Audio Cutter
Load a song or recording, drag the handles on the waveform to pick the part you want, add a fade and save it as MP3 or WAV. Perfect for ringtones, intros and clips.
Tips: drag across the waveform to make a new selection, click to place the cursor, press Space to play or pause, and use ← → on a focused handle to nudge it by 0.1 s (Shift for 1 s).
How to use the Audio Cutter
- Open an audio file by dropping it on the box or clicking to choose. MP3, WAV, M4A and OGG all work.
- Select the part to keep: drag the two handles, drag across the waveform, or type exact start and end times.
- Check it: press Play selection (or the space bar). Zoom in for frame-accurate cuts.
- Add fades with the fade in and fade out sliders, or use a ringtone preset for a 30 or 40 second clip.
- Pick MP3 or WAV and press Cut and Download. The file is saved as name-cut.mp3.
Ringtone length guide
| Use | Recommended length | Format |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone ringtone (Finder or iTunes) | Up to 40 seconds | M4R (AAC); convert the MP3 or import it into GarageBand |
| iPhone ringtone made in GarageBand | Up to 30 seconds | Import the MP3, then Share › Ringtone |
| iPhone text or alert tone | Up to 30 seconds, usually 2–5 s | M4R |
| Android ringtone | 20–30 seconds is typical, no hard limit | MP3 or OGG, copy to the Ringtones folder |
| Notification sound | 1–3 seconds | MP3, OGG or WAV |
| Alarm sound | 30–60 seconds, it loops | MP3 |
A ringtone loops while the phone rings, so pick a section that starts and ends on the beat, for example one full chorus. A fade in of 0.5–1 s and a fade out of 1–2 s hides the cut and makes the loop smoother.
How the cut and fades are calculated
Audio is a stream of samples, typically 44,100 or 48,000 per second. A cut from 0:45.0 to 1:15.0 keeps 30 seconds, which at 44.1 kHz is exactly 30 × 44,100 = 1,323,000 samples per channel. The cutter works on these samples directly, so cuts are accurate to a fraction of a millisecond.
A fade multiplies each sample by a volume that changes in a straight line: during a 2 second fade in at 44.1 kHz, the first sample is multiplied by 0, the sample one second in by 0.5 and the sample at 2 seconds by 1. The fade out mirrors this at the end. If the two fades together are longer than the selection, both are shortened in proportion so they still fit.
The MP3 size depends only on the bitrate and length: size ≈ kbps × 1000 ÷ 8 × seconds. A 30 second clip is about 0.48 MB at 128 kbps, 0.72 MB at 192 kbps and 1.2 MB at 320 kbps. The same clip as 16-bit stereo WAV at 44.1 kHz is about 5.3 MB.
Getting precise cuts
- Use Zoom to selection and then drag the handles. When zoomed in far enough, you can see the individual waves and place a cut at a quiet point between notes or words.
- Type exact times like 1:05.3 or 65.3 into the Start and End boxes; both formats work.
- Click the waveform to place the cursor, then press ⇤ cursor or cursor ⇥ to snap the start or end to it while you listen.
- Focus a handle and press the arrow keys to move it in 0.1 s steps, or with Shift for 1 s steps.
Frequently asked questions
How do I cut an MP3 file online?
Open the MP3 on this page, drag the start and end handles on the waveform around the part you want to keep, then press Cut and Download. The clip is saved as a new MP3 and the original file is not changed.
How do I make a ringtone from a song?
Load the song, press the 30 s ringtone preset and drag the selection to your favourite part, for example the chorus. Add a short fade in and fade out so it does not start or stop abruptly, then download it as MP3 and copy it to your phone.
How long can an iPhone ringtone be?
iPhone ringtones can be up to 40 seconds long, and text or alert tones up to 30 seconds. If you set the ringtone with GarageBand on the iPhone it has to be 30 seconds or shorter, so the 30 s preset is the safest choice.
Does cutting an MP3 reduce its quality?
Saving as MP3 re-encodes the audio, which can lose a tiny amount of quality. Choose 256 or 320 kbps to keep it virtually identical, or save as WAV for a lossless copy of the selection.
Is my audio uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is decoded, cut and encoded by your browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server, so it is private and works with large files.
Which audio formats can I open?
Any format your browser can decode: MP3, WAV, M4A and AAC, OGG and Opus, FLAC and WebM audio in Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Safari supports MP3, WAV, M4A and AAC, and newer versions also open FLAC and Opus.
What does fade in and fade out do?
A fade in raises the volume smoothly from silence at the start of the clip, and a fade out lowers it to silence at the end. Even a 0.5 to 2 second fade makes a cut sound natural instead of clipped.