Audacity 4.0 launched today with its interface fully rebuilt on Qt6 instead of wxWidgets, a new clip-editing model, and a new .aup4 project format, while the underlying audio engine stayed on the existing codebase.
Read the full story: Audacity 4.0 Ships a Complete Qt Interface Rewrite →
Transcript
Audacity just shipped its biggest change in twenty seven years. The whole interface is rebuilt from scratch, moving off wxWidgets and onto Qt6, the same framework Muse Group already uses for MuseScore. Clips can now be grouped and dragged between mono and stereo tracks far more freely than before, and projects save to a new dot aup4 format, with old files still opening and converting automatically. Here's the part most coverage is skipping. The audio engine itself, the code that actually processes your sound, was not touched. It is the same core as version three, wired to the new interface through a bridge module. Smart risk management, but a few things did not make the cut. MIDI support is gone, so is the Macro Manager, and LADSPA and VAMP plugin hosting. Lean on those, stay on 3.7 for now.