Compatibility & Upgrade Information


Pro Tools 8 Information
December 17, 2008 — Pro Tools® 8 software for Pro Tools|HD®, Pro Tools LE®, and Pro Tools M-Powered™ systems on Mac OS X 10.5, Windows XP, and Windows Vista (32-bit) is now shipping. For more information about how to purchase Pro Tools 8, new features, system requirements, and free updates for recent purchasers of a Pro Tools system, please see the following:


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 higher versions, which version of Mac OS X or Windows is required, which Digidesign core systems or M-Audio interfaces 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 and Pro Tools 8 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 Systems
To view compatibility information for a particular version of Pro Tools HD, select the Pro Tools HD version from the list under Pro Tools HD in the Support & Downloads section.

Pro Tools LE Systems
To view compatibility information for a particular version of Pro Tools LE for 003 Family, Digi 002 Family, Mbox 2 Family, and original Mbox systems, select the Pro Tools LE version from the list under Pro Tools LE in the Support & Downloads section.

Pro Tools M-Powered & Pro Tools Academic Systems
To view compatibility information for a particular version of Pro Tools M-Powered for qualified M-Audio systems, select the M-Powered or Academic version from the list under Pro Tools 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




Internet Explorer 8
Digidesign is currently investigating reports of Pro Tools not launching for some users after installation of Internet Explorer 8 on either Windows XP or Windows Vista. At this time it is recommended that customers avoid installing IE8 until we complete our investigation. For more information, including how to uninstall Internet Explorer 8 and revert to IE7, see the following page:


Current Apple Models
April 20, 2009 — On March 3rd, Apple, Inc. released new versions of the iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro. We have completed our testing and are pleased to announce that Pro Tools HD, LE and M-Powered are compatible with these new Apple computers. For the most recent information about Digidesign products and updates regarding qualification, please check the compatibility pages at the Digidesign web site, including these Pro Tools 8.0 for Mac OS X pages:

To subscribe to the RSS feed of all Digidesign Product News, see the RSS link at the top of the Product News section.


Pro Tools Software Versions Below 7.4.2 Are Not Compatible With Leopard
  • Pro Tools 8.0 software requires Mac OS X 10.5.5 or higher, and is not compatible with earlier versions of Leopard.
  • 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.
For more information, including how to update your Mac OS X software for compatibility, see the following page:

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



Officially Qualified with Pro Tools LE & M-Powered 7.4 and Higher & Pro Tools HD 8.0 and Higher
  • 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 with Pro Tools compared to the supported Windows Vista Business or Ultimate Edition operating systems.

Windows Vista SP1

Pro Tools HD, LE, M-Powered 8.0
  • Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Required
  • Windows Vista without SP1 Not Tested

Pro Tools LE, M-Powered 7.4
  • There are currently no known issues with Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista with Pro Tools LE 7.4 or Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4 based on our initial limited testing and customer feedback. Although full qualification with all Digidesign products will not be tested with Pro Tools 7.4, we do not recommend against Pro Tools 7.4 owners updating to SP1, given the number of important overall system fixes in SP1.
  • If you choose to update to Windows Vista SP1, it is strongly recommended that you backup your system and create a restore point before updating to SP1, should you encounter any problems after installing the update.

Windows Vista SP2 — Not Tested — No Known Issues
Service Pack 2 for Windows (released May 26, 2009) has not been tested with Pro Tools systems. There are currently no known issues with Vista SP2 compared to Vista SP1 with Pro Tools for Vista. However, users should be aware of the following:
  • Although there are currently no known issues, Windows Vista SP2 is not yet officially qualified for use with Pro Tools systems. Should you choose to update to Vista SP2, be advised that is an unsupported configuration at this time.
  • If you choose to update to Windows Vista SP2, it is strongly recommended that you backup your system and create a restore point before updating to SP2, 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 included in Pro Tools HD 8.0 and Pro Tools LE 8.0.
  • Pro Tools HD® 7.4 software is not compatible with Windows Vista (Pro Tools HD 8.0 or higher required for Windows Vista)
  • 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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