iZotope RX 12 Editions Compared: Elements, Standard or Advanced?

iZotope’s “RX 12” is audio repair software that removes noise, room reverberation, clicks and more from a recording. It comes in three editions, Elements, Standard and Advanced, and the kinds of repair available differ. In this article we compare the 3 editions on the same criteria as the 8 noise reduction and audio repair programs on this site. The basis is official manufacturer information.

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In short: which one to choose by purpose

• RX 12 Elements (rank B): people who want to reduce hum, click noise and room reverberation in a cover recording with little effort.
• RX 12 Standard (rank S): people who also want to tidy sibilance, lip noise and breaths in detail on top of removing noise from a voice, and people who want to separate the backing track and the vocal.
• RX 12 Advanced (rank S): people who repair audio for work, such as restoring dialogue in video productions.

The highest score among the 3 editions is RX 12 Advanced (rank S, average 4.8). But you do not need to buy a higher edition for features you will not use. Choose the one that fits your purpose.

Main features of iZotope RX 12

A spectrogram lets you see sound as a picture and remove only the unwanted sound

RX shows a recording as a picture (spectrogram) with pitch on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis, and lets you select and remove unwanted sounds such as a dog barking, a squeak of strings or a siren, as if painting. Sounds you cannot tell apart from the waveform alone can be found by shape and color. The official page explains that it consists of a standalone editor with more than 50 tools and more than 20 plug-ins that work in a DAW.

A dedicated tool for each problem

There is a dedicated tool for each problem: Spectral De-noise for hiss, De-hum for buzzing hum, De-click for clicks, De-clip for repairing clipped sound, Mouth De-click for the smacking of the mouth, and De-reverb for reducing room reverberation. Which tool is in which edition is separated on the official comparison table (for example, De-click and De-clip are from Elements, while Breath Control for breaths and De-bleed are from Standard).

Repair Assistant, which suggests what to fix

Repair Assistant listens to the sound, finds the kind of problem, and suggests how to fix it. The suggested processing can be adjusted to taste with easy-to-understand knobs. Even beginners who do not know which tool to use can quickly get things in order.

Music Rebalance, which separates a song by instrument

A function that separates a finished song into vocals, bass, percussion and other instruments, or changes the volume of each. In RX 12 the AI mechanism (neural network) was renewed, and it can now also be used as a real-time plug-in. The separated sounds can be treated directly with RX’s other tools (Stems View).

Dialogue Isolate, which extracts just the voice

A function that cleanly extracts only the voice from noise and reverberation; in RX 12 it got a new AI mechanism. It supports both processing after recording and real-time processing. Besides the voices of video and streaming, it can also be used to reduce the noise behind a sung recording.

Where it is useful

• Reducing air-conditioner or car noise and room reverberation behind a vocal recorded at home
• Finding lip noise and breaths in the middle of a vocal by eye and removing them
• Extracting just the vocal or just the accompaniment from a finished song (Music Rebalance)

Differences between editions (comparison table)

Edition	Rank	Noise control for vocal recordings	Sound separation	Speed	Streaming and real time
RX 12 Elements	B (2.8)	Basic noise	None	Automatic suggestions	Voice De-noise (no delay)
RX 12 Standard	S (4.4)	Down to lip noise and breaths	Voice extraction and separation	Suggestions + spectral editing	Voice De-noise (no delay)
RX 12 Advanced	S (4.8)	Down to lip noise and breaths	Down to separating scenes	Also matches ambience and EQ	Voice De-noise (no delay)

Rating of each edition

RX 12 Elements (rank B)

The smallest edition of iZotope RX. It includes Voice De-noise, De-hum, De-click, De-reverb and De-clip, and a Repair Assistant plug-in that suggests repair settings automatically.

Image: from the iZotope official press kit

• Noise control for vocal recordings: 3 points — It can handle background noise in a voice, hum, clicks, room reverberation and clipping.
• Sound separation: 1 point — There is no function for separating parts and the like.
• Speed: 3 points — Repair Assistant suggests the repair settings.
• Streaming and real time: 4 points — You can use “Voice De-noise”, which has zero latency, as a real-time plug-in (iZotope official).

RX 12 Standard (rank S)

An edition with the main repair tools of RX 12. On top of Elements, it includes Spectral De-noise, De-ess, De-plosive, Mouth De-click, Breath Control, Dialogue Isolate, Music Rebalance (separating parts), De-bleed, spectral editing and more.

Image: from the iZotope official press kit

• Noise control for vocal recordings: 5 points — Besides basic noise, it can handle lip noise, breaths, sibilance and plosives.
• Sound separation: 4 points — It has Dialogue Isolate, Music Rebalance and De-bleed.
• Speed: 4 points — It has Repair Assistant, spectral editing and Batch Processor.
• Streaming and real time: 4 points — You can use “Voice De-noise”, which has zero latency, as a real-time plug-in (iZotope official).

RX 12 Standard screens and images

Image: from the iZotope official press kit

RX 12 Advanced (rank S)

The top edition with all the features of RX 12. On top of Standard, it has features for restoring audio for video, such as De-rustle, Scene Rebalance, Ambience Match and EQ Match.

Image: from the iZotope official press kit

• Noise control for vocal recordings: 5 points — The contents of Standard, plus handling of things like clothing rustle.
• Sound separation: 5 points — The contents of Standard, plus Scene Rebalance, which separates dialogue, music and effects.
• Speed: 5 points — The contents of Standard, plus Ambience Match and EQ Match.
• Streaming and real time: 4 points — You can use “Voice De-noise”, which has zero latency, as a real-time plug-in (iZotope official).

RX 12 Advanced screens and images

Image: from the iZotope official press kit

Image: from the iZotope official press kit

The chart above shows the scores of RX 12 Advanced.

How we score (Noise reduction and audio repair software)

Criterion	Basis	5 pt	4 pt	3 pt	2 pt	1 pt
Noise control for vocal recordings	How it deals with noise that often gets into home recordings	Deals with background noise, hum, clicks and room ring, and even lip noise, breaths, sibilance and plosives	Deals with most of those	Deals with the basics: background noise, hum, clicks and room ring	Only some	—
Sound separation	Features that separate voice from backing, or by part	Voice extraction, part separation, removal of bleed and separation of scenes are all included	Three of those	One or two of those	—	No separation features
Speed	Features that make repair work faster	Automatic suggestions, spectral editing and batch processing, plus features that match ambience and EQ	Automatic suggestions, spectral editing and batch processing	A feature that automatically suggests repair settings	—	—
Streaming and real time	Whether it reduces noise in a voice in real time while streaming or recording	Works in real time, and use for streaming is stated officially	Voice noise reduction is available as a real-time plug-in with no delay (zero latency)	Can be used as a plug-in (amount of delay not stated)	Mainly editing after recording (only the preview of processing is real time)	Cannot be used in real time

Each criterion is scored from 1 to 5 on how well the product serves one goal: reducing the noise in a vocal you recorded at home. Scores follow the conditions in the table above, and the rank is based on an average in which "Noise control for vocal recordings" counts double. The basis is official manufacturer information. Sound quality and CPU load are not measured, so they are not scored; reviews from trade magazines are introduced in the articles for reference. Price is not part of the score. Features that cannot be confirmed from the manufacturer's or a retailer's description are scored as if absent. "Streaming and real time" is a criterion that answers the common search for "noise reduction that works for streaming". The "OBS (streaming)" column in the table shows whether the official page lists the VST2 format that the streaming software OBS Studio can use (○). OBS does not support the VST3 format. It is not part of the score.

iZotope RX 12 system requirements and getting started

Supported OS	Windows / Mac
Plug-in formats	VST3, AU, AAX (plug-ins). A standalone editor is also available
Standalone	Yes (RX Audio Editor)
OBS (streaming)	Not usable as is (VST3 only). It can be loaded with a bridge plug-in

Checked on the manufacturer’s official page on September 27, 2026. How to use them in the OBS streaming software is explained in How to use VST3 plug-ins in OBS.

Compared with other noise reduction and audio repair software

Click a heading to sort. On a phone, the table scrolls sideways.

Related reading

• Noise reduction and audio repair software compared
• How we rate specifications