No More Portable Version for Windows Anymore?

jti-man · September 9, 2026, 2:10am

Just visited the Downloads page for Audacity for first time since v.4 came out, and I’m not seeing any downloads of the Portable version (ZIP) for Windows x64 executable (or 32-bit for that matter) anymore. In fact, the page doesn’t even have them for any of the older versions anymore either. All I see for Windows now is just MSI and EXE installers only. I used to be able to get the ZIP files there before too.

I prefer the portable version as traditional MSI/EXE installers are more difficult to upgrade to newer version, I have to uninstall old version then install new version. Portable ZIP version allows me to just swap out old version and replace with new, and not have to worry about registry or other crappy changes.

Was this an oversight when the Downloads page was redone, and Portables are coming back soon? Or is this the way it will be going forward?

UPDATE 2026-09-09: I did find the Portable ZIP files on Audacity’s SourceForge site (https://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/), and they have them for v3.7.6 up through 3.7.9, but not for 4.0. They have the other installers for 4.0 but not the Portable. No link on main Audacity Download page to SourceForge page though; they mention GitHub but that is only for the source code files and manual. I didn’t see any of the installers in GitHub.

Wondering if there will be a Portable ZIP for v4.0 or if MSI/EXE installers will be the only way to install? At this moment I am fine sticking with 3.7.9, that version seems to be working great so far, and I had very good luck with 3.7.8 before that.

jti-man · October 1, 2026, 8:18pm

4.0.1 was released and a 7-Zip version of the ZIP file now exists for both Winx86/x64 and ARM64, though as of today (10/1/2026) they are not on the regular site, you have to go either to GitHub here: Release Audacity-4.0.1 · audacity/audacity or the SourceForge site (see link above) to find them. I extracted the x86_64 version, and it is working for me, though it seems to be missing stuff that was available in v3.7.9, as others have documented.

Before I heard 4.0.1 became available, I also started trying out SoundScaper, created by Audacity Team veteran Leo Wattenberg, more info here: Soundscaper is getting ready for action . Web and Desktop versions are available, and Desktop offers a portable in ZIP and 7-ZIP. So far it seems to be a pretty solid app, especially Web version. Desktop is good too, though a few things are not working there yet that are working in the Web version. This app has got quite a few things that are missing in Audacity 4.x. I really like the Analysis tab, with max volumes for highlighted section of tracks in dBTP, RMS, LUFS, etc. along with dBFS, without having to install and use separate Nyquist scripts or VST add-ins to get this info. While still in progress, this app is worth a try.