LAME is only distributed in source code form. For binaries and GUI based programs which can use LAME (or include fully licensed versions of LAME), check the LAME related links. All software from the LAME project can be found in the project's file area.
LAME is free, but in some countries you may need to pay a license fee in order to legally encode MP3 files. Audacity is a free and open source Audio Editor which allows you to convert ogg to mp3, convert mp3 to ogg, convert vinyls to mp3 or ogg, do any kind of home recording, remove noise, etc. LAME MP3 Encoder for Mac OS is a free MP3 encoder which is compatible with Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later. The main features of this encoder are: - being compiled as libmp3lame.dylib. LAME is only distribued in source code form. For binaries and GUI based programs which can use LAME (or include fully licensed versions of LAME), check the LAME related links. All software from the LAME project can be found in the project's file area.
Current Versions
- The current release version of LAME is 3.100
Source code tarballs of the versions can be downloaded from SourceForge.
LAME compiles on Windows, DOS, GNU/Linux, MacOS X, *BSD, Solaris, HP-UX, Tru64 Unix, AIX, Irix, NeXTstep, SCO Unix, UnixWare, Ultrix, Plan 9, OpenVMS, MacOS Classic, BeOS, QNX, RiscOS, AmigaOS, OS/2, SkyOS, FreeMiNT(Atari) and probably a few more.
Development Versions
LAME source code is maintained with SVN, hosted on SourceForge.net. For instructions on downloading the current development sources, go to the SVN information page of the LAME project on SourceForge.net.
LAME is a high quality MPEG Audio Layer III (MP3) encoder licensed under the LGPL.
Latest LAME release: v3.100(October 2017)
LAME development started around mid-1998. Mike Cheng started it as a patch against the 8hz-MP3 encoder sources. After some quality concerns raised by others, he decided to start from scratch based on the dist10 sources. His goal was only to speed up the dist10 sources, and leave its quality untouched. That branch (a patch against the reference sources) became Lame 2.0, and with Lame 3.81 all of dist10 code was replaced, making LAME no more only a patch.
The project quickly became a team project. Mike Cheng eventually left leadership and started working on tooLame, an MP2 encoder. Mark Taylor became leader and started pursuing better quality in addition to increased speed. He can be considered the initiator of the LAME project in its current form. He released version 3.0 featuring gpsycho, a new psychoacoustic model he developed.
In early 2003 Mark left project leadership, and since then the project has been lead through the cooperation of the active developers (currently three individuals).
Today, LAME is considered the best MP3 encoder at mid-high bitrates and at VBR, mostly thanks to the dedicated work of its developers and the open source licensing model that allowed the project to tap into engineering resources from all around the world. Both quality and speed improvements are still happening, probably making LAME the only MP3 encoder still being actively developed.
Download Lame Encoder Windows
Quick Links
Audacity Lame Mp3 Encoder Free Download For Mac
- Contact - to get in touch with LAME developers, with other LAME users, or to submit bug reports.
- Download - to obtain the latest LAME source code.
- Links - to get to know about software using LAME, obtain precompiled LAME binaries from external sites, and discover more information about MP3.
- Developers - the people behind the LAME project.
- History/ChangeLog - what has been happening lately.