Compatibility & Upgrade Information



Pro Tools 8 Information


Pro Tools® 8 software is coming soon for Pro Tools|HD®, Pro Tools LE®, and Pro Tools M-Powered™ systems. We currently expect Pro Tools 8 to be released and available sometime in December of 2008. While we do our best to accurately predict release dates, some release delays may be experienced dependent upon final testing. For all updated Pro Tools 8 release information, please refer back to our website as the expected release date approaches.

For more information about the new features, see the following:

Pro Tools 8 Upgrade Information

Recent Purchases
  • Customers who purchase and register, from an Authorized Digidesign Dealer, any new Pro Tools|HD Core System, 003 Family Pro Tools LE System, or Mbox 2 Family Pro Tools LE System with Pro Tools 7.4 or lower included on or after October 3, 2008 will receive an upgrade to Pro Tools 8 at no charge.
    • Your new Pro Tools|HD core system, 003 family, or Mbox 2 family hardware must be registered in order to qualify for this upgrade.
    • You can register your Pro Tools System online using the registration card included with your product.
  • Customers who purchase and register, from an Authorized Digidesign Dealer or Authorized M-Audio Dealer, any new Pro Tools M-Powered boxed version with Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4 or lower included on or after October 3, 2008 will receive an upgrade to Pro Tools 8 at no charge.
    • Your new Pro Tools M-Powered purchase must be registered in order to qualify for this upgrade.
    • You can register Pro Tools M-Powered online using the registration card included in the box with M-Powered.
  • Customers who purchase one of the following Pro Tools 7.4 upgrades from the online DigiStore on or after October 3rd will receive an upgrade to Pro Tools 8 at no charge:
    • Pro Tools HD 7.4 Upgrade (with Free Pro Tools 8 Upgrade)
    • Pro Tools LE 7.4 Upgrade (with Free Pro Tools 8 Upgrade)
    • Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4 Upgrade (with Free Pro Tools 8 Upgrade)

Customers who meet the above requirements will receive an email with instructions for downloading their free upgrade to Pro Tools 8 shortly after the official release. Customers that are not able to download their free upgrade will need to purchase the optional installation disks for a nominal fee from the DigiStore.

Purchasing the Pro Tools 8 Upgrade
The following upgrade options will be available for purchase when Pro Tools 8 is released:

DigiStore Online Purchase
  • Pro Tools HD 8 Upgrade (download only)
  • Pro Tools LE 8 Upgrade (download only)
  • Pro Tools M-Powered 8 Upgrade (download only)

Optional installation disk sets for the above will also be available for separate purchase from the DigiStore within a few weeks of the release of Pro Tools 8.

Authorized Digidesign Dealers
  • Pro Tools HD 8 Upgrade (boxed version)
  • Pro Tools LE 8 Upgrade (boxed version)

Optional Toolkit Upgrades
In addition to Pro Tools 8, new optional toolkits will be available:
  • Music Production Toolkit 2 (option for Pro Tools LE and Pro Tools M-Powered)
  • Complete Production Toolkit (option for Pro Tools LE)
  • DV Toolkit 2 (option for Pro Tools LE)
Registered owners of the original Music Production Toolkit, DV Toolkit 2, and DV Toolkit wll be able to upgrade to the new toolkits. For more information see the following:
In addition to the upgrades listed there, a special offer for registered owners of both Music Production Toolkit and DV Toolkit 2 to upgrade to the Complete Production Toolkit will be available. Information on that upgrade will be made available on the website as we get closer to the release of Pro Tools 8.

Pro Tools 8 Preliminary Compatibility Information
Pro Tools 8 will support the same Pro Tools systems supported with Pro Tools 7.4 for Windows Vista and XP; and Pro Tools 7.4.2 for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Additional compatibility information will be made available as we get closer to the release of Pro Tools 8.

Pro Tools 8 Operating System Requirements
  • Mac OS X 10.5.5 (Leopard)
  • Windows XP Home and Professional with XP Service Pack 3
  • Windows Vista (32-bit) Ultimate and Business with Vista Service Pack 1
    • Pro Tools 8 adds support for Pro Tools|HD systems on Vista, as well as previously supported Pro Tools LE and M-Powered systems
Not Compatible with Pro Tools 8
  • Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
  • Windows 64-bit OS

Pro Tools 8 RAM Requirements
Pro Tools 8 will have the same RAM requirements as Pro Tools 7.4:
  • 1GB Total System RAM minimum required, 2GB or more recommended
  • 2.5GB Total System RAM minimum required for maximum track count with:
    • Pro Tools HD
    • Pro Tools LE with optional Music Production Toolkit 2, DV Toolkit 2, or Complete Production Toolkit
    • Pro Tools M-Powered with optional Music Production Toolkit 2

Click on links to Compatibility Grids below for Pro Tools systems supported with Pro Tools 7.4 for Windows and Pro Tools 7.4.2 for Leopard:

Pro Tools 6 & 7 Compatibility



Pro Tools Compatibility Grids — With Pro Tools Update & Upgrade Information
The following compatibility grids are available for quick reference. These list all Pro Tools 6 and 7 versions, which version of Mac OS X or Windows is required, what Digidesign core systems are supported with each version of Pro Tools, and information about Pro Tools updates and upgrades.

For information on official Pro Tools qualification with specific Mac OS X and Windows OS versions, see the following pages:

Additional Compatibility

Detailed Compatibility — Where to Look



Detailed compatibility information for all Pro Tools 7 systems is available in the Support & Downloads section of the website:

Digi Tech Support has also put together the following instructions for collecting information about your PC and how to cross-reference that information against the compatibility information on the Digidesign website:
Is My PC Compatible With Pro Tools? (for Windows XP & Vista)

Pro Tools HD 7 Systems
To view compatibility information for a particular version of Pro Tools HD 7, select the Pro Tools HD 7.x version from the list under Pro Tools HD/TDM in the Support & Downloads section.

Pro Tools LE 7 Systems
To view compatibility information for a particular version of Pro Tools LE 7 for Digi 002, Digi 002 Rack, Mbox 2 Pro, Mbox 2, Mbox 2 Mini, and original Mbox systems, select the Pro Tools LE 7.x version from the list under Pro Tools LE in the Support & Downloads section.

Pro Tools M-Powered 7 & Pro Tools Academic Systems
To view compatibility information for a particular version of Pro Tools M-Powered 7 for qualified M-Audio systems, select the M-Powered 7.x or Academic version from the list under M-Powered in the Support & Downloads section.

Compatibility Archives — Pro Tools 6 & Earlier
For Pro Tools 6 and earlier compatibility information, please see the Compatibility Archives for your system on the archives website: Digidesign Support Archives


Compatibility Alerts



Pro Tools for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Now Available
Digidesign is pleased to announce the availability of Pro Tools® 7.4.2 software, which provides Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) compatibility to Pro Tools|HD®, Pro Tools LE®, and Pro Tools M-Powered™ users. We’d like to thank our entire community of Mac users for their patience as we worked to bring a fully tested and reliable version of Pro Tools to Apple’s latest platform.
  • Pro Tools 7.4.2 software is currently available as a download only, and is free for all Pro Tools 7.4 owners. If you do not own Pro Tools 7.4, see Compatibility & Upgrades.
  • Pro Tools 7.4.2 software requires Mac OS X 10.5.3 or 10.5.4, and is not compatible with earlier versions of Leopard.
  • Mac OS X 10.5.5 testing with Pro Tools HD, LE and M-Powered 7.4.2 is currently underway. Our results show that Pro Tools reliability and performance is at or near parity with Mac OS X 10.5.3 and 10.5.4. At this time we do not anticipate any new Pro Tools HD, LE, or M-Powered issues with this OS release.

For more information and link to downloads, please see the announcement in the News section:

Pro Tools software versions below 7.4.2 are not compatible with Leopard, with the only exception being Pro Tools HD 7.4.1 for 8-core Mac Pro with Mac OS X 10.5.1 only.

Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) & Pro Tools Launch Problems
  • Pro Tools 7.4 is officially supported on Mac OS X 10.4.9
  • Pro Tools 7.3/7.3.1 is officially supported on Mac OS X 10.4.8 and 10.4.9
  • Although Mac OS X 10.4.10 and 10.4.11 have not been tested or qualified by Digidesign, the only known issue at this time has to do with Pro Tools failure to launch in some cases due to improper prebinding.
  • Preliminary reports suggest that Mac OS X 10.4.11 may contain fixes for some of the Mbox 2 USB interface problems such as kernel panics on newer Intel-based Macs.
If your computer came with Mac OS X 10.4.9 or 10.4.10 preinstalled, or you have updated other Apple software such as QuickTime, you may experience failure of Pro Tools or other applications to launch (for instance, if the Pro Tools icon bounces in the dock). In many cases, downloading and running the Mac OS X Prebinding Script from PACE may resolve the issues described above:
For more information and officially qualified Mac OS X requirements with Pro Tools, please see the following:

FAT32 Volumes Not Supported for Recording with Pro Tools 7.4 and Higher for Windows
  • Pro Tools 7.3.x is the last version of Pro Tools that supports FAT32 for Recording.
  • Pro Tools 7.4 and higher for Windows XP and Windows Vista do not support FAT32 for recording, but will continue to support FAT32 formatted volumes for Playback and Transfer.


Windows XP



Windows XP Service Pack 3
April 23, 2008 — Digidesign has officially qualified Windows XP Service Pack 3 with all products listed as qualified with Windows XP Service Pack 2, including systems with Avid video. There are currently no known compatibility differences between systems with XP SP2 or SP3. All compatibility information regarding Windows XP Service Pack 2 also applies to systems with Windows XP Service Pack 3.


Windows Vista



Windows Vista Now Supported with Pro Tools LE 7.4 & Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4
Digidesign strives to support a wide variety of host computers and operating systems with our Pro Tools® product line, and we’re excited to support Windows Vista (32-bit) Ultimate and Business operating systems with Pro Tools LE® 7.4 and Pro Tools M-Powered™ 7.4 software.

Officially Qualified with Pro Tools LE & M-Powered 7.4
  • Windows Vista Business or Ultimate Edition
    • 32-bit OS Installation Only
  • Not Supported:
    • Windows Vista 64-bit (any version)
  • Not Tested:
    • Windows Vista Home and Home Premium Edition
    • Although Windows Vista Home and Home Premium Edition have not been tested or qualified by Digidesign, there are currently no known issues with Vista Home and Home Premium 32-bit operating systems and Pro Tools LE and M-Powered 7.4 compared to the supported Windows Vista Business or Ultimate Edition operating systems.

Windows Vista SP1
There are currently no known issues with Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista based on our initial limited testing and customer feedback. Although full qualification with all Digidesign products has not been completed, we do not recommend against updating to SP1, given the number of important overall system fixes in SP1. We do recommend that you backup your system and create a restore point before updating to SP1, should you encounter any problems after installing the update.

Not Compatible with Vista
  • Avid video peripherals such as Mojo SDI® are not supported with Pro Tools LE 7.4 on Windows Vista. Support for Avid video peripherals with Vista is expected in a future Pro Tools LE compatibility update.
  • Pro Tools HD® 7.4 software is not compatible with Windows Vista. Customers using Pro Tools HD 7.4 wishing to upgrade to Windows Vista should wait until support is officially announced.
  • Pro Tools LE and M-Powered 7.3.1 and earlier
    • If you are purchasing a new Windows computer and need to use Pro Tools LE or M-Powered 7.3.1 or earlier, check to see if the manufacturer offers the option to configure with Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional preinstalled. If that is not an option, the following article offers some suggestions: Install Windows XP in a Dual Boot with Pre-installed Windows Vista
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