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JACK Audio Connection Kit

A low-latency audio server for professional audio.

JACK Audio Connection Kit is a sound server designed for professional audio production: predictable low latency, sample-accurate synchronisation between applications, and a flexible patchbay for routing audio between programs. JACK treats each application as a node in an audio graph that is explicitly wired together — no implicit "play all sounds through the speakers" mixing.

Paul Davis (also of Ardour) and others started JACK around 2002. It became the standard low-latency audio server on Linux for professional musicians and audio engineers, with companion applications (qjackctl, Cadence, Catia) for managing connections and configuration.

PipeWire now provides a JACK-compatible API on most modern Linux systems, which means JACK-aware applications work without modification while desktop audio also works without per-app session-management dance. JACK1 and JACK2 are both still maintained, but PipeWire is the default audio server on most new desktop Linux installations.

Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install jackd2
Fedora/RHEL:   sudo dnf install jack-audio-connection-kit
Arch:          sudo pacman -S jack2