There is a huge range of open source free audio software available for Linux which is both mature and feature-laden. Linux has all the tools needed to be a serious contender in music production without a user having to venture into the commercial software world. Linux is a superior platform for professional audio production: rock solid, efficient, and you don’t get fleeced for software licenses.
The best free audio editors make it simple and easy to manage audio files for a variety of different purposes.
To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 20 high quality free and open source audio editors.
Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style chart. We only feature open source goodness. Audacity deservedly receives our highest praise, but there are many other great tools available to choose from.
Let’s explore the 20 audio editors at hand. For each title we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, a screenshot of the software in action, together with links to relevant resources.
| Audio Editors | |
|---|---|
| Audacity | Multi-track audio editor and recorder |
| SoX | Swiss Army knife of sound processing programs |
| LosslessCut | Swiss army knife of lossless video/audio editing |
| Tenacity | Cross-platform multi-track audio editor/recorder; fork of Audacity |
| Auto-Editor | Automatically edit video and audio |
| audapolis | Editor for spoken-word media with transcription |
| Kwave | Sound editor built on the KDE Frameworks 5 |
| AudioMass | Edit and manipulate audio directly in your browser |
| Cecilia | Audio signal processing environment aimed at sound designers |
| GWC | Gnome Wave Cleaner |
| Snd | An advanced sound editor modeled loosely after Emacs |
| Reco | Audio recording app designed for elementary OS |
| pxtone collab | Sample-based music editor |
| Sound Recorder | Straightforward way to record and play audio with simple interface |
| mp3splt | Command-line tool to split mp3, ogg vorbis and FLAC files without decoding |
| MorphEdit | Browser-based desktop audio editor for trimming, effects, mixing, and more |
| WaveSurfer | Tool for sound visualization and manipulation |
| Sweep | Audio editor and live playback tool |
| mhWaveEdit | Simple and fast sound editor |
| EKO | Graphical sound editor for recording, cutting, effects and waveform editing |
This article has been updated to reflect the changes outlined in our recent announcement.
If you want to record, edit, mix and master audio and MIDI projects, you’ll need a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). A DAW is usually used alongside an audio interface, mixing desk, microphones and other bits of external gear. Designed for those in the recording industry, the DAW’s user interfaces replicated many of the same features of a multi-track tape recorder. Play, record, and other controls such as waveform, track controls, a mixer, and so on. In fact, many of the most popular DAWs have very similar interfaces. We feature the finest free and open source DAWs in this article.
 LinuxLinks helps you discover the best free and open source software for Linux. Explore our extensive collection of recommended applications, including alternatives to popular proprietary software.We also publish software reviews, Linux tutorials, hardware reviews, free programming books and articles covering the wider open source community. Browse our Linux resources to discover more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application we haven't covered? Suggest a program for inclusion. Has your software been featured on LinuxLinks? Display one of our Featured on LinuxLinks badges on your website or GitHub README. |
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Where’s ocenaudio?
I just downloaded Tenacity as the AppImage. It is a fork of Audacity but without all the recent “improvements”, such as arranging the effects in sub-menus. So it restores the user-friendly interface, and I can find my way around just as easily as I could with older versions of Audacity. It’s always annoying when somebody tries to “improve” something, in fact all they do is make it different, but not better.
Well done, Tenacity!
How much on your list is actually free?
All of them are free.