Pedalboard
Spotify's Python library for audio I/O and studio-quality effects with VST3 and Audio Unit plugin hosting.
About
Audio processing at C++ speed from Python is what Pedalboard delivers: Spotify's library wraps the JUCE framework to provide studio-quality effects, reading and writing of WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, and OGG files, and hosting of third-party VST3 and Audio Unit plugins inside ordinary Python code. Built-in processors include compressor, chorus, distortion, reverb, phaser, pitch shift, limiter, and convolution, chainable into a Pedalboard object that renders far faster than real time, while an AudioStream class handles live input and output. Spotify built it for machine learning data augmentation, and it feeds TensorFlow tf.data pipelines directly, but podcasters and producers also use it for batch processing and effect rendering. Wheels for Linux, macOS including Apple Silicon, and Windows install with pip install pedalboard on Python 3.10 through 3.14, and no GPU is involved. The license is GPL-3.0, inherited from JUCE, which matters for closed-source redistribution though not for internal use. About 6,200 GitHub stars and production use inside Spotify's AI DJ and voice translation features anchor its reputation.
Should you use Pedalboard?
Pick it when
Pick Pedalboard when you need fast, scriptable audio effects or file I/O from Python, such as augmenting ML training data, batch rendering podcasts, or running VST3 and Audio Unit plugins headless, all on CPU.
Look elsewhere when
Skip it if you plan to ship closed-source software that bundles it, because GPL-3.0 applies, or if you need analysis features rather than effects, where ISC-licensed librosa fits. It does not generate or separate audio.
Alternatives to Pedalboard
- librosa
Permissive ISC license and rich analysis like beat tracking and spectral features, but no VST3 or Audio Unit hosting and no compressor or reverb chain.
- Demucs
Separates mixes into stems with a neural model, the right pick when you need isolated parts rather than processing applied to a mix.
- AudioSR
Rebuilds missing high frequencies up to 48 kHz with a diffusion model, something EQ and filters cannot restore, but it needs a GPU.
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Details
- Category
- Music & Audio Generation
- Price
- Free
- Platform
- Local/Desktop
- Difficulty
- Easy (2/5)
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Added
- Jul 29, 2026