How to cut an audio file
- 1
Add a file
Choose an MP3, M4A, WAV, OGG or FLAC file, or a video such as MP4 for its sound. The tool reads it and draws a waveform. - 2
Set the start and end
Drag the two handles on the waveform, use the arrow keys on a selected handle, or type the times as m:ss.s, for example 1:05.5. - 3
Listen to the selection
Press Preview to hear exactly what you have selected, and adjust it if a word is cut off. - 4
Export it
Choose MP3 or WAV and press Export selection. You get a new file, and your original is not changed.
MP3 or WAV?
The tool exports the part you selected as a new file. The two formats do this differently:
- MP3 at 192 kbps is small and plays almost anywhere. The sound is encoded again, even if your file was already an MP3, so there is a slight quality loss. MP3 audio is stored in short frames, so a cut can land a few hundredths of a second from the time you typed.
- WAV is uncompressed 16-bit sound. It is much larger, about 11 MB per minute in stereo, but nothing is compressed again and the cut lands on the exact sample.
If you plan to edit the clip further, choose WAV. If you want to send it or upload it, choose MP3.
What you can use it for
An audio cutter, also called an audio trimmer or MP3 cutter, keeps the part of a recording you want and drops the rest. A researcher can cut the small talk from the start of an interview, or take out one passage to quote in a presentation. A student can shorten a lecture to the part they need, or cut a recording to fit an upload limit. Because you can use a video as the source, you can also lift a single answer out of a recorded video call.
If you need the whole conversation as text, upload the recording to Spirelight transcription for a draft with speakers and timestamps, which you check against the audio yourself.
Privacy and limits
Everything runs in your browser, so a confidential interview stays on your device. To draw the waveform the tool has to read the whole file, which can take a while for a long recording. The exported file stays in memory until you save it, and it can be up to 1 GB. That is about 11 hours of MP3 or about an hour and a half of stereo WAV.
The tool cuts one selection into one file. It does not join clips or remove a passage from the middle. It works in current Chrome and Safari on a computer. On a phone, start with a short file.