I can't find Audacity compressor

Hello, Dear Audacity Community,
I can’t find Audacity compressor in either the effects menu or the plugin list. Can you help me with what to do? Audacity version 2.4.2 - OS Windows 10

Thank you very much for your help!

It should be listed in the “Effect” menu as “Compressor”. If it’s definitely not there, check in the Plug-in Manager and check that it’s not disabled. (See: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/manage_effects_generators_and_analyzers.html)

Thanks for the reply! I know I’m really not stupid, but there is no compressor in either the effect bar or the plugins. Where can I download the Compressor plugin afterwards? Or is it better to download the latest version?

The Compressor effect cannot be downloaded separately because it is not a plug-in, it is built into the main app.


I think that’s probably the best solution.

Note that Audacity 3.x uses a different project format (“AUP3” rather than the old “AUP + _data folder”).
Audacity 3.x can import old “AUP + _data folder” projects, but older versions of Audacity do NOT support the new AUP3 format.

I understand everything. Thanks for the help!