When Was Audacity First Released?

This article covers the origins, launch, and evolution of Audacity, one of the world's most popular open-source audio editing programs. It details the year the software made its official public debut, the creators behind the project, its core functionality, and how it grew into an essential tool for podcasters, musicians, and sound engineers worldwide.

The first public version of Audacity was officially released in the year 2000. Specifically, version 0.8 was made available to the public on May 28, 2000.

Development of the software began in the autumn of 1999 at Carnegie Mellon University. It was created by Dominic Mazzoni, then a graduate student, and his research advisor, Roger Dannenberg. Originally conceived as a research tool to visualize audio waveforms and analyze algorithms, the developers quickly realized the broader potential of an accessible, cross-platform audio editor and chose to release it to the public as free, open-source software under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Audacity filled a significant gap in the digital audio workstation (DAW) market at the turn of the millennium. Most capable audio editing tools of that era were proprietary, expensive, and limited to specific operating systems. Audacity introduced multi-track recording, non-destructive editing, built-in sound effects, and audio format conversion without any licensing fees, running seamlessly across Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

Over the decades, Audacity has maintained its position as a standard entry-level and intermediate audio production utility. In 2021, the project was acquired by Muse Group, which continues to maintain and develop the software alongside its global open-source community, preserving its foundational mission of free audio production for all users.