An Online Alternative to mp3splt: Split Audio Without Installing

mp3splt is one of the most capable free tools for cutting a long MP3, Ogg Vorbis or FLAC file into tracks. If you have it installed and like the command line, keep using it. This piece is for the times you can't, or would rather not: a phone, a work laptop you can't install software on, or a one-off job where you just want tagged tracks back.

Below is what mp3splt does, how each of its main modes maps onto our free online track splitter, what the online tool can't do, and a plain guide to picking one or the other.

What mp3splt is

A splitter that never decodes.

mp3splt is a free, GPL-licensed utility that splits MP3, Ogg Vorbis and native FLAC files at the begin and end times you choose, without decoding the audio. It comes as a command-line program, mp3splt, and a GTK graphical app, mp3splt-gtk, and runs on Linux, the BSDs, macOS and Windows.

Its modes cover nearly every way you'd want to cut an album: split points you type yourself, split points from a .cue file or a CDDB lookup, Audacity label files, automatic splitting at silences (with a threshold in dB and a minimum silence length), fixed-length pieces with -t, a set number of equal pieces with -S, and an auto-adjust mode that nudges split points into nearby silences. It can process several files, or a whole folder, with the same settings in one run.

On maintenance: the latest upstream releases listed on the project's site are mp3splt 2.6.2, libmp3splt 0.9.2 and mp3splt-gtk 0.9.2, announced in November 2014. Development upstream has been quiet since, but the 2.6.2 code is still packaged and patched by Debian, Ubuntu, FreeBSD and Guix, so it remains easy to install on those systems.

Feature for feature

The same jobs, online.

Our splitter is a different kind of tool: you upload one file over HTTPS, it's cut on our server with FFmpeg, and you download the tracks. Here is how the main mp3splt modes translate.

Split points by time

Paste a tracklist, one line per track, like 3:45 Second Song. Times can sit at the start or end of the line, in brackets or not, and numbering, bullets, dashes and pipes are ignored. Or tap "Add track" on the waveform as it plays.

Silence mode (-s)

"Find tracks automatically" by silence, with two sliders: how quiet counts as silence, and the minimum gap. Each gap gets one cut in its middle, and the cuts show on the waveform as you move the sliders.

Fixed length and equal parts (-t, -S)

"Find tracks automatically" also cuts into a number of equal parts, or one part every N minutes.

Auto-adjust (-a)

For equal-part cuts there's an option to move each cut to the nearest silence within 2 seconds. It doesn't adjust cuts from a pasted tracklist.

No decoding

"Keep original", the default, keeps the source format: MP3 is copied without re-encoding, and FLAC is re-encoded losslessly with identical samples (24-bit stays 24-bit).

Tags and file names

Title, artist, album, year, genre and track number on every track, plus cover art embedded in MP3, M4A and FLAC. If each pasted line reads "Artist - Title", each track gets its own artist.

CUE files (-c)

Pick the audio and its .cue together, or load or paste the sheet into the tracklist box. Titles, performers, album info and each INDEX 01 start are read, kept to the hundredth of a second, and every zip includes a .cue for the original file. There's no CDDB lookup.

Many files at once

No equivalent. It's one file per job.

Who it's for

When installing isn't an option.

An online splitter earns its place when one of these is true:

• You're on a phone. The splitter works in mobile browsers, and every track has its own download button, so you never have to open a zip on your phone.
• The computer is locked down. A work or school machine where you can't install software still has a browser.
• You want tags and cover art in the same pass, in a form with fields rather than an output-format string.
• Your file isn't MP3, Ogg or FLAC. The splitter also takes WAV, M4A/AAC and Opus, and can write MP3, AAC or Opus at 128–320 kbps, or FLAC or WAV.
• You want to see the cuts. Silence detection draws every cut on the waveform before anything is split, and you can edit, add or delete tracks first.

Honest limits

What the online tool lacks.

• CDDB. There's no online album lookup. CUE sheets are read, though: see the FLAC + CUE splitter.
• Offline use. The file has to be uploaded, so you need a connection, and a big file takes as long to upload as your connection allows.
• Batches. mp3splt can run the same split over a whole folder. The splitter handles one file per job.
• Very large files. The limit is 450 MB per file. A long WAV can run past that; saving it as FLAC first roughly halves the size without losing anything.
• Some formats. APE, WavPack, AIFF and WMA aren't accepted; convert to FLAC first, which loses nothing.

How it works

An mp3splt job, online.

1. 01

   Upload the file

   One MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A/AAC, Ogg Vorbis or Opus file of up to 450 MB.

2. 02

   Pick a mode

   Paste a tracklist, split by silence, or cut into equal parts or every N minutes. Check the cuts on the waveform and fix any by hand.

3. 03

   Tag it

   Album, artist, year, genre and cover art go on every track. Keep the original format, or choose an output format, and add fades of up to 5 seconds if you re-encode.

4. 04

   Download

   One zip, or one track at a time. Your timestamps and album info are saved in the browser, so a refresh doesn't lose them.

For a specific job, there are pages for splitting by silence, splitting into equal parts and splitting FLAC.

When to use which

Both are free. Pick by situation.

FAQ

Questions people ask.

Is mp3splt still maintained?

The newest upstream release is 2.6.2, announced in 2014. Linux and BSD distributions still package and patch it, so it installs and runs fine on those systems, but don't expect new features upstream.

Does the online splitter re-encode MP3s?

Not with "Keep original", the default: the MP3 audio is copied into each track as it is. Re-encoding only happens if you pick another output format or add fades.

Can it read a CUE sheet?

Yes. Pick the .cue together with the audio, or load or paste it into the tracklist box. Each track's title, performer and INDEX 01 start are read to the hundredth of a second, and the album title, artist, year and genre fill in. To make a .cue from a tracklist instead, there's a free tracklist to CUE converter.

Where is my file processed?

It's uploaded over HTTPS and cut on our server with FFmpeg, not on your device. The upload and our working copies are deleted once your downloads are ready.

Is there a track limit?

No. It's free, needs no account, and has no limit on the number of tracks. The only limit is one file of up to 450 MB per job.