- 1Runs onLinux, Mac
- 2CostsNot stated by the maker
- 3Batch processingYes
- 4Spectral repairYes
Overview
Cathar is a free audio restoration toolkit for Linux and macOS, with tools to clean, enhance, and level recordings. It accepts WAV, MP3, FLAC, OGG, and M4A files, along with audio tracks inside MP4 and MKV video, and writes WAV, FLAC, or AIFF according to the output filename extension. Restoration options include denoising, de-humming, de-winding, de-clicking, de-clipping, de-reverberation, spectral repair, de-plosive processing, and rustle removal. Enhancement tools handle de-essing, breath removal, voice isolation, and bandwidth extension; loudness and peak normalization prepare delivery levels. The Rust toolkit uses inspectable and tunable DSP stages. Effects can run through the Rust crate or as command-line steps in a media pipeline. An optional machine-learning feature adds a deterministic GRU denoiser with safetensors weights. Optional terminal tools provide an audio player and spectrogram viewer. Cathar is licensed under Apache 2.0 or MIT, and its latest listed release is v0.8.0; the project describes itself as pre-1.0.
Who it is for
Cathar suits Linux and macOS users who want audio repair tools in a standalone workflow or media pipeline. Rust developers can call its effects through the crate, while terminal users can enable the optional player and spectrogram viewer.
What is good
- Reads seven listed audio and video container formats.
- Includes spectral repair and noise reduction.
- Effects can run in-process or as command-line pipeline stages.
- Optional deterministic GRU denoiser is available.
- Licensed under Apache 2.0 or MIT.
What to know first
- Linux playback requires ALSA headers.
- Optional terminal tools require enabling tui features.
- The project describes its 0.8.x series as pre-1.0.
Verdict
Cathar covers restoration, enhancement, and level normalization with clear input and output formats. Its Rust integration options make it relevant to command-line and pipeline workflows, while terminal playback has an ALSA requirement on Linux.
Compared on audio restoration software
- Free plan
- Yesgithub.com
- Batch processing
- Yesgithub.com
- Spectral repair
- Yesgithub.com
Facts
- Purpose
- Cathar is an audio restoration toolkit for cleaning, enhancing and leveling recordings.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Input formats
- It accepts WAV, MP3, FLAC, OGG and M4A files, plus audio tracks inside MP4 and MKV video.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Output formats
- It writes WAV, FLAC or AIFF output selected by the output filename extension.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Restoration
- Restoration tools include denoise, de-hum, de-wind, de-click, de-clip, de-reverb, spectral repair, de-plosive and de-rustle.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Enhancement
- Enhancement tools include de-essing, breath removal, voice isolation and bandwidth extension.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Leveling
- Cathar provides LUFS loudness normalization and peak normalization for delivery.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Implementation
- The toolkit is written in pure Rust and uses no ffmpeg, C or C++ code, or system libraries.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- DSP approach
- Its processing stages are inspectable and tunable DSP rather than opaque neural models.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Pipeline integration
- Effects are plain functions over audio sample slices and can run in-process through the cathar crate or as a cathar command between pipeline steps.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Machine-learning denoise
- An optional ml feature adds a GRU-based denoiser whose open safetensors weights and deterministic inference are implemented in Rust.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Terminal tools
- Optional tui features provide a terminal audio player and interactive spectrogram viewer; Linux playback requires ALSA headers.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Installation
- The command-line binary can be installed with cargo install cathar-cli from crates.io.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Documentation
- The project includes an illustrated Cleaning Up Sound book explaining its concepts and comparing it with tools such as iZotope RX, Audition, Audacity, SoX and FFmpeg.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- License
- Cathar is licensed under either the Apache License 2.0 or the MIT License.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- Current release
- The GitHub releases page lists cathar v0.8.0 as the latest release.github.com · 30 Sept 2026
- formats
- It reads WAV, MP3, FLAC, OGG, M4A, MP4, and MKV inputs and writes WAV, FLAC, or AIFF.github.com · 2 Oct 2026
- integration
- The toolkit can be called in-process through the cathar Rust crate or invoked as a command-line stage in a media pipeline.github.com · 2 Oct 2026
- ml_denoise
- An optional ml feature provides a deterministic GRU-based denoiser that loads safetensors checkpoints.github.com · 2 Oct 2026
- tui
- Optional tui features provide a terminal audio player and interactive spectrogram viewer.github.com · 2 Oct 2026
- roadmap
- Cathar is in the 0.8.x series and is described as being before 1.0.github.com · 2 Oct 2026
- latest_release
- The GitHub releases page lists cathar v0.8.0 as the latest release.github.com · 2 Oct 2026
- maker
- The repository owner is Vikram Bhaskaran, whose profile describes him as a technologist and lists Sydney.github.com · 2 Oct 2026
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Sources
- github.com/vbasky/cathar· checked 30 Sept 2026
- github.com/vbasky/cathar/blob/main/LICENSE-MIT· checked 30 Sept 2026
- github.com/vbasky/cathar/releases· checked 30 Sept 2026
- github.com/vbasky· checked 2 Oct 2026