Online audio editing, explained
An audio editor lets you cut, arrange and improve recordings: podcasts, interviews, voice-overs, lectures, music demos or ringtones. Desktop programs such as Audacity are the classic choice, but they need to be installed. This editor brings the core of that workflow to the browser: several tracks on one timeline, clips you can split and move, destructive effects with undo, and export to WAV and MP3. Because it runs on the Web Audio API in your own browser, files never leave your computer.
How it compares to Audacity
| Feature | This editor | Audacity |
|---|
| Install | None, opens in any modern browser | Desktop app for Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Tracks and clips | Multitrack, split, move, trim clip edges, join, labels | Same |
| Tools | Selection, envelope (volume automation) and draw | Selection, envelope, draw and multi-tool |
| Real-time effects | Per-track rack: EQ, filter, compressor, reverb, delay, distortion, tremolo, gain | Per-track rack with built-in and plug-in effects |
| Destructive effects | 36, with preview and presets, incl. noise reduction, Paulstretch, auto duck, vocal reduction | Dozens built in, plus VST, LV2, AU and Nyquist plug-ins |
| Macros (batch) | Effect chains for the project or a batch of files to a ZIP | Macros for projects and files |
| Analysis | Spectrum, loudness (LUFS), contrast, clipping, sound and beat finders | Same, plus more via plug-ins |
| Snapping | Seconds, tenths, beats and bars at a project tempo | Many time formats and snapping modes |
| Formats | Imports what your browser decodes; exports WAV and MP3 | Many more through FFmpeg |
| Saving | .jbaudio project files plus autosave in the browser | .aup3 project files |
What Audacity still does that this editor doesn't: third-party plug-ins, spectral editing, more import formats through FFmpeg, and very long projects (a browser tab has less memory than a desktop app). For everyday editing, podcasts, voice-overs and cleaning up recordings on any computer, including a locked-down work laptop or a Chromebook, everything you need is here.
Envelopes, clips and real-time effects
The envelope tool (F2) draws volume changes over time, for example to dip music under a voice or make a long fade. The clip edges can be dragged to trim a clip without losing the hidden audio, so you can drag them back later. Real-time effects (the FX button on each track) are not written into the audio: you hear them while playing and they are rendered when you export, so you can tweak them until the end. When you are happy, Render into the audio makes them permanent.
Clean up a voice recording
A good chain for speech is: High-pass filter at 80 Hz to remove rumble, Noise reduction with a profile from a second of room tone (12 dB is a safe start; more makes voices sound watery), Remove hum if you hear a buzz, a Compressor (threshold −18 dB, ratio 3:1) to even out the level, a gentle EQ with the "Voice clarity" preset, and finally Loudness normalization to −16 LUFS with a −1 dB limiter. Preview each step and undo whatever you don't like.
Loudness, peaks and LUFS
Peak level tells you how close the loudest sample is to clipping; LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale, from ITU-R BS.1770) tells you how loud the whole thing sounds. Streaming services turn loud tracks down to their target, so mastering louder than that only costs dynamics. Common targets are −14 LUFS for Spotify and YouTube, −16 LUFS for Apple Music and podcasts, and −23 LUFS for European broadcast (EBU R128). Analyze → Loudness and statistics measures your mix; the loudness effect sets it.
Tempo, pitch and speed
Change speed plays the audio faster or slower, like a tape: pitch goes up or down with it. Change tempo keeps the pitch and only changes the duration, using time-domain overlap-add (WSOLA), which works best for speech and moderate changes (−30% to +50%). Change pitch combines both to transpose by semitones while keeping the length. The playback speed slider in the toolbar only changes listening speed, not the audio.
WAV or MP3?
WAV is uncompressed and keeps every detail: use it for archiving and for further editing. 24-bit gives more headroom for quiet recordings; 32-bit float can't clip. MP3 is compressed and much smaller: 128 kbps is fine for speech, 192 to 320 kbps for music. Export multiple splits one long recording into separate files by labels, for example songs from a concert or chapters of an audiobook.
Privacy and saving
Audio is decoded, edited and encoded in this browser tab. Nothing is uploaded. The project (tracks, clips and labels) is autosaved in your browser's IndexedDB storage a moment after every change, so a refresh or a crash does not lose your work; use File → Restore last autosave. Clearing your browser data removes it, so export what you want to keep.