Portable Audacity

Is it possible to assemble a portable version for Audacity?

Installing it every time I change computers or new Windows installs is really a pain.

Now I can’t make Audacity to recognize mkv files, so I can import it and convert the DTS audio to AC3. Eventually I will find a way, but it’s taking a time I could be using doing other things.

To make a portable version of Audacity for Windows:

  • Download the “Audacity 2.2.2 zip file” from here: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/windows/
  • Extract the Zip archive to your thumb drive (or wherever),
  • Open the extracted folder (you should see “audacity.exe” in there)
  • Create a new folder in there, and name the new folder “Portable Settings”

To run the portable version, double click in the “audacity.exe” file (you can also make a link to that file for easier access).

Cool trick! But it has to be named “Portable Settings

Yes it does, thank you. I’ve corrected the typo in my previous post.

And what will go into that Portable Settings folder?

When Audacity finds a “Portable Settings” folder, Audacity uses that (rather than the default locations) for the following files and folders:

  • AutoSave (folder)
    Audacity creates one “autosave” file for each open project. These are for internal use only and are part of the automatic recovery mechanism in the event of a crash or forced shutdown.
  • Chains (folder)
    This is where Audacity looks for and saves “Chains” (see: Macros - for batch processing and effects automation - Audacity Manual)
    In future versions of Audacity, this will be called “Macros”.
  • Plug-ins (folder)
    This is an additional location for plug-ins. Audacity looks for ug-ins here, in addition to the other plugin search path locations.
  • audacity.cfg (file)
    This is Audacity’s main configuration file. User “Preference” settings are saved here. Audacity also uses this file for storing other configuration data, such as windows size / position, toolbar layouts, recent file list, device selection …
  • pluginregistry.cfg (file)
    This is where Audacity keeps track of plug-ins that are installed and enabled. Each plug-in is “registered” with a unique base64 hash signature so that Audacity can distinguish between different versions of a plug-in.
  • pluginsettings.cfg (file)
    This is where Audacity saves the savable settings for plug-ins. The plug-ins are referenced by their unique base64 hash signature.