For those who prefer the classic .deb package format, I’ve revived the Ubuntu PPA for the latest Audacity audio editor packages.
I was previously maintaining a PPA for the Audacity packages. It was however discontinued. Because, the project depended its own fork of wxWidget library, that is hard to maintain. And, Debian/Ubuntu upstream even stopped updating (now revived) the software package due to policy changes.
Now, Audacity can be built with the wxWidget 3.2 library from Ubuntu’s system repositories. And, Debian/Ubuntu again keep updating the software package (v3.2.4 at the moment) in the new Distro releases.
So I decide to continue the PPA with the latest Audacity packages built against the rules from Debian upstream. And, now it’s updated to Audacity 3.7.0.
Audacity 3.3 installed as .deb package
Install Audacity 3.7.0 via PPA in Ubuntu
For the release note, and the official AppImage package, see the Github Release page.
The PPA so far supports for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 24.10 on both x86_86 and ARM CPU platforms.
1. First, open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or by searching from start menu ‘Activities’ overview depends on your DE.
2. When terminal opens, paste the command below and hit run to add the PPA.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity
Type user password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue.
3. If an earlier version was installed via apt install command, you can then upgrade the package using Software Updater (Update Manager).
Or, just run command in terminal to install/update the Audacity .deb package:
sudo apt install audacity
NOTE: Linux Mint may need to run sudo apt update first.
Once installed, search for and open it from start menu or ‘Activities’ overview and enjoy!
If you also installed Audacity as Flatpak, or create a shortcut for official AppImage, you may then have duplicated app icons. You can choose to either remove the other package, or start the .deb version from command line:
/usr/bin/audacity
Uninstall:
To uninstall the Audacity software packages, simply open terminal and run command:
sudo apt remove audacity audacity-date
Also, remove the Ubuntu PPA either by running command:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity
or by launching “Software & Updates” and removing source line under “other software” tab.
That’s all. Enjoy!
Thank ya sir!
Thanks! Snap package causing me issues :)
Thank you!
Thanks a lot, works very well :)
Thank you for this, it’s very helpful.
Thank you!
Excelente, LA SATISFACCIÓN DE LOS USUARIOS, SIEMPRE SERÁ LA RAZÓN PROFESIONAL;
Hello, what I’d really like to do is run the old 2.4.2 Audacity in Ubuntu 24.04. How can I do this? I need the ability to save compressed projects, which was removed from 3.x.
As far as I know, only way is to build from the source. And, here’s an official guide: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/building-audacity-2-4-2-on-ubuntu-20-04/57719
Ji m,
Thank you for the PPA package Updated for Installing Audacity.
After the successful installation using your instructions, what was built was the version 3.2.4 of audacity. Your instruction do a standard build of audacity with standard directory structure that I would expect; however it does not have “Check for Updates” menu under the Help menu. “Check for Updates” does not exist in this version under any menu.
Is there a way I can update this to 3.7.0 with the standard directory structure?
SOME BACKGROUND:
I am working on a Linux 6.6.46-04024-g9e7e147b4900 x86_64 and it is mostly (100% in my case) with Ubuntu 22.04. It is on an ASUS high-end Chromebook.
Prior to using your instructions; a simple install of audacity on linux terminal got me the version 3.2.4. with no “Check for Updates”. I was able to build an audacity version 3.7.0 using an AppImage but the directory structure is not the same as the standard build. Any modules that build to add to audacity do not latch on to the AppImage 3.7.0. build.
Your instruction set was promising to me for a standard build of audacity 3.7.0 using a PPA package. Alas your instructions still build me audacity version 3.2.4 only.
Any ideas that I can pursue to update it to 3.7.0 version. The build came out clean except to a different version than what I was looking for.
It could be that you have another software source (e.g., this PPA) that contains Audacity 3.2.4 with higher priority (check version number & config file under /etc/apt/preferences.d).
If you do have successfully added my PPA, try using Synaptic package manager (it’s available in Ubuntu software) to search & highlight ‘audacity’ package, then go to menu ‘Package -> Force Version’ and choose to force install v3.7.0