Download
Overview
Standard installation options
The latest stable version is 4.1 Neonatal Nightingale (release notes).
Windows
Standard Windows installer (.exe)
Standard Windows no installation required (.zip)
Most people download the .exe installer package. If you do not have admin privileges, or if you need to run multiple versions of OpenSesame side by side, download the .zip package instead.
Based on Python 3.13 for 64 bit systems. Tested on Windows 11.
Mac OS
When you start OpenSesame for the first time, it is blocked by the operating system because the app is not from a trusted developer. You will find an 'Open anyway' option under Settings > Privacy & Security. This option appears after the app is blocked.
Based on Python 3.13 for 64 bit intel systems. Tested on Mac OS X Sequoia.
Linux / Ubuntu
Copy-paste the lines below into a terminal. This will download and run an installation script.
# These packages need to be installed on Ubuntu 24.04.
# Equivalent packages need to be installed on other
# Linux distributions.
sudo apt install curl python3-venv libxcb-cursor0
# Download and run the OpenSesame installation script.
bash <(curl -L https://github.com/open-cogsci/OpenSesame/raw/refs/heads/4.1/linux-installer.sh) --install
Tested on Ubuntu 24.04 (Python 3.12).
Advanced installation options
PyPi (crossplatform)
All packages can be pip-installed. Note that OpenSesame is called opensesame-core on PyPi.
OpenSesame core dependencies:
pip install --pre opensesame-core opensesame-extension-sigmund opensesame-extension-osweb opensesame-extension-updater opensesame-plugin-psychopy opensesame-plugin-media_player_mpy pygame
PsychoPy for the (default) psycho backend. Depending on your operating system and version of Python, PsychoPy may not install properly. If this happens, seek help on the support forum or use one of the premade packages/ installers.
pip install psychopy psychopy_sounddevice psychopy_visionscience
PyGaze for eye tracking:
pip install https://github.com/smathot/PyGaze/releases/download/prerelease%2F0.8.0a3/python_pygaze-0.8.0a3-py3-none-any.whl
Expyriment for the xpyriment backend
pip install http://files.cogsci.nl/expyriment-0.10.0+opensesame2-py3-none-any.whl
Once you have installed all packages, you can simply run OpenSesame by running:
opensesame
Or for Sigmund Analyst (code editor):
sigmund-analyst
Anaconda (cross-platform)
First, create a new Python environment for OpenSesame (optional)
conda create -n opensesame-41 python=3.13
conda activate opensesame-41
Next, follow the PyPi installation instructions above. Dedicated Anaconda packages are no longer provided.
Older versions of OpenSesame and other Python versions
Older versions of OpenSesame as well as packages built with different versions of Python (3.10, 3.11, and 3.12) are available on GitHub releases:
Source code
The source code of OpenSesame is available on GitHub.
Tips
Which version of Python to use?
OpenSesame is currently built and tested with Python 3.13. Others versions of Python >=3.10 work but are not extensively tested. Python 2 is no longer supported. The last release that included a Python 2 package was 3.3.12, which can still be downloaded from the release archive.
When (not) to update?
- Update while developing and testing your experiment; it is always best to use the latest version of OpenSesame.
- Do not update while running an experiment; that is, do not update while you are collecting data.
- Run an experiment with the same version of OpenSesame that you used for developing and testing.
Manually upgrading packages
OpenSesame is a regular Python environment, and you can run pip install commands in the Jupyter console.
Tips for system administrators
- When a new major version of OpenSesame is released (with a version ending in 0, e.g. 3.1.0), it is generally followed quickly by one or two maintenance releases (e.g. 3.1.1 and 3.1.2) that address major bugs. Therefore, if you are installing OpenSesame on systems that you do not update often, it is best to wait until the second or third maintenance release (e.g. 3.0.2, 3.1.3, etc.). That way you minimize the risk of rolling out a version of OpenSesame that contains major bugs.
- The Windows installer allows you to silently install OpenSesame using the
/Sflag.