How to Run Multiple Audacity Versions on One PC

It is entirely possible to install and run multiple versions or separate instances of Audacity simultaneously on the same computer. While standard installers naturally attempt to overwrite existing installations, you can bypass this limitation by using custom installation directories, standalone ZIP/portable archives, and isolated configuration folders. This guide explains how to properly set up multiple versions on Windows, macOS, and Linux without risking data loss or configuration conflicts.

Installing Multiple Versions on Windows

When installing Audacity on Windows via the standard executable installer (.exe), the installer targets the default directory (C:\Program Files\Audacity). To maintain multiple versions:

Use Custom Folders: Run the installer and change the destination directory during setup (for example, C:\Program Files\Audacity 2.4.2 and C:\Program Files\Audacity 3.x).
Use Standalone ZIP Packages: For older or alternative releases, download the standalone .zip version rather than the installer. Extract the contents into dedicated, separate folders anywhere on your drive.

Isolating Settings with Portable Mode

By default, all installed Audacity versions share the same global preferences, plugin registries, and configuration files located in your system's AppData folder. Running different versions against the same configuration can cause crashes, reset preferences, or disable plugins.

To isolate settings for each version:

Open the folder containing the specific audacity.exe file.
Create a new, empty folder inside it and name it exactly: Portable Settings.

When Audacity starts, it checks for this folder. If present, it stores and reads all preferences, macros, and plugin registries strictly within that folder, preventing it from interfering with any other Audacity version on your system.

Installing Multiple Versions on macOS

On macOS, applications are stored in the /Applications folder:

Download the separate Audacity DMG files.
Open the DMG, but before moving the file to /Applications, rename the Audacity.app bundle (for example, Audacity-legacy.app and Audacity-latest.app).
Drag each renamed bundle to the /Applications folder.

Note that macOS versions will still share preferences in ~/Library/Application Support/audacity unless launched via isolated environment scripts.

Running Simultaneous Instances

By default, opening another audio file or launching an Audacity shortcut while Audacity is already open will simply create a new project window within the existing process rather than launching a brand-new instance.

If you require completely isolated instances running concurrently (for example, to test different audio engines or run independent tasks):

Launch two completely separate portable installations that each contain their own Portable Settings folder.
On Linux or macOS, you can launch independent processes via the terminal using the -n flag on macOS (open -n /Applications/Audacity.app) or by executing the separate binaries directly in Linux.