Audio analysis

Name  | Creator  | Linux?  | macOS?  | Unix?  | Windows?  | Note  | License

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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

Name  | Creator  | Linux?  | macOS?  | Unix?  | Windows?  | Note  | License

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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

Name  | Creator  | Linux?  | macOS?  | Unix?  | Windows?  | Note  | License

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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

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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

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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

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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

Name  | GUI  | Programming language  | Database  | Linux?  | macOS?  | Unix?  | Windows?  | Notes  | License

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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  | Discontinued fork of Songbird, with Linux support  | 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

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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

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Airtime | 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

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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

## Softsynths

Name  | Creator  | Linux?  | macOS?  | Unix?  | Windows?  | Note  | License

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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

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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

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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

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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)

## Other

Name  | Creator  | Linux?  | macOS?  | Unix?  | Windows?  | Note  | License

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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

* ABC notation
* Comparison of 3D computer graphics software
* Comparison of computer-aided design software
* List of 3D animation software
* List of 3D modeling software
* List of 3D rendering software
* List of free and open-source software packages
* List of Linux audio software
* List of video editing software

## References

1. ↑ "Download" (in en). https://musescore.org/en/download.

* v
* t
* e

Media player software

Free software

| Windows|

* Media Player Classic
* MediaPortal
* Mpxplay

|

Linux|

| active|

* cmus
* Kaffeine
* Music on Console
* Noise
* Parole
* Rhythmbox
* GNOME Videos
* Xine
* XMMS2

|

inactive|

* JuK
* Muine
* Ogle DVD Player
* XMMS
* QuuxPlayer
* Baudline
* Helix

Cross-platform|

| active|

* Amarok
* Audacious
* DeaDBeeF
* Exaile
* ffplay
* Kodi
* Mpg123
* MPlayer/mpv (IINA, SMPlayer)
* Emby
* Music Player Daemon
* MusikCube
* qmmp
* Quod Libet
* VLC

|

inactive|

* Banshee
* Miro
* Nightingale
* Songbird
* Zinf
* Clementine

Freeware

| Windows|

* Adobe Media Player
* AIMP
* Dell MediaDirect
* foobar2000
* GOM Player
* Groove Music
* jetAudio
* KMPlayer
* MadCat Media Browser
* Media Go
* MediaMonkey
* Microsoft Movies & TV
* Microsoft Photos
* Mod4Win
* MusicBee
* MusikCube
* InterActual Player
* PotPlayer
* QuickTime
* Quintessential Player
* Style Jukebox
* Winamp

|

Cross-platform|

* Boxee
* DivX Player
* iTunes
* Plex
* QuickTime
* RealPlayer

Commercial (proprietary)

| Windows|

* CD Player
* Connect Player
* DVD Player
* JRiver Media Center
* PowerDVD
* TotalMedia Theatre
* SonicStage
* WinDVD
* Windows Media Center
* Windows Media Player
* Yahoo! Music Jukebox

|

macOS|

* DVD Player
* Front Row
* Peel

Mobile|

* CoreAVC CorePlayer
* Core Pocket Media Player
* doubleTwist
* RealPlayer
* TuneWiki
* Winamp

Lists

* Video players
* Audio players
* Free software audio players
* Portable media players
* Personal video recorders

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