Free MP3 Trimmer Mac: Complete Guide to Trim MP3 Songs on Mac for Free [Step-by-Step]

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Trimming MP3 songs on your Mac is fast and simple and there are many reasons why it's so useful. Want to clip off the beginning or end of a song? Is there an intro you want to eliminate, or perhaps you want to remove applause or audience reactions from a live performance? Do you want to create a ringtone for your iPhone? Whatever your reason, there are several programs and applications you can use on your Mac to edit and trim MP3 files.

Part1. Using iTunes to Trim/Cut MP3 Files [Step-by-Step]

Part2. Trimming MP3 Files with QuickTime Player [Step-by-Step]

Part3. Full-Feature MP3 Editors for Mac [Three Software Recommend]

Part 1. Using iTunes to Trim/Cut MP3 Files

iTunes allows you to trim MP3 songs on your Mac by making it easy to customize and save start and stop times for your MP3 files. Why use iTunes to trim MP3 files? If you have a Mac, then you already have iTunes on your computer: it's probably the most convenient solution you have available. Here's how you can use iTunes to trim or cut MP3 files on your Mac:

1. Launch iTunes
2. Right-click or Control + click the song you want to trim; select Get Info from the contextual menu and select the Options tab
3. Select Start Time checkbox and enter what time you want the song to start
4. Select Stop Time checkbox and enter what time you want the song to stop
5. Click OK – your song is now trimmed to the selected playtime parameters
6. To save the shortened version of the song, from the iTunes menu select Advanced and then select
7. Select Convert to MP3 – this creates and saves the shorter version

Part2. Trimming MP3 Files with QuickTime Player

1. Apple's QuickTime Player application also provides a simple and convenient way to trim MP3 songs on your Mac:
2. Copy a clean version of the original MP3 file you would like to trim
3. Right-click and select Open With and QuickTime
4. From the Edit menu, select Trim
5. Use the yellow sliders to adjust the song start time and song stop time; click Play to listen and confirm the song length is to your preference
6. Click the Trim button to save changes
7. From the File menu, select Save As to choose the file format (there are several options available); select Export if you wish to save to another device
8. You can use iTunes to convert saved files to MP3

Part3. Full-Feature MP3 Editors for Mac

If you need a program that offers additional functionality for editing or adjusting MP3 files for your Mac, there are several free options available. Three of the most popular are:

Wondershare Filmora for Mac 

Filmora is a cost-effective all-purpose Video&Audio editor that can be used to complete all your video and audio projects, big or small. It provides all kinds of editing features, such as trimming, splitting, cropping, changing voice, adding Hollywood special effects to video, etc. It is by far the best editing program specially designed for users without technical skills to edit like a professional.

Wondershare supports a vast range of audio formats, including:

• AC3, APE, AIF, AIFF, FLAC, APE, CUE, AU, AMR, OGG, WAV, DPE, MKA, M4V, M4A, MPA, MP2, MP3, RA, WMA

If you are using windows, check this tutorial instead

Audacity

This Trimmer provides a simple interface and a complete toolbox of editing capabilities, including options to add audio effects, spectrographic analysis, undo/redo function, and more. Audacity supports a wide range of formats, including:

• WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP2, MP3, OGG

WavePad

This is free for non-commercial use and provides the same robust audio editing tools as many professional programs. The interface is sophisticated enough to allow you to work on several files simultaneously, and it is powerful enough to process thousands of files at once. Tools include dozens of audio effects, bookmarking, some text-to-speech, and more.

Upgrading to the standard license costs $70 and allows unlimited use for commercial projects. WavePad supports many formats, including:

• WAV, MP3, MP4A, WMA, FLAC

Now you have several options for trimming or editing MP3 audio files on your Mac – enjoy!

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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