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 Partiels 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 FFmpegFabrice Bellard Audio & video. LGPL-2.1-or-later, GPL-2.0-or-later fre:ac Robert Kausch Formerly BonkEnc. GPL-2.0-or-later LibavLibav 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 (in RPM format) Ubuntu Studio Linux distribution various

Modular systems Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License Integra Live Birmingham Conservatoire GPL-2.0-or-later

Notation Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License LilyPond Han-Wen Nienhuys and Jan Nieuwenhuizen A music engraving program.GPL-3.0-or-later MuseScore Werner Schweer Various BSDs A WYSIWYG scorewriter with midi playback and audio export. v4: GPL-3.0-onlyv0-3: GPL-2.0-onlywith font exception, Proprietary (mobile app and online service) Impro-Visor Bob Keller Lead sheet notation, jazz improvisation, auto-accompaniment.GPL-2.0-or-later MusiXTeX Andreas Egler Music typesetting, TeX-based notation, high-quality scores. GPL-2.0-or-later

Players

Name GUI Programming language Database Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Notes License Amarok Qt C++ MySQL 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 (KDE) 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 (Mac, Linux, Windows versions) Proprietary (iOS version) Nyquist Computer Music Project at Carnegie Mellon University, Roger B. Dannenberg Pure Data Pd Community, Miller Puckette BSD-3-ClauseSonic PiSam Aaron MIIT SuperCollider SuperCollider community, James McCartney ? GPL-3.0-or-laterTidalCyclesAlex McLean et al GPL-3.0-or-later

Radio broadcasting

See also streaming below.

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? NoteLicense Airtime (software) Sourcefabric Successor to Campcaster From 2.5.2: AGPL-3.0-only1.6 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 editorGPL-2.0-or-later Audacity Dominic Mazzoni wxWidgets multi-track audio recorder and editorGPL-2.0-or-later, CC BY 3.0 (documentation)Ecasound limited support through Cygwin command lineaudio recorderGPL-2.0-or-laterGnome Wave CleanerJeff Welty GTK+audio editorGPL-2.0-or-later Jokosher Jokosher community GTK+ GPL-2.0-only with exceptionLMMS Tobias Doerffel Qt multi-track audio editor intended as a replacement for Cubase-like software (DAW)GPL-2.0-or-laterMusE QtMIDI sequencerGPL-2.0-or-laterQtractor QtA non-destructive multi-track audio and MIDI Workstation (DAW)GPL-2.0-or-laterRosegarden Chris Cannam QtMIDI sequencer and multi-track recorderGPL-2.0-or-laterSoX command-line multi-track audio editor/processorLGPL-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 editorGPL WaveSurfer Centre for Speech Technology at KTH TkBSD-like

Softsynths

Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? Note License FluidSynth SoundFont player/renderer LGPL-2.1-or-later TiMidity++ GPL-2.0-or-later Yoshimi Alan Calvert Various BSDs Forked from ZynAddSubFX in 2009 GPL-2.0-or-later ZynAddSubFX Paul Nasca GPL-2.0-or-later WildMIDI ? ? ? Some alternative to TiMidity Player: GPL-3.0-or-laterLibrary: LGPL-3.0-or-later VCV Rack Andrew Belt GPL-3.0-or-later

Streaming These programs are for use with streaming audio. Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? NoteLicenseFirefly Media Server streams music to DAAP clients like iTunes and RhythmboxGPL-2.0-or-later Icecast a broadcast server, serves audio signals to clients over the HTTP protocolGPL-2.0-only VLC media player media and server programs for video and audio streaming VLC: GPL-2.0-or-laterlibVLC: LGPL-2.1-or-later

Technologies Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? NoteLicense Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) the sound card driver and management system in the Linux kernelGPL-2.0-or-laterLGPL-2.1-or-later aRts an audio programming API and sound server for general desktop, no longer in developmentGPL DSSI a plugin architecture for software synthesizersLGPL-2.1-or-later GStreamer a graph-based multimedia frameworkLGPL-2.1-or-later JACK Audio Connection Kit (JACK) JACK Team, Paul Davis (JACK OS X) (jackdmp) a sound server for integration of general and low-latency pro audio applications, including timebase transportGPL-2.0-or-laterLGPL-2.1-or-later Linux Audio Developers Simple Plugin API (LADSPA) a plugin architecture for digital signal processingLGPL-2.1-or-later Open Sound System a sound card management and driver system for Unix operating systemsBSD-2-ClauseCDDL-1.0GPL-2.0-onlyProprietary (formerly)PipeWireWim Taymans (FreeBSD) a media daemon, unifying JACK Audio Connection Kit, PulseAudio, and GStreamerMIT LicensePortAudio & PortMidiRoss Bencina a cross-platform, open-source C language library for real-time audio & midi I/OMIT License PulseAudio (Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD) a sound server for general desktop and multihost LAN applicationsLGPL-2.1-or-later sndio (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD) sound and MIDI serverISC

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? NoteLicense MilkyTracker Also runs on various other platforms including Windows Mobile, PlayStation and AmigaOS 4.GPL-3.0-or-laterMilkyPlay: BSD-3-Clause OpenMPT Olivier Lapicque Released as free software in 2004BSD-3-Clause (since OpenMPT 1.17.02.53) / GPL-2.0-or-later, partly public domain SoundTracker Fast Tracker cloneGPL-2.0-or-later SunVox Alexander Zolotov Also runs on Windows CE.Proprietary (Music Creation Studio)BSD-3-Clause (Engine)

Other Name Creator Linux? macOS? Unix? Windows? NoteLicense Gnaural Binaural beat and pink noise generatorGPL-2.0-or-later Hydrogen an advanced drum machineGPL-2.0-or-later libsndfile library for reading and writing many sound formatsLGPL-2.1-or-later EasyEffects Wellington Wallace Effects processing for applications using PipeWire sound serverGPL-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