You have a voice recording full of fan hiss, a long MP3 that needs one section cut out, or a call you need to capture from your PC, and you don't want to pay or sign up for anything. Free Audio Editor is a Windows audio editor built for these jobs. Editing, recording and WAV export are free, with no watermark and no account.
Quick facts
- Platforms: Windows 11 and Windows 10 (64-bit, version 2004 or later)
- Price: free to edit, record and export WAV; the optional Deluxe registered edition is $29.95
- Free export: WAV (16/24-bit and 32-bit float)
- Registered export: MP3, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus and WMA
- Interface: 10 languages, light and dark themes
Key features
Cut, trim and loop on a zoomable waveform
You edit visually on a stereo waveform. Selections can snap to zero crossings to prevent clicks. You can draw fade envelopes and preview seamless loops.
Clean up noisy voice recordings with Repair Studio
Repair Studio works on clicks, 50/60 Hz hum, clipping, harsh "s" sounds and breaths. You can compare before and after. There is also a separate Noise Reduction tool and a one-window Podcast Chain to even out a voice recording.
Record your microphone, your PC's sound, or both
Capture a microphone, the sound playing on your PC (calls, streams, web audio) or both at once, at up to 96 kHz. You can mix them into one stereo track or keep voice and PC sound on separate left and right channels. Punch-in recording replaces just the sentence you got wrong.
Remove a whistle or beep with the spectrogram
Box out a sound in the Spectrogram, preview it on its own, then turn it down by 12 dB or 24 dB or cut it completely.
Combine voice, music and effects in the multitrack mixer
The Multitrack Mixer gives you separate tracks with volume, pan, mute, solo and crossfades.
Shape the sound with EQ and effects
The tools include Paragraphic EQ, 10/20-band Graphic EQ, Compressor, Hard Limiter, Normalize, Reverb, Delay and Distortion, plus pitch and speed profiles. It also offers LUFS loudness matching, BPM estimation, a metronome and an ID3 tag editor with lyrics and cover art.
Open 50+ formats, including video soundtracks
Import WAV, MP3, FLAC, M4A, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus, AIFF, WMA and tracker music into multiple tabs. You can also pull the soundtrack from MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI or WebM files. Projects save as .wsmith files, and auto-backup and an A/B compare buffer are available.
Who it's for
It suits you if you record voiceovers or podcasts, trim music and clips, or clean up noisy recordings on a Windows 10 or 11 PC and want local processing. Files are not uploaded to a cloud queue.
Pros and cons
Pros
- No account and no watermark
- Free WAV export up to 32-bit float
- Repair, spectrogram and multitrack tools are included
- Runs locally, and the .NET runtime is included
Cons
- Direct MP3, FLAC and AAC export needs the paid registered edition
- Free MP3 means exporting WAV first, then converting it with the vendor's separate converter
- Windows only, 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 only
- It needs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime
FAQs
Is Free Audio Editor really free?
Yes for editing, recording, project saving and WAV export. Registration adds export to other formats.
Can I save MP3 for free?
Export your edit as WAV, then convert it to MP3 (up to 320 kbps) with the vendor's free Video & Audio Converter. Saving MP3 directly from the editor needs registration.
Can I record what's playing on my PC?
Yes. It records system playback audio, your microphone, or both together.
Does it run on older Windows versions?
No. It is built for 64-bit Windows 11 and Windows 10, version 2004 or later.
System requirements
- Windows 11 or Windows 10 (64-bit, version 2004+)
- Self-contained .NET runtime included
- Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime