Audio Clipper

WAV Cutter

Trim a wav file and save the piece without compressing it.

or drop a file anywhere on this page

mp3, wav, m4a, aac, ogg, opus, flac, webm · up to 300 MB · up to about 50 minutes

Start : :
End : :

Click here to save the selected part

Samples copied, not squeezed

A wav holds plain numbers, one per sample, so taking a stretch out of it is a matter of copying those numbers into a new file. The result is 16-bit PCM, written without any compression step in between.

Expect a large result

Two channels at 44.1 kHz occupy 176 KB for every second of sound, which comes to about 10 MB a minute. A four-minute selection is therefore a 40 MB file — normal for this format, and worth knowing before you email it.

Or switch the output to mp3

Choose MP3 in the box beside the save button when the piece has to travel over a network or sit on a phone with little room left. The same selection comes back about seven times smaller.

How to trim a wav file

  1. Open a wav from your computer, or drop one onto this page.
  2. Slide the handles along the waveform until the frame covers what you are keeping.
  3. Use Play selection to listen to that frame from end to end.
  4. Keep the output on WAV and press Save clip to get the piece as its own file.

For compressed audio use the mp3 cutter; anything else — m4a, aac, ogg, opus, flac, webm — opens in the main editor.

Questions about wav

Does trimming a wav cost any quality?

Not for a 16-bit recording: the samples inside the frame are written straight into the new file, with nothing encoded along the way. A 24-bit or 32-bit source comes out at 16 bits, the depth of an audio CD and of nearly every wav in circulation.

Why is the file I got back so large?

Because nothing about it is compressed. Every second of stereo sound at 44.1 kHz needs 176 KB of disk, and that figure does not change with how loud or how quiet the recording is. Keeping the samples intact is what costs the space; the mp3 option is there when you would rather trade some of it away.

Does the clip keep the sample rate of the original?

Usually, yes. Your browser decodes audio at the rate its sound output runs at, and on almost every computer that is 44.1 or 48 kHz. A recording made at the same rate passes through untouched. One made at 96 or 192 kHz is converted down first, and the clip is saved at the converted rate.

Why was my recording turned down?

Two ceilings apply, and a wav meets both sooner than a compressed file does. A file has to stay under 300 MB, which stereo reaches at roughly half an hour. Beyond about 50 minutes the unpacked samples no longer fit in the memory a browser tab is given, whatever the format was. Split a longer recording and work on it in parts.

When is it better to save the piece as mp3?

When it is headed into a message, an email attachment or a podcast feed, or onto a device short of storage. Speech in particular survives the change with no audible difference. Stay with wav if the piece will be edited again or mixed with other tracks later on.