An audio plugin is a software program that produces or modifies sound. So that plugins can run on different operating systems, and inside different DAW’s, they are published in various formats.
Why is it important to understand the difference between AU vs CLAP vs VST etc?
Audio production on a computer requires you to use (and choose) an operating system: either Mac, Windows, or Linux.
The operating system that you choose can determine which audio plugin formats are available to you.
For example; you can not use AAX plugins on Linux; you can not use AU plugins on Windows.
What audio plugin formats are available?
There are 6 plugin formats: AAX, AU, CLAP, LV2, VST2, VST3.
AAX
The AAX (Avid Audio eXtension) plugin format is owned by Avid and is only used by the Avid products: Pro Tools, VENUE | S6L and Media Composer.
AU
Apple created the AU (AudioUnit) plugin format. It can be used by a number of DAW’s, but only on the Mac operating system.
CLAP
CLAP (CLever Audio Plugin) is a relatively new plugin format, notable for being created and published as an open source format.
LADSPA
LADSPA (Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Plugin API) is an open source plugin format for Linux audio plugins.
LV2
LV2 is a platform agnostic open source plugin format with a liberal license. Thus it is highly favourable for creating and publishing Linux audio plugins.
VST2
Virtual Studio Technology (VST2) was a proprietary audio plugin format created by Steinberg.
Note that VST2 was deprecated in 2013 and has been replaced by VST3.
VST3
Virtual Studio Technology (VST3) is a (now open source) audio plugin format created by Steinberg.
VST3 is the current version of the format. Notably it was made open source in October 2025.
Which audio plugin format is the best?
As is often the case, “the best” can be subjective. Considering the focus of this website is on professional audio production on Linux, in this instance I believe the best audio formats for Linux are:
- CLAP
- LV2
These are both platform agnostic open source formats. This means that the plugins that you are using on your current operating system are likely to be available on any other operating system you might move to in the future. For example, if you are using CLAP plugins on Windows at the moment and are considering moving your music production to Linux, there is a good chance many of those CLAP plugins will be available on Linux.
Additionally, plugin developers and companies that embrace and offer open source plugin formats generally tend to take a less corporate approach to licencing and multi-operating-system support, which creates a more friendly environment for everyone.
That is to say, I think that plugin developers that have put their time and money in to using CLAP or LV2 and making their plugins available for Linux deserve to be supported.
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