“Sound repair” is not one job. A recording can carry steady hiss from a fan, clicks from a worn tape, crackle from a vinyl transfer, or the flattened peaks of clipping. Each damage type needs a different tool, and no single app fixes all four well. Pick the software that matches your damage.
How these were picked
This October 2026 snapshot is based on each maker’s own documentation, not a listening test. Gleam Audio is described from its product page and release notes. The RX facts come from iZotope’s RX 12 page, which lists which repair modules sit in which edition. Audacity is checked against its manual, updated 7 October 2026. Audition is checked against Adobe’s product page. Prices and plans change, so check the linked pages before buying.
Two nearby pages cover the same tools from other angles: best offline noise removal apps for cleanup-only desktop tools, and Audacity vs RX for audio repair for the specific trade-off between the free editor and the paid suite.
Which one to choose
Start with Gleam Audio when your damage is steady background noise under speech, you have several files, and you want everything to stay on your computer. It is free for personal use. It does not automate click or clipping repair, so it suits recordings that are noisy rather than broken.
Use Audacity when you want the free path for all three damage types. Click Removal handles vinyl crackle, Clip Fix restores clipped peaks, and the editor is there for the work around the repair. You capture a noise sample for its main Noise Reduction effect.
Use RX 12 when a specific moment needs care: a click over a word, crackle on an old transfer, or a clipped live recording. De-click, De-crackle and De-clip each treat one damage type, and Spectral Repair works on one selected sound. It is the strongest repair toolkit and the most expensive to learn and buy.
Use Adobe Audition when you already work in a full editing suite, or you edit audio and video together with Premiere. Its spectral display and restoration effects handle the repair inside that workflow.
For repairing old tape hiss, hum and uneven volume specifically, AI audio restoration walks through the three-tool workflow in detail.