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Open a file


First step in learning Audacity is knowing how to open an audio file. This task involves downloading an audio file and opening it in Audacity [15mins]

For this task you will need to first download the following audio file - http://soundcloud.com/mickradio/pancake-keith/download

Then follow the guidelines included here. If you have any problems then ask for help in the comment section below. 

Choose the 'Open' option from the File menu :

open.jpg

You will then be presented with a window where you can browse to the location of the audio file on your computer :

filebrowser.jpg

You can see in the above example there are a couple of audio files. Locate and click on the audio file you downloaded.

If I now press OK the file will be imported into Audacity.

import.jpg

Audacity has its own way of storing audio files. These are known as 'Audacity project files'. So when audio is imported into Audacity it is stored in the Audacity format. You cannot then go and edit these files with another audio editor unless you first export the file to another format (for example, to MP3).

Once the import has finished you will see the audio file displayed in the Audacity window :

audio.jpg

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