LV2
More info
- Creator
- Steve Harris, David Robillard
- Released
- 2008
- Type
- Audio plugin format
- License
- ISC
- Predecessor
- LADSPA, DSSI
The Linux world's open standard for audio plugins, where each plugin describes itself in an RDF file rather than in compiled code.
LADSPA, from 2000, could only do audio in and audio out — no instruments, no GUI. DSSI patched in instruments, and from 2008 LV2 replaced both with a minimal core plus extensions. An LV2 plugin is a directory holding a shared library and metadata in the RDF dialect Turtle, so a host can list ports, parameters and presets without loading any code.
It suits the JACK and PipeWire world well, with Ardour, Carla and Qtractor as hosts. The extension model has a downside, though: a host "supporting LV2" says little about which extensions it supports. Outside Linux it never caught on; there, VST and CLAP are the open-ish options you actually meet.