File Menu

New — creates a new empty window

Open... — opens an audio file or an Audacity project in a new window (unless the current window is empty). To add audio files to an existing project window, use one of the Import commands in the Project menu.

Recent Files ... — brings up a list of files you have recently opened in audacity to be re-opened quickly.

Close — closes the current window, asking you if you want to save changes. On Windows and Unix, closing the last window will quit Audacity, unless you modify this behavior in the Interface Preferences.

Save Project — saves everything in the window into an Audacity-specific format so that you can save and quickly continue your work later. An Audacity project consists of a project file, ending in ".aup", and a project data folder, ending in "_data". For example, if you name your project "Composition", then Audacity will create a file called "Composition.aup" and a folder called Composition_data. Audacity project files are not meant to be shared with other programs; use one of the Export commands (below) when you are finished editing a file.

Save Project As... — same as Save Project (above), but lets you save a project as a new name.

Edit ID3 Tags... — Opens a dialog allowing you to edit the ID3 tags associated with a project, for MP3 exporting.

Import... — a submenu to group functions to import existing files in your project, namely:

Audio... — This command is used to import audio from a standard audio format into your project. Use this command if you already have a couple of tracks and you want to add another track to the same project, maybe to mix them together. You cannot use this option to import Audacity Projects. The only way to combine two Audacity Projects is to open them in separate windows, then copy and paste the tracks. Labels... — This command takes a text file which contains time codes and labels, and turns them into a Label Track. MIDI... — This menu command imports MIDI files and puts them into a MIDI Track. Audacity can display MIDI files, but cannot play, edit, or save them yet. Raw Data... — This menu command allows you to open a file in virtually any uncompressed format. When you select the file, Audacity will analyze it and try to guess its format. It will guess correctly about 90% of the time, so you can try just pressing "OK" and listening to the result. If it is not correct, however, you can use the options in the dialog to try some other possible encodings. At the beginning of your imported track(s), you may notice a little bit of noise. This is probably the file's header, which Audacity was not able to parse. Just zoom in and select the noise with the Selection Tool, and then choose Delete from the Edit Menu.

Export As ... — a submenu to group functions to export all of the audio in your project as a file of some format, namely: WAV... — exports all of the audio in your project as a WAV file, an industry-standard format for uncompressed audio. You can change the standard file format used for exporting from Audacity by opening the File Format Preferences. Note that exporting will automatically mix and resample if you have more than one track, or varying sample rates. See also File Formats. MP3... — exports all of the audio as an MP3 file. MP3 files are compressed and therefore take up much less disk space, but they lose some audio quality. Another compressed alternative is Ogg Vorbis (below). You can set the quality of MP3 compression in the File Format Preferences. See also MP3 Exporting. Ogg Vorbis... — exports all of the audio as an Ogg Vorbis file. Ogg Vorbis files are compressed and therefore take up much less disk space, but they lose some audio quality. Ogg Vorbis files tend to take up a little less disk space than MP3 for similar compression quality, and Ogg Vorbis is free from patents and licensing restrictions, but Ogg Vorbis files are not as widespread. You can set the quality of Ogg compression in the File Format Preferences. Export Selection As... WAV... — exports all of the selected audio in your project as a WAV file. MP3... — exports all of the selected audio in your project as an MP3 file. Ogg Vorbis... — exports all of the selected audio in your project as an Ogg Vorbis file. Export Labels... — if you have a Label Track in your project, this lets you export the labels as a text file. You can import labels in the same text format using the "Import Labels..." command in the Project Menu. Export Multiple... — lets you split your project into multiple files all in one step. You can either split them vertically (one new file per track), or horizontally (using labels in a Label Track to indicate the breaks between exported files. Process Batch... — lets you apply a chain of effects and actions to selected files. Batch processing settings are available in Preferences dialog. Page Setup... — configure how Audacity will print out the track waveforms using the Print option, and what printer to use. Print... — Print out the main window view from audacity showing the tracks and waveforms. Exit (Quit) — closes all windows and exits Audacity, prompting you to save any unsaved changes first.