Audacity amplifies the file instead of compressing it

[Stevo]

I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this:
I always used audacity without any issues on windows 10 (home addition) but after recently getting a new laptop with windows 11, now everytime i try to use the compression feature on audacity, audacity amplifies the file instead of compressing it. I have rebooted audacity and the pc several times and i even reinstalled audacity three times but the issue persists.

[Trebor]

@Stevo

… everytime i try to use the compression feature on audacity, audacity amplifies the file …

Maybe you have ticked the “Make-up gain” box in the Audacity compressor GUI, (bottom left corner).
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/compressor.html

[Stevo]

Thats the weird part…i didnt. I even watched 3 walkthroughs to see what i may have been doing wrong and everything is the way it should be. Its like everything i try to do in the “effects” section, audacity does the opposite.

[DVDdoug]

OK… Several questions…

Are you using the same built-in compressor that Trebor linked to?

What are the settings?

What’s your audio like? Loud? Quiet? Varying?

What are the approximate peak levels? (You can answer in dB, percentage, or on the +/-1 scale.)

Why are you using compression? What at are you trying to accomplish?

++++++++++++++++
Dynamic compression reduces the dynamic range (or “dynamic contrast”) to make the loud parts quieter and/or the quiet parts louder. It’s most often used to “make everything louder”.

Compression and limiting (of fast-kind of compression) are the main weapons in The Loudness Wars.

[Trebor]

@Stevo

… does the opposite.

The Windows audio-enhancement “Loudness equalization” will fight any changes you make to loudness.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/topic/disable-audio-enhancements-0ec686c4-8d79-4588-b7e7-9287dd296f72