Arts >> Music >> Digital Music

How to Clip an MP3 File for Free

You may have an MP3 file whose length you want to edit. Maybe you want just a portion of it for a ringtone, or maybe there's a portion of it you don't like. Whatever the reason, editing and clipping MP3 files down in size and length is easy. There are several free programs that can do it, as well as online services that make it possible to edit MP3 files without having to install any additional software.

Instructions

  1. Using Audacity

    • 1

      Download and install Audacity and the LAME MP3 encoder for Audacity (see Resources). Install Audacity, and then install the LAME MP3 encoder.

    • 2

      Launch Audacity. Click "Edit" and "Preferences." Click the "File Formats" tab, and go to the "MP3 Export" section. Click "Find Library," and then click "Yes." Navigate to "C:\program files\lame for audacity\", select "lame_enc.dll" and click "OK." Close the Preferences menu.

    • 3

      Click "File" and "Open." Select the MP3 you want to clip, and click "Open."

    • 4

      Press the left mouse button, and drag the pointer across the section you want to remove. You can press the "Play" button to hear the section you highlighted.

    • 5

      Click "Edit" and "Delete to remove the highlighted portion. Repeat for other sections as necessary.

    • 6

      Click "File," "Export as MP3" and "Save" to save the clipped version of the file.

    Using Smart MP3 Splitter

    • 7

      Visit the Smart MP3 Splitter website (see Resources).

    • 8

      Click the "Upload" button. Select the file you want to clip, and click "Open." The file will be uploaded to the site.

    • 9

      Highlight the portion of the song you want to keep. If you need to, you can press the "Play" button and move the green marker to hear part of the song.

    • 10

      Click the "Save" icon (it has an image of a diskette) to save the clipped file to your computer.

    Using Free Audio Editor

    • 11

      Download and install Free Audio Editor (see Resources). Launch the program after installation is complete.

    • 12

      Click "Open," select the MP3 you want to clip, and click "Open" once more.

    • 13

      Press the left mouse button, and drag the pointer across the section of the song you want to remove. If you want, you can press the "Play" button in the bottom left corner to play the section you highlighted.

    • 14

      Click "Delete" to remove the section you highlighted.

    • 15

      Click "Save" to save the clipped version of the MP3.

Digital Music

Related Categories