Methodology

What qualifies for inclusion

A product is listed when all of the following are true:

• Visualisation is the point. Its main purpose is visualising music or audio, or it has a dedicated, prominent music visualisation feature (for example, a general video editor with a specific audio visualiser tool). Editors that merely display a waveform on a timeline are not included.
• It is available. It can be used, downloaded or bought today. Discontinued software is excluded unless still widely used, in which case it is marked Legacy.
• It is verifiable. It has an official website, app store listing or public source code repository.

Developer libraries are included where they are commonly used to build music visualisers. Commercial status, size and sponsorship have no effect on inclusion.

Where information comes from

In order of preference:

1. The developer's official website, documentation and pricing pages.
2. Official app store listings (Apple App Store, Google Play).
3. Source code repositories and their licence files (for example, GitHub).
4. Reputable coverage, used only to corroborate or for history, never as the sole source for a feature.

Every listing shows its sources. We do not invent or extrapolate features: if we could not confirm something, it is left out. Descriptions are written to be factual and neutral, not copied from marketing copy.

How products are categorised

Each product is tagged against fixed vocabularies:

• Visualisation type: Waveform, Spectrum, Spectrogram, Oscilloscope, Audio Reactive, 3D, Vinyl, Generative, MilkDrop-style, AI-Generated.
• Platform: Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iPhone / iPad, Android.
• Pricing: Free, Freemium, Paid, plus whether the source code is open.
• Purpose: Music Videos, Social Media, Live Performance, DJs, Streaming, Creative Coding, Music Production, Podcasts, Listening, Audio Analysis.

A product is only tagged with a visualisation type it offers as a real feature. "Audio reactive" is used for visuals driven by analysed audio. Category pages are generated from these tags and published only when at least 3 products qualify, to avoid thin pages. Collections are separate editorial lists for specific jobs, and each entry explains why it is included.

Pricing models are defined as follows. Free: no paid tier is needed for the core product. Freemium: a usable free tier with paid upgrades. Paid: regular use requires payment, though a trial or demo may exist.

How often information is checked

Every listing shows a last verified date, and pricing shows a separate pricing last checked date. We aim to re-check every listing at least every six months, and pricing more often for commercial products. Prices change frequently, so product pages always link to the official pricing source rather than presenting our summary as definitive.

Corrections

Each product page has a Suggest a correction link. Developers and users can also email hello@musicvisualiser.com. Please include a source link. Corrections are applied after verification, and the last-verified date is updated.

How sponsorship works

• Sponsored placements are promotional placements. They are labelled "Sponsored" or "AD".
• Featured Visualisers is a paid placement section. Only active advertisements appear there; the information link explains the placement.
• Sponsorship never affects whether a product is listed, how it is described, its categorisation, or its order in the main catalogue, collections, search and related lists. Paid featured sections are separate from the main catalogue.
• Verified badges identify paid vendor tiers: gold and silver. They are separate from editorial picks and do not represent a product rating.
• Sponsored outbound links use rel="sponsored".

We record clicks on outbound links (which product and which placement) to understand what is useful, without personal profiles. See the privacy notice.