Cut and trim MP3 files by setting start and end times. Create ringtones, remove silence, extract clips. Free, no quality loss.
Process files in seconds with our optimized servers
Set exact start and end points with frame accuracy
Maintain original quality with smart re-encoding
MP3 is still the most universally compatible lossy audio format — accepted by every car stereo, podcast host, voicemail system, and ringtone manager built in the last twenty years. Trimming an MP3 instead of converting it first keeps that compatibility while letting you cut intros, isolate a quote, or fit a length limit imposed by another service.
.m4r) cap at 40 seconds of playback, with 30 seconds being the practical default that Music/iTunes will let you sync without prompting; Android tones are usually 30 seconds. Trim a chorus or hook to that window before converting.| Behavior | Stream-copy trim (no re-encode) | Re-encoded trim |
|---|---|---|
| Audio path | Frames copied bit-for-bit | Decode -> edit -> re-encode |
| Quality loss | None (lossless) | Generation loss (small but real) |
| Cut precision | MP3 frame boundary (~26.12 ms at 44.1 kHz, ~24 ms at 48 kHz) | Per-sample, sub-millisecond |
| Output bitrate | Identical to source | Whatever Quality Preset / Custom Bitrate you choose |
| Output sample rate / channels | Identical to source | Configurable (8-48 kHz, Mono/Stereo) |
| Bit reservoir handling | LAME tag adjusted so adjacent frames stay decodable | N/A — re-encoded from PCM |
| Speed | Very fast (no DSP) | Slower (encoder pass) |
| Use when | You just need a shorter clip, same format | You also need to change bitrate, sample rate, or channels |
The trimmer chooses stream-copy when your settings don't force a re-encode — that is, when Quality Preset is left as Original and the bitrate/channels/sample rate are unchanged. If you change any of those, the file is decoded and re-encoded.
| Bitrate (CBR) | Typical use | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| 64 kbps | AM-radio voice, telephony | 0.5 MB per minute |
| 96 kbps | Audiobooks, talk podcasts | 0.7 MB per minute |
| 128 kbps | Default web/streaming MP3 | 1.0 MB per minute |
| 192 kbps | Music podcasts, casual listening | 1.4 MB per minute |
| 256 kbps | High-quality music | 1.9 MB per minute |
| 320 kbps | MP3 ceiling, archival lossy | 2.4 MB per minute |
Variable bitrate (VBR) presets V0 (245 kbps avg) through V9 (65 kbps avg) generally give better quality per byte than the equivalent constant bitrate. Leave VBR alone for a stream-copy trim; set it explicitly only when you want a smaller output.
When the trim is done as a stream copy — frames copied without decoding — there is zero quality loss. The output is bit-identical to the corresponding range of the source. Quality loss only happens if you also change bitrate, sample rate, or channels, which forces a decode + re-encode cycle.
MP3 stores audio in fixed frames of 1152 samples. At 44.1 kHz that's about 26.12 ms per frame; at 48 kHz about 24 ms. A pure stream-copy trim snaps to the nearest frame, so cuts land within ~13 ms of the requested timestamp. If you need sub-millisecond accuracy (for example, a synced loop), let the tool re-encode — the output is then sample-accurate.
In most players, yes. The trimmer rewrites the LAME tag with the correct encoder delay and padding values so decoders that respect those tags (iTunes/Apple Music, foobar2000, modern Android players) play through the cut without a click or gap. Older or minimal decoders that ignore LAME metadata may produce a brief artifact at the join — this is an MP3 format limitation, not a tool bug.
Yes. Upload several MP3s and they all receive the same Start time and Duration. This is useful for batch-trimming a series of recordings (e.g., trimming a five-second silent leader off thirty voice memos), but if the files have different intro lengths you'll want to process them individually.
Trim the section you want to ≤30 seconds (Apple's Music/iTunes sync window), then convert the trimmed MP3 to .m4r using a converter that supports the AAC-in-MP4 ringtone wrapper. The 40-second limit some sources cite is the format ceiling; 30 seconds is what Apple's tools will sync without warning. Keep the file mono or stereo at 44.1 kHz — both work fine for ringtones.
There's no hard file-size cap published for this tool — processing happens in your browser session, so the practical limit is your device's RAM. A two-hour 128 kbps podcast (~115 MB) trims reliably on a modern laptop. For multi-hour audiobook files larger than ~1 GB, expect the upload step to be the slow part.
MP3 frames are atomic — the trimmer can only cut on frame boundaries when stream-copying. If your start time falls in the middle of a frame, the output starts at the closest preceding frame boundary (up to ~26 ms earlier). To get an exact-sample cut, allow re-encoding by changing the Quality Preset or bitrate, which lets the tool work in the PCM domain.
Yes — that's exactly what this tool does. Set the Start time to the beginning of the section you want, and the Duration to its length. Everything outside that window is discarded. To remove a section in the middle and join the two outer pieces, use the audio cutter instead, which supports multi-segment cuts.
Trim first, then compress. Trimming first means the compressor only has to process the audio you're keeping, which is faster and avoids re-encoding audio you'll throw away. If your source is already at a comfortable bitrate, a stream-copy trim alone is enough — no compression step needed.
This page is tuned for MP3 specifically. For WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, AAC, AIFF, and 15+ other formats use the general-purpose audio trimmer, or jump directly to format-specific pages like trim WAV and trim M4A. All of them share the same Start time / Duration workflow.