Support for Linux in Live

[Michali]

I cannot understand how in 2025 there's still no official support for Linux in Live. At the moment the options for an OS are:

1. A platform that's adding ads and taking screenshots of user activity for AI analysis
2. A completely closed ecosystem that's deteriorating and getting more buggy by the release

We need support for an independent community developed OS not controlled by a big tech commercial company. Linux is the only real option and the way forward in my opinion.

Live is pretty much the only reason I cannot completely switch to Linux, and it's getting quite frustrating as time goes by, especially since the current options for OS are both becoming so much worse.

I know there are other topics about this, but this needs to get extra attention.

[Gral]

I completely agree with you. Ableton is the only reason I have to use windows, which I don't like and don't use in my daily life since the beginning of this Century.

[Neural_Rust]

Just switch to Bitwig. Runs natively on Linux, and it's better than Live anyways..

[Gral]

Bitwig is better in e. g. live performing than Ableton? I doubt that.

Or do you mean the colors of Bitwig are better? That might be true for you, but colors are a matter of taste.

[just_in]

I don't like what MS and Apple are doing either, but Linux is pretty niche and most commercial software doesn't run on it.
Some have also dropped Linux support after realizing that it's unprofitable, due to the low amount of users and the time it takes to deal with its peculiarities.

Linux users make up only 1% of our overall user base, but providing Linux-compatible builds takes up as much or more time as does providing them for Windows and Mac OS.

(source)

I don't know if it's worth it for Ableton to be spending time on this, as they already have their hands full as it is. Maybe after Linux establishes itself as a viable platform. But I think Live has so much legacy code that porting it to a new OS isn't easy.

And this thread should be in the Feature Wishlist forum.

[skttrbrn]

Strongly agree with OP - I'd jump to Linux in a heartbeat if Live were compatible with it. Starting to think about alternatives to Live since it isn't.

[yur2die4]

I wonder if there can be a middle ground. Have it unsupported, but have a version that ‘could in theory be attempted to run on Linux’. With a huge disclaimer. Then if a feature isn’t working, or an update breaks it, it isn’t necessarily a catastrophe, but at the same time people can get the satisfaction of at least attempting to run that buggy version.

I wonder if this is a bad idea haha

[DDF]

I completely agree with you. Ableton is the only reason I have to use windows, which I don't like and don't use in my daily life since the beginning of this Century.

+ 100000000
but I left Windows a few years ago for NixOs
also 200% agree with the author of the topic ..

To all the "geniuses": gnu/linux this is the best platform today for a user who has a brain and a desire to learn ..
At the moment, you can use live 11 through wine, but only for limited production, since there is no normal translation for the audio stream, live 12 only through steam + proton 9 .. in general, everything is quite sad ..
in You Tube write in search : How to Install Ableton Live 12 on Linux - 2025

I'll probably die and never see Live in Linux .. started with Ableton Live 3 ..

[Nekz]

It would be awesome but i know it is not commercially viable....imagine an unsupported fork of Live called "Livux". I can only dream....

[303Plo]

Live is pretty much the only reason I cannot completely switch to Linux, and it's getting quite frustrating as time goes by, especially since the current options for OS are both becoming so much worse.

Same for me, would love to see linux version. And as other vendors support it (and it runs very smooth - better than ableton on windows), also means there is a market.

[kitekrazy]

Live is pretty much the only reason I cannot completely switch to Linux, and it's getting quite frustrating as time goes by, especially since the current options for OS are both becoming so much worse.

Same for me, would love to see linux version. And as other vendors support it (and it runs very smooth - better than ableton on windows), also means there is a market.

Obviously not or it would have been done by now. It's also allocating resources to a very small user base which the big boys like Live will not mess with. I guess it's fine if you also don't rely on a lot of hardware . Otherwise some people will have hardware for doorstops. That's not convincing enough for the Linux cult.
At the same time developers for Windows and Apple ignore optimization and believe the more disk space used the better. That would be scary if they entered the world of Linux.

[TRNMTH]

+1

[Hokuspokus]

It's this stupid hen egg problem which one can see often with monopoles/small oligopolies. Similar with Insta, X, whatever

1. "Ahh well, we could think about a >name your software here< Linux version if the user base was bigger."
2. But yeah, how shall it grow noteworthy if most of the common/commercial software is not available for it??
3. Go to 1. again..

Hence, if there is not a big portion of idealism/nerdism/mindset in that company (especially on the manager level), I think chances are very little to none that corporate consumer software companies develop for Linux as well. Except there are further big "pioneers" like Steam which have enough force of attraction to let the Linux user base really grow (not saying Gabe might not have done it as well due to some long term commercial reasons).

[pottering]

Linux version of Live already exists and runs inside Push 3 Standalone.

For me it seems clear that the "Live for Linux" people in Ableton are working in the Push team, and their budget will come from Push 3 Standalone sales revenue (Move is Linux, but it is not Live, it is based on iOS Note).

If you want to support Ableton Linux buy Ableton Linux (Push 3 Standalone and Move)

[Hokuspokus]

"Linux version of Live already exists and runs inside Push 3 Standalone."

Yeah. But there it serves as a special "device OS" more similar to Android or hundred thoundands of other machines/devices/products/servers which use a customized Linux specifically for this product and embedded inside. And most companies which do that still do not release their end consumer software for consumer Linux distributions.

In the end, what many companies actually often do with open source software, they commercially use it in their products (often free of charge) but give back little to none to the project/community. Or they just develop additional code which is proprietary though and for the company itself. Not saying this always is the case (there also are companies which contribute a lot) or that Ableton is doing that (I don't have a clue). Just pointing out the status quo.

Anyway, maybe you're also right. Who knows