Cutting an audio clip means keeping one continuous range: enter a non-negative start time and a later end time, then export that range as an uncompressed PCM16 WAV.
The Audio Cutter performs this workflow in your current browser. You choose a browser-decodable source, wait for it to decode, review the displayed timing information, enter the clip boundaries, create the result, preview it, and download it. The source file and decoded samples are not uploaded to Lizely, and the tool creates a separate WAV rather than changing the original file.
Most importantly, the two time fields refer to the browser’s decoded working buffer. Its displayed duration and sample rate provide the reference for the cut, while the exported WAV uses that same decoded rate.
Choose a browser-decodable source
The file picker recognizes common MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, Ogg, WebM, and FLAC names and MIME types. Recognition does not guarantee that every codec variation will decode successfully. Actual support depends on the codecs available through your browser’s Web Audio decoder, which can vary by browser, operating system, and browser version. The browser’s decodeAudioData process performs this conversion locally.
An unsupported, damaged, mislabeled, encrypted, or incomplete file produces a clear decode error. Audio Cutter does not install a missing codec, send the file to a conversion server, or silently substitute another source.
| Check | Required limit | What happens if the limit is exceeded |
|---|---|---|
| Encoded source file | No larger than 25 MB | The file is rejected before decoding |
| Decoded duration | No longer than 15 minutes | The decoded audio is rejected |
| Decoded sample rate | No higher than 192 kHz | The decoded audio is rejected |
| Decoded channel count | No more than eight channels | The decoded audio is rejected |
| Decoded work size | No more than 30 million samples across all channels | The decoded audio is rejected |
Nothing is shortened automatically to fit these limits. Because the browser must decode a file before it can inspect its duration and sample count, a highly compressed, long recording may require substantial temporary memory during the decode attempt even if it will ultimately exceed a processed-audio limit.
Set boundaries from the decoded timing details
After decoding succeeds, the page displays the decoded duration, sample rate, channel count, and frame count. Read those values before entering the clip boundaries. Web Audio may resample the source to the AudioContext sample rate while decoding, so the displayed sample rate describes the working buffer and exported WAV; it does not necessarily match the sample rate stored in the encoded source.
| Field | Accepted range | Boundary behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Non-negative and earlier than the end | Rounded to the nearest sample frame and included |
| End | Later than the start and no greater than the exact decoded duration | Rounded to the nearest sample frame and excluded |
An AudioBuffer frame contains one sample for each channel. Converting both entered values to the nearest frame prevents the stored samples from drifting away from the requested times. Because the start frame is included and the end frame is excluded, the end acts as the first boundary outside the selected region.
If the requested range rounds to less than one frame, the selection is rejected rather than producing an empty file. For a valid selection, the output duration is the selected frame count divided by the decoded sample rate. The tool calculates and reports that duration from the actual frame count rather than from a separate timer estimate.
Cut the range and download the WAV
- Open Audio Cutter and choose the source. Select a file no larger than 25 MB. A recognized extension or MIME type can help identify the source, but successful decoding still depends on your browser.
- Wait for decoding to finish. Check that no error appears, then note the displayed decoded duration, sample rate, channel count, and frame count. These are the authoritative values for the upcoming cut.
- Locate the approximate boundaries. Use the source player to identify where the desired excerpt begins and ends. The player is useful for finding the region; the two time fields define the final sample-frame range.
- Enter the start and end values as seconds. Use a non-negative start, choose a later end, and keep the end at or before the exact decoded duration shown on the page.
- Select Cut and export WAV. The selected frame range is converted into a new PCM16 WAV result. The source’s original compressed encoding is not carried into the export.
- Preview and download. Check the reported output duration and file size, listen to the beginning and end of the PCM16 result, and then download it once both boundaries sound correct.
Changing either time field clears the previous WAV result. Choosing another file also clears the old decoded buffer, player, error, and result. Cutting again replaces the earlier download, so download any version you need to keep before creating another one.
Understand what the WAV export contains
Every download is a newly encoded RIFF/WAVE file containing interleaved, little-endian, signed 16-bit PCM samples. Its 44-byte header records the PCM format, channel count, decoded sample rate, byte rate, block alignment, 16-bit sample width, and exact data size. This is a clean PCM rendering of the selected frames rather than a compressed copy of the original file.
The export does not retain an MP3, AAC, Vorbis, Opus, FLAC, or other compressed encoding. It also does not preserve tags, album art, cue points, chapters, loudness metadata, encoder settings, or other container fields. Treat the WAV as a newly produced audio file rather than a metadata-preserving segment of the source.
Web Audio samples are limited to the PCM range from -1 through 1 when written. Negative full scale becomes -32768, positive full scale becomes 32767, and non-finite values are written as silence. Multiple channels remain separate during processing and are interleaved in their original order. A stereo source stays stereo, while other channel layouts are retained up to the eight-channel limit; your playback software must support the resulting layout.
The exported sample rate is the decoded AudioBuffer rate after any resampling performed by Web Audio. The tool does not offer a separate target resampling control. Its WAV data size can be calculated directly: selected frame count × channel count × 2 bytes per sample + 44-byte WAV header. Because PCM16 is uncompressed, the output may occupy substantially more space than a short compressed source.
Plan for boundary and format tradeoffs
For dependable results, preview the exported WAV and confirm the intended spoken words or musical transient at both boundaries. Keep the original file as well, particularly when the excerpt may need to be cut again. If the first boundary clips a consonant or the exclusive end removes a note that should be present, adjust the relevant time and create a new result.
Audio Cutter handles one continuous range and produces a downloadable WAV. It does not provide waveform-level fades, normalization, noise removal, remixing, pitch changes, compression, metadata preservation, or lossless compressed-frame cutting. Use a dedicated editor when those production features, exact preservation of the original encoded frames, or advanced mastering are required.
To cut an audio clip with the browser workflow, choose a decodable file within the limits, use the decoded duration as the timing reference, enter a valid start and end, preview the new PCM16 WAV, and download it after checking both boundaries.
If you're weighing options, Cut an Audio File: Decode, Select, Export covers this in detail.
If you're weighing options, Audio Equalizer Circuit: Bands, Filters, and Safe Output covers this in detail.