Prominent changes
Added a new Effects button to the tracks menu, allowing you to place realtime effects.
Further information can be found on
https://support.audacityteam.org/audio-editing/using-realtime-effects Merged the mixer bar with the meter bars.
Added a new Audio Setup button, replacing the Device Toolbar by default. The device toolbar can be re-added via the View > Toolbars menu.
The Effects menu has gotten a new sorting. Other sorting and grouping options can be found in the Effects preferences.
Updated the icons
Added a quick audio sharing feature.
More info can be found on
https://support.audacityteam.org/basics/sharing-audio-onlinePlugin changes
VST3 effects are now supported.
VST3, LV2, Audio Units and LADSPA are now realtime capable
Plugins now automatically get scanned, tested and enabled when Audacity starts.
You can find plugins on
https://plugins.audacityteam.orgSystem changes
Apple Silicon (arm64) is now supported on macOS.
Note: When using an arm64 Audacity, you must use arm64 FFMPEG and plugins. Plugins for x86-64 (Intel macs) will not load.
For the time being, Audacity will continue to offer x86-64 versions by default to avoid these incompatibilities, but you can download an arm64 version from Github releases.
FFMPEG 5.0 (avformat 59) is now supported, in addition to avformat 55, 57 and 58
Added support for Wavpack
On Linux, Audacity can now be compiled without JACK present.
Audacity now uses XDG directories on Linux. Note: If you are upgrading from a previous version, Audacity will keep using the ~/.audacity-data and ~/.audacity folders until you delete them.
Switched from mad to mpg123 as MP3 importer
License update
Audacity binaries are now licensed under the GNU General Public License, Version 3. Most code files remain GPLv2-or-later, but VST3 support required this license update. More information can be found in the announcement post.
Removals
Removed the Zoom Tool
The Audacity Manual HTML pages no longer are included in the installation.
If you require offline access of the manual, you can download it here.
You also can download PDFs of
https://support.audacityteam.org straight from its sidebar (or the three-dot button on mobile devices).
Bug Fixes
3079 Fixed Audacity sometimes not being able to import MP3 files (or reporting Huffman Data Overruns) by switching import library
2590 Fixed rare data loss bug when placing labels during recording
2272 Fixed clip titles being able to disappear off-screen when editing them
2162 Fixed Punch and Roll not paying tracks in sync
1889 Fixed clip titles changing name when applying some effects
1624 During batch processing, Audacity will no longer stop to ask for a sample rate when an unsupported one is chosen, but choose the nearest supported one instead.
2265 Fixed mod-script-pipe not being installed on Linux
3571 Fixed GTK packaging in Appimages. This fixes various issues with icons, dropdowns and similar things not appearing properly.
3634 Improved M4A/AAC support. Previously the target bitrate was not honored at all, now it can be set between 98 and 160 kbit/s (mono) or 196 and 320 kbit/s (stereo). The UI does not yet reflect these limits.
