Free tool
MP3 cutter
Use this MP3 cutter to cut a clip from a song, a podcast or any recording: select it on the waveform, add a fade in and out if you like, and save the clip as a new MP3. It can also cut a stretch out of the middle and join the rest.
- Free
- Any audio in, MP3 out
- Nothing is uploaded
Drop your MP3 or other audio file here, or Choose your MP3 or other audio file
MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC, OGG, AAC, or the sound of an MP4, MOV or WebM video, up to 1 GB and 2 hours. Everything happens in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
MP3 encoding by LAME, open-source software.
Cutting a quote out of a recorded interview or meeting? NoteOwl transcribes the recording on your Mac with a time on every line, so you find the quote by its words.
How it works
How do you cut an MP3?
Add the file, then drag across the waveform to select the clip, or drag the handles and fine-tune the times. Choose Keep it or Cut it out, pick a fade and a quality, and press Cut MP3. The clip downloads as an MP3 named after the original.
- 1
Select the clip
Drag across the waveform, move the two handles, or type the start and end. Play the selection to hear exactly what you’ll get.
- 2
Choose what happens
Keep it saves the selection alone; Cut it out removes it and joins what was before and after.
- 3
Cut and save
A new MP3 is made at the quality you picked. Play it on the page before you download it.
What’s the difference between keeping a selection and cutting it out?
Keep it saves only what you selected: a chorus, a quote, the first minute of a talk. Cut it out does the opposite, removing the selection and joining the parts on either side, which suits a cough, an advert or a stretch nobody needs.
Where the two sides meet, they cross over in 30 milliseconds, too short to hear as a fade but long enough to stop a click at the join. Cutting 1:00–2:00 out of a three-minute song left a two-minute MP3 with no gap.
- A ringtone or alarm from a song
- ChooseKeep it
- ThenPress Make it 30 seconds, add a 1 or 2 s fade
- One answer from an interview
- ChooseKeep it
- ThenFades off, so the words start at once
- A recording without its advert break
- ChooseCut it out
- ThenSelect the break from first to last second
- Just the start and end tidied
- ChooseNeither
- ThenThe audio trimmer keeps the format, not re-encoded
| You want | Choose | Then |
|---|---|---|
| A ringtone or alarm from a song | Keep it | Press Make it 30 seconds, add a 1 or 2 s fade |
| One answer from an interview | Keep it | Fades off, so the words start at once |
| A recording without its advert break | Cut it out | Select the break from first to last second |
| Just the start and end tidied | Neither | The audio trimmer keeps the format, not re-encoded |
Why add a fade when you cut a song?
A song cut in mid-note starts and stops abruptly, often with a click. A one to three second fade lets it rise from silence and settle back into it, the way a ringtone or a clip in a video should. Speech usually sounds better with no fade at all.
The fade in and the fade out are part of the clip itself, so it plays the same everywhere. In a 30-second cut with 2-second fades, the first fiftieth of a second came out about 40 dB quieter than the middle: silence to the ear.
Which MP3 quality should you pick?
192 kbps for music, the cutter’s starting choice. 128 kbps is plenty for speech and keeps files small; 320 kbps is the highest an MP3 goes, worth it only when the original was that good. The cutter writes a new MP3 at the setting you choose.
- 128 kbps
- One minuteAbout 0.9 MB
- Good forSpeech, voice notes, podcasts
- 192 kbps
- One minuteAbout 1.4 MB
- Good forMusic, ringtones
- 320 kbps
- One minuteAbout 2.3 MB
- Good forMusic from a high-quality original
| Setting | One minute | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 128 kbps | About 0.9 MB | Speech, voice notes, podcasts |
| 192 kbps | About 1.4 MB | Music, ringtones |
| 320 kbps | About 2.3 MB | Music from a high-quality original |
How do you make a ringtone from an MP3?
Select where the part you want begins, press Make it 30 seconds, then move the end handle until the clip finishes on a beat or at the end of a line. Add a 1 or 2 second fade, cut it, and copy the MP3 to your phone.
- 1
Find the start
Play the song and drag the start handle to the first beat of the part you want.
- 2
Set the length
Make it 30 seconds sets the end for you; shorten it if the phrase ends sooner.
- 3
Fade and cut
A short fade stops the ringtone from cutting off mid-note each time it loops.
How do you find the quote to cut in a long recording?
Read it instead of listening for it. NoteOwl transcribes a recording on your Mac with a time beside every line, so the quote you need shows you where to set the cutter. You can also export the transcript as text or SRT subtitles.
FAQ
Questions about cutting MP3 and audio files
Can the cutter open files that aren’t MP3s?
Yes. It works as an audio cutter for M4A voice memos, WAV, FLAC, OGG and AAC files, and for the sound of an MP4 or MOV video. Whatever goes in, the clip comes out as an MP3, the format nearly every phone, car and app plays.
Does cutting an MP3 lower its quality?
A little, because the clip is encoded again as a new MP3. At 192 or 320 kbps the difference is very hard to hear. To take only the start and end off a recording with no re-encoding at all, use NoteOwl’s audio trimmer instead.
Where does the song go while I cut it?
Nowhere: it never leaves your device. The cutter opens the file in this browser tab, does the cutting there and hands you the clip as a download. We checked the network while cutting and saw no requests, and you don’t sign up for anything.
Why is my 30-second clip 30.07 seconds long?
An MP3 encoder adds a few hundredths of a second of silence at the very start, which some players count in the length. You won’t hear it, and the fade or the first word still starts where you set it.
Can I cut an MP3 on my phone?
Yes. Open this page, choose the file, and drag the handles with a finger or type the times, which is easier on a small screen. The finished clip downloads like any file; on an iPhone, Safari puts it in the Downloads folder in Files.
How long can the song or recording be?
Up to 2 hours and 1 GB, so a whole album side or a long interview opens fine. The cutter reads the file once to draw its waveform: a three-minute song is ready in about a second.
Keep exploring
More audio editing tools
- Audio splitterSplit a long recording into parts in your browser: equal parts, every few minutes or where you choose, each split moved to a pause; no re-encoding
- Audio joinerJoin audio files of any format into one MP3 or WAV in your browser, in the order you set, with a pause or a crossfade between them
- MP3 joinerJoin MP3 files into one in your browser, frame by frame with no re-encoding when they match, in the order you set
- Audio compressorMake any audio file smaller in your browser: pick a quality or a size to fit (such as 25 MB for email) and see the size before and after
Related
- MP4 to MP3 converterTurn an MP4 video’s sound into an MP3 in your browser, Zoom and Teams recordings included; nothing is uploaded
- Extract audio from videoTake the sound out of an MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV video in your browser and save it as MP3, M4A (no re-encoding) or WAV; nothing is uploaded
- Voice notes on your MacVoice notes and dictations saved as searchable text on your Mac, with the raw words beside the polished version; free
Find every quote by its words, on your Mac
Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · 16 GB memory minimum, 24 GB recommended
About NoteOwl
NoteOwl is private AI meeting notes and memory for the Mac. It captures meetings without a bot joining the call, labels every speaker, writes summaries and action items, and builds a memory of every conversation that you can chat with — fully offline, because the speech recognition and the AI run on the Mac itself. Dictation into any app is free; Pro is a one-time purchase.
NoteOwl pricing: what’s free and what Pro adds
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