Audacity 4 is missing lots of Audacity 3 features – I added them

Moin. I worked on Audacity 4, which just released. If you’re coming from Audacity 3, you’ll see that it looks a lot better now, and has some really handy new UX which you can learn more about in the release video. However, you’ll also soon see that it is a bit… unfinished. Several effects and other functions are missing, including some vital ones like exporting stems and Mix & Render. Why the decision was made to release like this I do not know as I left the team in late 2025, but if I had to guess (and this is really just a guess) it’s probably just time pressure from the corporate overlords who probably demanded this release ­– no matter what’s in it! – to be out by a certain date. So this version, even though it says 4.0 is perhaps more akin to a Beta 5, with the actual complete 4.0 bearing the name 4.1.

Anyway: In the lead-up to the release I played around with LLMs a bunch and made some creator tools, and eventually asked myself the question: But can I make a web version of it? And I could. Behold: Soundscaper, a web-based audio editor that incorporates practically all features of Audacity 4. And while I was at it, I also added a bunch of Audacity 3 features to it. So feast your eyes upon the following table, with the many features that you can use in Soundscaper.

You’re not even locked into using only Soundscaper, Soundscaper can import and export AUP4 files, so you can switch between the two. This comes especially handy on mobile because – yes, Soundscaper, as a web app, runs anywhere a browser does. So while you can’t use Audacity 4 on your phone, you can start recording and editing in Soundscaper, and then export the AUP4 to continue editing on your desktop later. Or just open it back up in Soundscaper again!

Soundscaper is free and open source, and completely private – despite being a web app, there’s no account and all files stay on your device.

Audacity 3 vs Audacity 4 vs Soundscaper

(note: This very much is a “negative” list which only lists out the stuff that’s missing in Audacity 4. It’s not to be taken to mean that Audacity is only missing features, because it does have a lot still)

Feature	Audacity 3.7.9	Audacity 4.0.0	Soundscaper
Named in Audacity’s own compatibility notes
Time tracks	Yes	No	No — automation lanes and tempo maps instead
Note tracks	Yes	No — Planned for Audacity 5	No — following Audacity
Mixer board	Yes	No	Yes
Macros	Yes	No	Yes – including JS scripting
Scripting pipe and the Scriptables commands	Yes	No	No
VAMP and LADSPA plug-in hosting	Yes	No	No — no desktop version yet
Play-at-Speed	Yes	No	Yes
Effects
Auto Duck	Yes	No	Yes
Change Speed	Yes	No	Yes
Change Tempo	Yes	No	Yes
Classic Filters	Yes	No	Yes
Distortion	Yes	No	Yes
Echo	Yes	No	Yes
Phaser	Yes	No	Yes
Wahwah	Yes	No	Yes
Repeat	Yes	No	Yes
Legacy Compressor	Yes	No	Yes
Real-time effect rack per track	Yes	Yes	Yes – and more added
Analyzers
Plot Spectrum	Yes	No	Yes
Contrast	Yes	No	Yes
Find Clipping	Yes	No	Yes
Recording
Timer Record	Yes	No	Yes
Sound-activated recording	Yes	No	Yes
Punch and roll	Yes	Yes — renamed lead-in recording	Yes
Export and import
Export the selection only	Yes	Yes	Yes
Export each label as its own file	Yes	No	Yes
Export tracks as separate stems	Yes	No	Yes
Import raw data	Yes	No	Yes
Tracks
Mix and Render	Yes	No	Yes
Align tracks (seven commands)	Yes	No	Yes
Sort tracks by name or start time	Yes	No	Yes
Mute and unmute all tracks	Yes	No	Yes
Pan and gain commands for the focused track	Yes	No	Yes
Editing and selection
Labeled Audio commands (cut, delete, split, join by label region)	Yes	No	No
Store and retrieve a selection, store the cursor position	Yes	No	No
Trim audio outside the selection	Yes	No	Yes
Move to previous or next label	Yes	No	No
Keyboard scrubbing and the seek-during-playback commands	Yes	No	No
Preview playback (play one second, play to selection, cut preview)	Yes	No	No
Spectral selection, spectral delete and spectral amplify	Yes	Yes	Yes – also added spectral drawing
View and window
Fit to height	Yes	No	Yes
Collapse and expand all tracks	Yes	No	Yes
Skip to selection start or end	Yes	No	Yes
The Extra menu (cursor jumps, focused-track commands)	Yes	No	Partial

But wait… there’s more!

My focus hasn’t just been copying Audacity 4. I also have added tons of new features, such as:

• Video tracks
• Track routing (including send/group buses)
• Project bin
• Automation
• Surround support
• Expanded format support

and much, much more, which you can read more about in the Soundscaper docs. I even started working on an entire video editor, which I call Framescaper (though that one I haven’t paid nearly as much attention to. Yet.)

I hope you enjoy Audacity 4 and Soundscaper!

Sources

• Audacity 4.0.0 source tag
• Audacity 3.7.9 source tag
• Audacity 4.0 release notes (CHANGELOG.txt)
• Soundscaper, in your browser

Missing a feature after the jump to Audacity 4? Our Audacity Tutorials cover the new workflows, and you can reach our expert below.