FabFilter

There's no market for Linux plugins right now. There are maybe a handful of users that would still require a significant amount of support.

At most they'd probably release an unsupported beta (just compiled and sent out).

We're not planning support for Linux any time soon. It's a significant amount of work, and testing is harder than on Windows or Mac because there are various major Linux distributions, all with subtle differences. And of course the market is very small.

Cheers,

Maybe you can concentrate only on one LInux distribution ? Ubuntu studio for exemple ?
I think that there have a lot of ubuntu users in the world ...

Best regards

I reckon there's a market out there for Harrison Mixbus users on Linux that'd go for pro-grade plugins like these. With Mixbus, Linux is a very valid platform for pro-audio work these days and there's still plenty of opportunity in the plugin space to establish a name as THE essential plugins to be using for pro work on that platform (exactly as fabfilter have very intelligently done with the iOS platform).

Just try to compile smth for linux users and you will see the amount of us!)))

FWIW, the plugs run well for mixing at higher latency in Reaper/Linux using WINE and the LinVst wrapper: github.com/osxmidi/LinVst

At least something to consider in the meantime.

The Linux market is still small for one reason - most developers like you don't build anything useful for Linux. Give people an alternative and the market will grow.

It's not small market - is a not full market which can be claimed.
And this market has a very small percentage of piracy, users value their developers.

Every manufacturer of VSTs/Plugins should be interested in supporting Linux:
Somehow, every potential customer is on a budget and the less money one has to spend on the systems that host plugins, the more money the one has left over to spend on plugins... Building a linux based DAW is more interesting than ever these days. Not only that Linux is free and professional grade DAWs like Reaper are cheap. Building a linux based system also reduces costs for computer hardware a lot. Windows and Mac OS don't shine when it comes to parallel processing. Very powerfull multi core CPUs (AMD Ryzen/Threadripper) are available but in Windows/Mac OS based systems with established DAWs like Protools, that are not build for parallel processing/SMT, the potential of this kind of silicon does not translate into performance very well. But with Linux you get way better performance when it comes to SMT. Using these kind of CPUs enables you to put together a machine that is more than twice as powerfull as a fully equipped ProMac for 20% of the price...
It is true that today linux does not play a roll in audioengineering yet but that will change radically. If they are wise, FabFilter should really be interested in becoming envolved in supporting linux.

Linux users are already able to use major DAWs and plugins from 3rd party devs like u-he. Still the market share of Linux is only about 2%. If people didn't care until now, why should they start building Linux systems now suddenly? Further more for hobbyists (which I'd consider the majority of producers) audio production is only an add on. So as long as Linux isn't able to keep up with other stuff like games it's not convinient enough to switch to or to dual boot it.

BTW ProTools utilizes all CPU cores and highly runs in parallel...

I am running the media technology lab at a public art university and nearly all audio stuff done here is done on linux machines.

I also privately own all Fabfilter products, because before my university position I worked as a freelance rerecording mixer for film (on Windows) I am still looking forward to the day where I can make the full switch to Linux, one of the blockers are the fabfilter plugins (or something like it).

Although I like open source, what I like about linux for audio is that it is just so damn reliable once you have a running setup (which is also why most dedicated audio hardware that ia anove the microcontroller level usually runs linux). It is also incredibly customizable. I need to use the HDMI Audio output while also using a Soundcraft MTK mixer? Easy on linux, totally and utterly impossible on Windows (just as an example).

Any company that supports Linux (like Bitwig for example) will automatically get a lot of plus points from my side. "Why should we support Linux if the market share is low?" This is not about market share but about showing a willingness to support reliable, customizable and open systems — to move away from a total dependency on Apple and Microsoft, two giant corporations that really did not shine as marvelous examples of having audio professionals as their first priority.

Will it pay off right away? Probably not. But it is certainly the direction things should move into. It is the right thing to do and maybe it is even a good long term investment.

As someone observing the whole thing for a decade now, things are moving faster now than ten years ago. Newer companies are more willing to support Linux right away. If something comes along that replaces Q3 and works on Linux I'd gladly pay double the Fabfilter price for it.

> there are various major Linux distributions, all with subtle differences

You can do what most companies that aren't fully into Linux do and simply support one version of Ubuntu.

Bitwig Studio is a great example, they provide downloads for Ubuntu 18.04 and that's the only version they support.

The Linux community is more than used to porting packages between distros when there is no other way, and things work out very well. I'm on Arch Linux and I was able to get Bitwig setup in just one command because someone already ported the .deb version to AUR. Everything worked out of the box.

Reaper works perfectly as well, again installed via AUR.

u-he provides Linux versions of their synths but explicitly says there is no official support, only community support, and that works out great too.

While it's not ideal, many of us dual boot or run many systems with both Linux and Windows and would be more than happy to jump through a few extra steps to get more of the same software running on Linux.

If you give us one build that works on one distro as a "beta" version with no support I'm sure we'll figure it out together as a community.

Hi,
i don't know if anyone is reading this anymore, but i so much
agree with everyone, who says it's worth the effort.
I mean the linux community is small, but right. And we all know it.
Microsoft and Apple do what they want and everyone has to go with it, with linux all can be free.
But it's gonna take another 20 years. Unless...

LINUX USERS RIZE UP!!!

You know, @Sebastian, you're so right. And we are right. And companies like this would do well to realize, WE ARE INEVITABLE because we are right and God is on our side.

Hail Lord Jesus Christ ☦️

(See, AppleCuckx and WinCUx, we're totally mainstream.. hehe)..

In all seriousness now, Linux desktop is inevitable as people become aware how seriously evil these companies are. Linux is already and will continue to be invaded by the politically-activated, but this crossover will take time, and in the meantime many intelligent folks are starting to see the light.

I was a grammy nominated audio engineer for 7 years and now I'm marriedtolinux.com

PEACE
🙇

> The Linux community is more than used to porting packages between distros when there is no other way, and things work out very well.

I don't think that the Linux community is too keen on porting packages of proprietary non open source to other distros.

I'd love to see more audio software on Linux and would happily make the switch.

However, I understand every software vendor that doesn't show interest in porting their software to Linux (yet).

I also understand every user that doesn't want to jump through hoops in order to transition to Linux. The platform is capable but not really user-friendly.

I have asked RME if there's a chance that they would port their drivers and software (TotalMix) to Linux. Same answer as above. It's just too difficult with that many distros and window managers. There is just not one "Linux", it's all highly fragmented.

The FabFilter plugins work very well in Linux via Wine and Yabridge :-)

Linux market is a reality but I understand the support effort maybe heavy.
On the other hand, a plethora of (free) plugins works well in quite all Linux, Windows, MacOS, fully cross-platform. IMHO making a cross-platform plugin is feasible and it is matter of knowledge and design capacity only, not of support.
Anyway, as I said, fortunately there are tons of good free plugins, and what I learn is that there is not the perfect plugin to solve all music issues. You have to learn how to do and you can do everything (really!) with what you have!
If Fabfilter doesn't want to make Linux plugins I suggest: you can use all the free plugins available, but invest in HW and in your ears...these are the real keys that will make the difference in your music.

This topic becomes even more important as windows 10 support is coming to an end. And I am not paying for win11, an ad platform that claims to be an operating system.

I am going to make the jump to linux, well knowing that a lot of plugins will not work. I hope that many will also join, so that in the "low market share" argument just becomes invalid.

As a software developer and audio developer myself, I can clearly say that supporting Linux is not that hard at all. To be honest, the common Linux distributions are way less pain than MacOS.

Yep, I'm looking into Linux too.

Yep, I'm looking into Linux too.

I'm switching to Linux as well due to Windows 10 EOL. Please support Linux FabFilter, I love your plugins. I'd hate to have to switch to something else.

I'm looking into Linux too!

We understand your concerns regarding Windows 10, but the Linux situation is still the same... it's not one single target and there's not enough traction in the market to make it worthwhile in our view.

Cheers,

Supporting Linux is more of an ideology-thing I guess. Commercial products are about making money, while open-source products are more about ideology and a certain attitude. And while I really love Fabfilter and wished they ported their stuff to Linux, I can understand that it doesn’t make sense for them from a commercial perspective. That is why open-source mostly stays open-source, putting openness first, while closed-source focuses on their products being competitive and marketable.

I recently said goodbye to many 1000s $ worth of music software because keeping Windows around just for music got too tedious. When your OS is getting in the way of your work and creativity, having a smaller music software ecosystem on an OS that works well is the better option. Many producers in my circle consider doing the same.

I've been a long time FabFilter fan and customer and came here to check if FabFilter finally supports Linux or if I should look elsewhere in the future.

Marcel, open-source is about well-functioning software and (if it's a commercial product) motivating customers to buy the product because of its quality and support, not by creating unethical dependencies. A LOT of money is made with open-source software, and ~95% of proprietary software is at least partially built on open-source software. It is the very spine of our entire digital infrastructure. The functional superiority of closed-sourced software is an ever propagated myth. (Speaking as a developer here).

Just to weight in: I would also love to see official Linux support. Maybe you target the same base level that Bitwig and also Reaper target for their DAW. The market is there, as one of your paying customer can attest.

As a paying customer of the full suite I would very much also like to see Linux support.

Hi - just wanted to add my voice to the growing list of Linux users. I migrated last year; after ~30y as a user of, and 27y of professionally supporting Windows in all it's flavours from desktop to server to cloud.

W11 is the last straw. The insistance on mandatory MS accounts, AI being shovelled into every corner of the OS and their apps, Recall, adverts in the OS, the increasingly intrusive telemetry, etc... I'm done with it. Thankfully, I'm also retiring this year so I won't have to deal with it again :)

I understand why a small commercial shop like Fabfilter doesn't want to invest in a small (but growing) market, and why the Linux landscape can appear to be a support nightmare, and there's also the issue of internal Linux development experience.

I am eternally grateful to both the commercial and FOSS developers that have taken the plunge already, even if the products are essentially offered without full support. I hope that Ff will reconsider in the future when they feel that it will be financially viable for them to make that move.

As to the eternal distro debate... my 2c:
Debian is the grandfather of ~50% of all distros. The stable release is rock-solid for 2 years, and new enough to be viable until the next version appears - I really don't want a distro that updates constantly, I want a stable platform to work on, so that's where I am. Write for Debian stable, and plugins will work just about anywhere with the same or newer libs. Debs are also reasonably portable with a bit of work, as the AUR proves. A word against Ubuntu; it's a fine OS, but they are looking to IPO eventually and, well, we know where that goes.

Cheers.

Hi - +1 for Linux support. Windows 11 is literally broken and is pushing people to other OS, including Linux and the now unsupported Windows 10. I have made the switch to Linux Mint in Jan 2026 and I don't think I'm the only one, though I understand as a business point of view, you would need to see the traction first before making any move towards it. I hope it will happen and people will finally leave Microsoft once and for all. The grass is really greener on Linux, if only it had more support from third parties.

Cheers.

Fabfilter plugins are one of the few that run comparably good on linux using the yabridge and wine crutch.
As a studio that bands like Avatar chose to record their albums i am waiting for a real linux version. With the help of claudeś new coding ability this should be easy to do.
Windows is a "game over". I will never switch to 11.
Therefore i have to disconnect my win 10 installation from the internet, which is doable but results in a lot of wasted time.
Every critical digital infrastructure, be it server or banking system, uns on Linux. Nobody would ever chose windows os. Guess why ;-)

Its due time for music producers to be able to switch too !

Arno Jordan
CEO, Castle Studios
Dresden, Germany