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Audio Hijack
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Audio Hijack is our flagship product, in development since Rogue Amoeba first opened our virtual doors in 2002. We’ve had versions for Mac OS X 10.2 (!) and higher. Below, you can see screenshots of Audio Hijack through the years.
Visit Rogue Amoeba’s Historic Screenshot Archive to see many more images of our apps over time.
Audio Hijack 1.0, the very first version of our audio recording tool, was released to the world on September 30, 2002. At the time, however, we were incredibly defensive about its recording ability. Napster was getting whacked, DRMed audio files were the new thing, and despite precedents like the Betamax case, it was no sure thing that the right to record audio digitally would stand. As a result, the app was aimed largely at audio enhancement, with the marketing skewed heavily in that direction.
Still, one of the most common use cases for Audio Hijack was recording RealPlayer audio streams for later listening on an iPod. If that sentence makes you feel old, we can sympathize.
Lamentably, we don’t have a preserved copy of Audio Hijack 1.5. However, we do have one contemporaneous screenshot from the press release, and it’s tremendous. It shows off several newly added features, including: Timers for scheduled recordings, VU Meters, the ability to detach plugins, and the updated status line, which now contained recording time as well as file size. There’s a lot packed into this lone image.
Audio Hijack 1.6 added two new effects (“Monomizer” and “Voiceover”), and made other minor interface changes.
Within two months, we had shipped four versions (1.0, 1.5, 1.6, and 1.6.5). This last update to Audio Hijack 1 had almost no visual changes over 1.6. However, the images in this gallery were captured on Mac OS X 10.2, while the above v1.6 images were captured on Mac OS X 10.1. As a result, the button rendering (as well as the QuickTime Player icon) is different, and better.
The somewhat unexpected popularity of Audio Hijack 1 led us to rapidly begin work on a major update. That work started as Audio Hijack version 2, but it soon morphed into a new product we dubbed “Audio Hijack Pro”. It added a slew of more advanced features, including reusable configurations called presets, a large effects area with support for dozens of audio effects, the ability to record to MP3 (instead of Audio Hijack’s AIFF only), and much more.
When we released Audio Hijack Pro 1.0, we saw a notable jump in revenue, due in part to a higher and more sustainable price. That increase was also a result of the more capable product proving even more popular. With this release, it became clear to us that Rogue Amoeba was a viable business, one we should work to maintain for the long-term.
Audio Hijack Pro 1.2.4 is the next version we have available in our archives. Thus, this gallery contains changes made across multiple versions, mostly in 1.1 and 1.2. One of the most notable is the recording quality settings in the Preferences window. We also added a “Split” button, along with options to automatically stop recording based on various factors. One particular favorite setting is “Stop Recording After Eternity”. Eternity!
After shipping Audio Hijack Pro 1, we went back to work on a simpler Audio Hijack 2. Audio Hijack 2.0 shipped in September 2003, less than a year after the original release. This update featured an overhauled interface, but still kept the application's relative simplicity compared to its more powerful sibling Audio Hijack Pro. Pictured below is version 2.1, dating to the end of January 2004.
Audio Hijack Pro 1.3.2 was the last release in the Audio Hijack Pro 1 line. This collection shows the app as it existed at the end of its life.
Audio Hijack 2.2.6 was the very last in the Audio Hijack 2 line. This collection shows the app as it existed at the end of its life.
Audio Hijack Pro 2 came out less than 17 months after Audio Hijack Pro 1. We worked hard and fast to implement all manner of feature requests from a rapidly growing user base, and this release laid the groundwork for the next decade-plus of audio recording on the Mac. Audio Hijack Pro 2 was a key tool right from the start of the podcasting revolution, with many major updates over the following 11 years.
Audio Hijack Pro 2.7 was built expressly for podcasting, something which was very much in its infancy in 2006. It was clear that the ability to remotely record both halves of a conversation on services like Skype was going to be valuable, so we built a new “MegaMix” mode into Audio Hijack Pro. With it, recording from VoIP apps like Skype, iChat, and Gizmo worked with a single click, capturing both the remote party’s audio and the local microphone as well.
This update also added support for “Lyrics” metadata, new Recording Bin options including an audio preview sheet and an “Open in Editor” button, and improved support for the RadioShark AM/FM radio.
Audio Hijack Pro 2.8 had a slew of backend changes, but the main interface stayed largely the same.
In version 2.9, Audio Hijack Pro got a visual overhaul, with a new global status LCD at the top of its main window. This provided control over the item selected in the list on the left-hand side of the window, and was surely somewhat inspired by iTunes.
Audio Hijack 3 was a truly revolutionary update. This update was massive, introducing the much-loved block-based interface which provided an easy-to-understand visual of where audio was flowing. Making the app more straight-forward helped it gain a much larger user base.
We also streamlined our naming. The original “Audio Hijack” had been retired in 2007, with Audio Hijack Pro continuing on as our flagship recording tool. With Audio Hijack 3, we dropped the unnecessary “Pro” suffix, bringing back the original, simpler name to go with our much more user-friendly new version. It served as a successor to all previous Audio Hijack products: Audio Hijack 1, Audio Hijack 2, Audio Hijack Pro 1, and Audio Hijack Pro 2.
Audio Hijack 3.5 added a new “Broadcast” block, to provide functionality previously found in our now-retired Nicecast app. It also included a second new block, “Input Switch” making it possible to toggle between two inputs.
Audio Hijack 3.7 added a new “Live Stream” block, which allows for modern RTMP streaming to YouTube Live, Twitch, and other services.
Where Audio Hijack 3 was revolutionary, the update to Audio Hijack 4 was more evolutionary. Building on top of a solid foundation, we updated visuals across the app. For the first time, we introduced a true Light mode, as well as a list-based collection of sessions in the Session List window. Audio Hijack also gained an optional global menu bar window, perfect for access to important controls even when the app was in the background.
With the first major update to Audio Hijack 4, we made several notable changes. First, the Session List window was overhauled, with customizable columns, adjustable widths, and more sorting options. These changes also found their way to the global window, accessible from the menu bar. Next, we enhanced the System Audio block, providing more control over exactly what gets captured. We also worked hard to make it possible for Audio Hijack to take up less screen space, with smaller minimum sizes and helpful status addition to the Recorder popover.
The Audio Hijack 4.2 release was primarily focused on three brand-new audio effects: Parametric EQ, Speech Denoise, and FIR Filter. These powerful effects brought advanced new controls to all users.
This update included the new Permissions window, to easily enable system permissions for the app.
Audio Hijack 4.3 brought another new block: Transcribe. Thanks to the power of OpenAI’s automatic speech recognition system “Whisper”, Audio Hijack could now transcribe speech to text.
See what Audio Hijack looks like currently by visiting the Audio Hijack product page and downloading the latest version.
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