Fix clipped, distorted audio in your browser
When a recording is too loud for the microphone, the interface or the file, the tops of the waveform are cut off flat. That is clipping, and it sounds like harsh buzz or crackle on every loud word, drum hit or chord. This audio clipping fix finds those flattened peaks and rebuilds the curve that was cut away, then removes stray clicks, and saves a new file you can compare with the original.
It is a de-clipper for voice notes, interviews, podcasts, lectures and rehearsals. Light and moderate clipping — short flat tops of a few milliseconds — can be repaired well. Severe clipping, flat for long stretches, can only be made less harsh: what was cut off is gone, and every de-clipper has to guess it.
How to use the Audio Clipping Fixer (De-clipper)
- Drop an audio file on the box, or press Try a generated clipped sample.
- Read the verdict. The tool finds the clip level from the file itself and counts the flattened peaks. Red marks under the waveform show where they are; the close-up shows the worst one.
- Keep Smart (AR prediction) for the best rebuild, or pick Fast (cubic curve). Leave click removal on for crackle, and pick a sensitivity.
- Choose how to handle rebuilt peaks above 0 dB: lower the volume to fit (cleanest), or keep the volume with a limiter.
- Press Repair audio, listen to the result next to the original, step through the problems with the arrows, and download the file.
Audio Clipping Fixer (De-clipper) features
Automatic clip level
Hard clipping piles samples up just under the peak. The tool spots that pile-up in the level histogram for positive and negative peaks separately, so lopsided clipping is caught too.
Prediction-based rebuild
Each flat top is filled with the samples that best continue the surrounding sound, never falling back under the clip level.
Click and crackle removal
Short spikes in the slope of the waveform, far above their surroundings, are replaced the same way. Drum hits and consonants are too long to be mistaken for clicks.
Before/after close-up
Step through every clipped peak and click with the arrows or by tapping the waveform: the original, the repaired curve and the clip level are drawn on top of each other.
Headroom handled
Rebuilt peaks rise above the old ceiling. The file is turned down to fit under −1 dBFS, or a true-peak limiter holds them, so the repair never clips again.
How the repair works
A clipped sample carries one piece of information: the true value was at least the clip level. The tool treats those samples as missing and estimates them. It fits an autoregressive (AR) model — a recipe that predicts each sample from the 24 before it — to about 60 ms of audio around the gap, then solves for the missing samples that make the prediction error smallest. This is the least-squares AR interpolator described by Janssen, Veldhuis and Vries (1986) and Godsill and Rayner (1998). Any rebuilt sample that comes out quieter than the clip level is pinned to it and the rest are solved again.
On the built-in test, a chord clipped at 60% of its true height, the AR rebuild leaves less than 12% of the error of the clipped file; the cubic curve, which only looks at two samples on each side, leaves more. Flat tops longer than 20 ms are rebuilt with the cubic curve, because prediction over such long gaps is unreliable.
Crackling? Check your device settings first
Many crackling problems are not in the file at all. If every recording or every video crackles, or the sound breaks up only on one computer, work through this list before repairing files:
- Lower the input gain or microphone level until the loudest parts peak around −6 dBFS. Clipping in the recording is prevented far better than repaired; the Mic Test shows your level live.
- Match sample rates: set the device in your system sound settings to the same rate as your recording app or project (44.1 kHz or 48 kHz).
- In a recording app or DAW, raise the audio buffer size (for example from 64 to 256 or 512 samples) — too small a buffer causes crackle and dropouts under load.
- Turn off audio “enhancements”, spatial sound and exclusive-mode effects for the device, and update or reinstall its driver.
- Plug USB microphones and interfaces straight into the computer, not into a hub, and turn off USB power saving.
- For Bluetooth headsets, move closer, keep the phone out of a pocket, and switch away from the low-quality hands-free profile for listening.
- Check and reseat cables; a loose or damaged jack crackles when it moves.
What it cannot fix
- Distortion that happened before the signal was digitised, such as an overdriven microphone capsule, preamp or speaker. The waveform then has no flat tops to find, and the verdict says no hard clipping was found.
- Clipping that was later compressed into a lossy MP3 or AAC and turned down: the flat tops become wobbly. Raising sensitivity by setting the clip level yourself helps, but the result is less exact.
- Background hiss and hum — use the Audio Noise Remover for those, and the Audio Normalizer to bring the repaired file back to a target loudness.
Audio Clipping Fixer (De-clipper) FAQ
How do I fix audio clipping online for free?
Drop the file on this page, check that clipping was found, and press Repair audio. Listen to the result, then download it as WAV, FLAC, MP3, M4A or OGG. Nothing is uploaded.
Can clipped audio really be repaired?
Partly. Short flat tops can be rebuilt convincingly because the surrounding sound predicts what was cut off. Heavy clipping over long stretches can be made smoother and less harsh, but not restored exactly.
Why is the repaired file quieter?
The rebuilt peaks are taller than the old ceiling, so they need headroom. The file is lowered to fit under −1 dBFS. Choose “keep the volume, limit the peaks” to keep the loudness instead.
Will it remove crackling?
It removes clicks and crackle that are recorded in the file. Crackle that only happens on one device is usually a settings or driver problem; see the checklist above.
Does it work on MP3 files?
Yes. MP3 decoding slightly blurs the flat tops, and the automatic clip level allows for that. Save the repaired file as WAV or FLAC if you will edit it further.
Which settings should I use?
Start with the defaults. If loud speech still sounds rough, untick automatic level and lower the clip level a little; if drum hits are touched, choose Low click sensitivity.