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.
Players
| Logo | Component | GUI | Programming language | Database | Linux? | macOS? | Unix? | Windows? | mka
support |
Notes | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Amarok | Qt | C++ | MySQL | Yes | Yes | Unstable | Inactive 2.9 2018 | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||
 |
aTunes | Swing | Java | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||
 |
Audacious | GTK / Qt | C | no database | Yes | Yes | yes | BSD 2-Clause | |||
 |
Banshee | GTK+ | C# | SQLite | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not under development, archived. | MIT | ||
 |
Clementine | Qt | C++ | SQLite3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Inactive latest 1.31 2016 | GPL-3.0-or-later | ||
 |
Exaile | GTK | Python | Pickle | Yes | Yes | Yes | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||
 |
Guayadeque | wxWidgets | C++, C | SQLite3 | Yes | Development ceased as of 2023-09-29 | 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 | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||
| Muine | GTK# | C# | no database | 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 | no | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||
 |
qmmp | Qt | C++ | no database | 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 (Last release on February 4, 2013) | GPL v2 with exceptions,
Android client closed source | |
| Tomahawk | Qt | C++ | SQLite | Yes | Yes | Yes | Abandoned (Last release on April 15, 2015) | GPL-3.0-or-later | |||
 |
XMMS | GTK+ | C++ | no database | Yes | Yes | Discontinued in 2007 | GPL-2.0-or-later |
Audio analysis
| 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
| 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
| 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 |
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 | |
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, | |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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) |
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
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