MP3 Export Option is Gone

I have updated Audacity to version 3.7.1 and added the OpenVINO extensions.

When I export audio, the MP3 option is no longer offered.

I found a forum post about this from 2023 and it recommended deleting audacity.cfg. I did that.

I reinstalled v3.7.1 (ran the installer again). Audacity.cfg was recreated anew.

On restarting audacity, the log file has the following entries:

14:48:40: Audacity 3.7.1
14:48:40: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-61.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
14:48:40: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-60.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
14:48:40: FFmpeg libraries loaded successfully from: C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity\avformat-59.dll
14:48:42: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-61.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
14:48:42: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-60.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
14:48:42: FFmpeg libraries loaded successfully from: C:\Program Files\FFmpeg For Audacity\avformat-59.dll

The MP3 option for export is still missing.

As MP3 is part of the LAME extensions that now install automatically, I believe the bug is there somewhere.

In my Audacity preferences, when I first noticed the missing option, Preferences->Modules told me that mod-mp3 had Failed. I re-enabled it. This made no difference. mod-opus had also failed and I have re-enabled it.

If you’re not doing this already, as a workaround you can export as WAV and use a 3rd-party converter like Kabuu Audio Converter.

A reasonable guess… It must be well-embedded into the code because there are no files named “lame” in the Audacity folders on my computer.

There have been reports here of it getting disabled on some people’s installations and I don’t know why that’s happening either, but usually they are able to re-enable it.

Those avformat and FFmpeg messages aren’t really errors and they are not related to MP3. It just means that the optional FFmpeg library isn’t installed (or isn’t installed correctly). FFmpeg is used for formats that are not built into Audacity (M4A, etc.). WAV and MP3 are built-in.

if your mod-mp3 is failing, something has gone wrong with your installation. You may need to re-install Audacity.

Or, are you running an older version of Windows? …That’s just a wild guess since you have an unusual problem.

I recorded a session on Jan. 29 and processed it Jan. 30 - running Windows 11 with Audacity 3.7.1 and the MP3 export worked fine.

This exact thing happened to me today (7 Feb 2025)! Here’s I finally fixed it:

  1. Open Audacity.
  2. Go to Edit > Preferences > Modules.
  3. Go to the module labeled “mod-mp3”. If the drop down menu is set to “Failed”, that’s your problem. Reset it to “Enabled”. Then click “OK”.
  4. Restart Audacity.
    The final step is the one that seals the deal. If you don’t take that step, it won’t fix your problem.
    Hope that helps!