Cut FLAC Audio

How to Cut FLAC Audio Online

1. Upload Your FLAC File: Click "Add Files" or drag and drop a .flac file. Only FLAC inputs are accepted on this page; for other formats see the general Audio Cutter.
2. Set Trim Start Time and Duration: Under Trim, enter Start Time and Duration in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss (millisecond precision). The cut covers [Start, Start + Duration). To extract from a marker to the end of the file, set Duration to the remaining length.
3. Tune Compression, Channel, and Sample Rate (Optional): Compression Level runs 1 (fastest, largest) to 12 (slowest, smallest); every level is bit-perfect lossless — only encoder effort and final file size change. Default on this page is 12 (libFLAC's own reference default is 5). Audio Codec stays on FLAC. Audio Channel offers Original, Mono, or Stereo. Audio Sample Rate accepts 8000, 12000, 16000, 24000, 44100, or 48000 Hz — leave at Original to preserve the source rate.
4. Cut and Download: Click Convert. Files process in your browser session — no sign-up, no watermark, no upload to third-party storage.

Why Cut FLAC Audio?

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is the open-format audio standard published by Xiph.Org and documented in IETF RFC 9639 (2024). Because the stream is built from independently-decodable frames that begin with a byte-aligned sync code, FLAC supports clean segmentation at frame boundaries with no quality loss — unlike lossy codecs (MP3, AAC, Opus) where every cut is followed by a fresh encode pass that drops fidelity. Typical use cases:

• Splitting CUE+FLAC album rips into per-track files — concert bootlegs, classical albums, and Japanese hi-res releases often ship as one long FLAC plus a cue sheet. Cutting by timestamp produces individual tracks at the same bit-perfect quality.
• Trimming silence and lead-in noise from field recordings and podcasts — remove 5-10 seconds of room tone or microphone bumps without re-encoding the rest of the take.
• Extracting short reference clips for mastering review — engineers can pull a 30-second loudness check or a single chorus from a 60-minute session FLAC.
• Preparing audiophile previews — sample the first 60 seconds of a 24-bit/96 kHz master to share before publishing the full album, with the original sample rate and bit depth intact.
• Archiving radio broadcasts and interviews — slice multi-hour FLAC recordings into chapter-sized files for upload to digital archives or library catalogues.
• Removing copyright-claimed or unwanted segments before posting recordings to Bandcamp, Internet Archive, or a personal hi-res server.

FLAC vs MP3 vs WAV — Cut Behavior

Property	FLAC	MP3	WAV (PCM)
Compression	Lossless (~50-70% of WAV)	Lossy	Uncompressed
Cut at frame boundary	Yes, no re-encode	Approximate; can leave clicks	Sample-accurate, no re-encode
Bit depth	4-32 bits	Fixed internal	8, 16, 24, 32 bits
Sample rate range	1 Hz - 1,048,575 Hz	8-48 kHz typical	1 Hz - 4.29 GHz (RIFF limit)
Channels	1-8	Up to 5.1 (MP3 Surround)	Up to 65,535
Native browser playback	Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari 11+	All browsers	All browsers
Best for cuts	Archival, hi-res, CD rips	Sharing, low storage	Editing, DAW round-trips

If you don't need lossless output after cutting, convert downstream: FLAC to MP3 for portable players, FLAC to WAV for DAW editing, or FLAC to AIFF for Apple-ecosystem workflows.

FLAC Compression Level Quick Guide

Level	Encoder effort	Relative file size	Use when
1	Fastest	Largest (~5-10% over level 8)	Batch-processing large libraries on a slow CPU
5 (libFLAC default)	Balanced	Mid	Most general-purpose ripping and conversion
8	Slow	Near-minimum	Final archival masters, one-off encodes
12 (XConvert default)	Slowest	Smallest	Long-term cold storage where every byte counts

All levels decode to identical PCM — picking a higher level never improves audio quality, only shrinks the file. The savings curve flattens above level 8; going from 8 to 12 typically saves under 1% on most material.

Common Cut Recipes

Goal	Start Time	Duration
Remove 5 s of silence at the start	00:00:05.000	(leave blank or set to remaining length)
Pull a 4-minute track from a CUE rip	00:03:00.000	00:04:00.000
Keep the first 30 seconds for a preview	00:00:00.000	00:00:30.000
Extract a 10-second loudness reference	00:01:45.500	00:00:10.000
Trim the last 8 seconds of crowd noise	(total length − 8 s)	00:00:08.000

Frequently Asked Questions

Does cutting FLAC reduce audio quality?

No. FLAC is bit-perfect lossless. The cut output decodes to the same PCM samples as the corresponding range of the input. The Compression Level only changes how aggressively the encoder packs the data — every level is mathematically identical on decode.

Is the cut frame-accurate or sample-accurate?

FLAC streams are organized into frames (typically a few thousand samples each — common block sizes are 1024, 2048, 4096, and 4608 per RFC 9639). When the requested Start or End falls inside a frame, that frame is re-encoded so the boundary lands on the exact sample you asked for; surrounding frames are preserved unchanged. Audibly the result is sample-accurate.

What happens to embedded tags, cover art, and CUE sheets?

Vorbis comments (artist, title, album, etc.) and embedded PICTURE blocks are carried over to the cut file. Embedded cue sheets, by definition, reference the original timeline and are dropped from segmented outputs — re-tag the result if you need clean metadata for the new clip.

Can I cut a 24-bit/96 kHz or 24-bit/192 kHz hi-res FLAC?

Yes. Leave Audio Sample Rate on Original and the source bit depth and sample rate pass through unchanged. FLAC formally supports up to 32-bit depth and sample rates up to 1,048,575 Hz per RFC 9639, so any commercial hi-res release fits.

Why is the File Compression section greyed out?

Bitrate-based controls (Quality Preset, Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate, Target File Size) are hidden because FLAC is lossless — there is no perceptual bitrate target to tune. Use Compression Level instead to influence file size; for a much smaller (lossy) result, convert to FLAC to MP3 or FLAC to Opus after cutting, or use Compress FLAC.

How is "Cut FLAC" different from "Trim FLAC" on XConvert?

Functionally identical. Both pages expose the same Trim → Start Time / Duration controls and write a FLAC output. Trim FLAC is the alternate slug for users who search "trim" instead of "cut" — pick whichever URL you land on.

Can I split one FLAC into multiple tracks in a single pass?

This page produces one output per cut. For a typical CUE+FLAC album with N tracks, run N cuts (Start = track N marker, Duration = track length). Each output retains the original sample rate, bit depth, and channel layout. Batch upload is supported, so multiple source files can run in parallel.

Will my browser play the result back natively?

Yes, in modern Chromium browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera), Firefox, and Safari 11+ — native FLAC playback shipped in macOS High Sierra (2017) and iOS 11. Older Safari versions and Internet Explorer require conversion to MP3 or AAC.

Are my files uploaded to a server?

Files are processed in your browser session and discarded shortly afterward. There is no account, no permanent storage, and no watermark added to the output.