Trim an MP3 on your Mac
Sep 16, 2010 - 10 Comments
You can trim any MP3 file for free in Mac OS X thanks to QuickTime Player. Here’s how:
- Make a copy of the MP3 file you want to trim
- Open the MP3 file with QuickTime Player
- Hit Command+T to open the Trim function
- Drag the yellow sliders on the left and right side to trim down the section of the song to where you want
- When you’re finished, click the yellow ‘Trim’ button
- Go to File -> Save As and save as an iPhone .m4v movie file
Now the MP3 has been trimmed down the section of the song you wanted, but you’ll want to use iTunes to convert the song to MP3 format again from it’s new m4v type.
This works in the newer versions of QuickTime Player, but I’m not sure if the same function exists in older releases.
what a bad idea to re-re-encode a file…
I do not support
I think if you are trimming an mp3 file, you are using it for a ringtone or some other one-off purpose, you’re not going to be hurt by the quality loss of re-encoding.
Good tips, didnt know about the trim in QT, cheers.
[...] Trimming an MP3 on your Mac? Sure, you could do it with GarageBand, but OSX Daily show us how to do it with QuickTime instead. [...]
It’s even easier to use some of Doug’s Applescripts for iTunes. There is a great script called (something like) “Copy from Start to Stop” which makes a new mp3 from any mp3 in iTunes, based on the start and stop times you set in “Options”. Along with another script called “Set Player Position to Start or Stop,” you can easily play the mp3, set the start and stop points by ear, and then make a trimmed copy which automatically shows up in iTunes named however you want. I don’t think there is encoding/reencoding going here, but I have never noticed a degradation of quality. See http://dougscripts.com/itunes/
Do it directly in iTunes, either destructively or non-destructively. CMD+i on the track in iTunes, under the options tab, set in the and out points. Do make it permanent, right click the track again, and convert to MP3.
If you don’t mind using the command line and having Fink or Darwinports, I can highly recommend mp3splt to split MP3 files. Best of all, it does not recompress.
Just name your source file, then a list of split points (in minutes and seconds), like
mp3splt my_source_file.mp3 0.00 2.41 6.14 8.33
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