Spectral Compressor is an experimental compressor plugin developed by Robbert van der Helm as part of the NIH-plug project. Instead of applying compression across the entire signal or a small number of conventional frequency bands, it can process up to 16,384 FFT frequency bands independently, allowing extremely detailed control over the spectral dynamics of a sound. It supports both upward and downward compression, making it possible to emphasize quieter frequency components, suppress stronger resonances, flatten a spectrum toward pink noise, or create highly exaggerated OTT-style effects.

The plugin can also use a sidechain signal for spectral matching, dynamically reshaping one sound toward the frequency distribution of another. This can be used for experimental sound morphing, tonal matching, resonance control, and creative spectral effects that would be difficult to achieve with conventional compression or EQ. Spectral Compressor is available as a VST3 and CLAP plugin for Windows, macOS, and Linux, with the macOS version supporting Apple Silicon. The project is open-source and available free of charge.

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