12 Best Free Audio Editor for Beginners in 2025
Some artists dish out thousands of dollars on sound engineers and recording studios to achieve professional-level audio. But what if we told you anyone can create high-quality audio content from the comfort of their home without paying a dime?
While it is true that high-ticket packages can be worth the price, there are many free audio editors that are surprisingly feature-packed. They also come with the bonus of being much easier to use.
However, not all free audio editors are created equal, and there's no shortage of options. That's why we've put together this quick guide to the best free audio editor available today.
- The 12 Best Free Audio Editor for Beginners
- How to Choose the Best Free Audio Editor?
- How Did We Conduct Our Test
- Best Free Audio Editor Comparison Chart
- What is the Best Free Audio Editor?
- Free Audio Editor FAQ
The 12 Best Free Audio Editor for Beginners
- MyEdit
- AudioDirector
- Acon Digital Acoustica
- GarageBand
- Auphonic
- OcenAudio
- Audacity
- Ashampoo Music Studio
- Avid Pro Tools Intro
- Audiotool
- AudioMass
1. MyEdit - Best Online Audio Editor
Key Features:
- Generate scripts or video captions using Speech-to-Text
- AI noise removal for clean, crisp audio
- Automatically find the tempo of any music track in seconds with the AI-based BPM detector
- Change your voice with a variety of voice filters and AI voice avatars
- Remove the vocals from your favorite tracks to create a karaoke version
Compatibility:
Web Browser
G2 Rating: 4/5 Beginner-Friendly Tools: 4.5/5 Price:
Free
*Premium subscription available from $4.00
MyEdit
is a web-based audio editor that requires no installation and doesn’t leave a footprint on your computer. It’s ideal for quick edits like trimming clips or removing background noise, but now supports larger projects too, with files up to 300MB and 30 minutes in length. Its powerful AI algorithms speed up the editing process for busy professionals, while the clean interface focuses only on essential tools, making it beginner-friendly. This online editor includes everything you need to restore and refine audio. You can trim clips, adjust BPM, and shift pitch with standard tools, or enhance your sound with Noise Gate, Noise Cancellation, and advanced AI restoration options like Audio Denoise, Wind Remover, and Speech Enhancement. The results are impressively clear for such a simple free tool. Where MyEdit really shines is in its one-click AI features. Instantly remove or isolate vocals, convert speech to text in multiple languages, or create natural-sounding text-to-speech voiceovers with AI voices. There’s even an AI sound effects generator that produces three variations from a text prompt, perfect for gamers, podcasters, or filmmakers needing unique audio. MyEdit offers many of these AI tools for free, plus 3 daily credits for premium features, making it one of the most versatile free audio editors available today. Give it a try now! Key Features: Compatibility:
2. AudioDirector - Best Audio Editing Software
TechRadar Rating: 4/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 5/5
Price:
*Premium subscription available for $4.33/month
AudioDirector is a powerful multi-track audio recorder, editor, and mixer for Windows. This beginner-friendly software excels at audio restoration, with AI-powered tools like noise reduction, speech enhancement, wind removal, and spectral recovery. With the new AI Restoration Assistant, you can automatically detect noise issues and restore audio with recommended tools tailored for dialogue or music. Insert or remove silences, auto-match ambient noise across clips, and modify voices with built-in voice effects
AudioDirector integrates seamlessly with PowerDirector, PC Mag’s Editor’s Choice for the best video editing software of 2025. Together, the two programs let you sound design films, create foley effects, and record voiceovers with industry-level precision. You can import one video file and up to a hundred audio files into the timeline, mix ambisonic soundtracks for immersive 360-degree projects, and export in all major formats.
It also features advanced vocal tools including Vocal Balance, Vocal Removal, Vocal Boost, and Breath Control, perfect for karaoke tracks, remixes, or podcasts. Since our last review, AudioDirector has further enhanced its noise reduction and vocal editing capabilities, making it a complete package for both professionals and beginners.
Download AudioDirector, our pick for the best free audio editing software today.
3. Acon Digital Acoustica - Best for splitting audio
Key Features:
- Automatic speech recognition for creating captions for videos
- Processing tools such as time stretching, pitch shifting, sample rate conversion, etc.
- Spectrum, spectrogram, and wavelet analysis
Compatibility: Windows, Mac
TechRadar Rating: 4.5/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 4/5
Price: 30-day free trial, then $59.90 for Standard, $199.90 for Premium, and $299.90 for Post Production Suite
Acoustica from Acon Digital is a free audio editing software and post-production tool. Its Remix feature can split a mix into 5 stems, so you can edit them independently. It also uses machine learning tools to separate distracting sounds from dialogue. These tools include DeBuzz, DeRustle, DeWind, DeClick, DePlosive, and even DeBird, which removes bird sounds from your audio. If you are a podcaster or VO artist, these tools can work wonders for your recordings.
This free audio editor offers non-destructive, multitrack drag-and-drop audio editing, with an unlimited number of undo and redo levels. You can fade in/fade out with 5 different curves, and batch-process audio files. We found it had some helpful tools for CD creation, including a Cleaning Wizard that helps make the LP/Tape to CD transfer a smooth process, supports buffer underrun protection, and saves/loads CD projects for further editing.
Acoustica is a great way for professionals or beginners to edit audio for music, VO, podcasts, films - you name it. The newest version of the software added Speech-to-Text, waveform drawing, and interface improvements. Acoustica does not have a dedicated free version, only a free trial. And while the price for the Standard edition is affordable compared to other audio editing software of this standard, most of its fantastic audio restoration tools and spectral editing are saved for the Premium version.
4. WavePad - Best for audio effects
Key Features:
- Edit multiple audio files simultaneously with batch processing
- Audio restoration tools including noise reduction and pop removal
- Scrub, search, and bookmark audio clips for quick edits
Compatibility: Windows, Mac
TechRadar Rating: 4/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 4.5/5
Price: Free
*Premium versions available for $50 for Standard Edition and $80 or $4.44/month for Master’s Edition
Based on our testing, WavePad is the best free audio editing software for audio effects. If you are a beginner who wants to try out different audio effects, you’ll love WavePad’s extensive toolbox, including amplify, normalize, equalize, envelope, echo, reverb, reverse, and more. All the effects are easy to use and quickly applied. WavePad also has a voice changer and text-to-speech options.
WavePad has many audio editing tools such as cut, copy, paste, delete, insert, silence, auto-trim, compression, and pitch shifting. We like the royalty-free sound effects, music library, and tool that allows you to create ringtones from your music files and recordings.
WavePad is packed with great features for a wide range of users. It is especially great for novices who have never used free audio editing software because it is so easy to use and has a robust free version. However, WavePad has a few drawbacks such as prolonged rendering times and no mixer.
5. GarageBand - Best for editing music
Key Features:
- Virtual session player that features 28 beat‑making drummers and 3 percussionists
- Built-in effects like compression and visual EQ, plus plug-in support for additional effects
- Move your audio between right and left channels with Stereo Panning
Compatibility: Mac
G2 Rating: 4.3/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 4/5
Price: Free
Apple’s GarageBand is an excellent free audio editing software for those who want to quickly create and share music. It has a large instrument sound library and more than 255 audio tracks so you can re-create the sounds of a full orchestra with no instruments. Easily organize multiple takes for easy editing.
We found that you can use the free Logic Remote app on your iPhone or iPad to control the free audio editor from across the room. GarageBand has simple tools to edit audio as well as some advanced features, such as Flex Time which allows you to drag out-of-time notes into place.
GarageBand is a quick yet robust free audio editing software. It has tons of music options and third-party plug-in support. However, it lacks the quality sound you would get with more professional software. It’s also slightly harder to learn than our first four offerings.
6. Auphonic - Best for AI-powered audio editing
Key Features:
- Decrease crosstalk, reverb, and background noise with adaptive noise gatese
- Use OpenAI to create speech-to-text transcripts that differentiate between speakers
- Automatically filter out uwanted sound signals
Compatibility: Web Browser
G2 Rating: 4.2/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 4/5
Price: Free for up to 2 hours of audio processing per month
*Monthly plans available by the hour ($11/month for 9 hours, $24/month for 21 hours, and so on)
Auphonic is free audio editing software for beginners or busy editors who need a fast solution. It comes loaded with AI tools so you can edit audio quickly, with no prior experience. Utilize auto speech recognition and transcription in over 80 languages, or use AI denoising algorithms to reduce background noise and eliminate hum. Auphonic is for speech only, and we recommend it for podcasts, sermons, audiobooks, and videos.
This free audio editor uses an intelligent leveler to automatically balance levels for different speakers, and adjust the volume of background music. It processes multiple tracks at once, including recordings from different microphones, phone calls, or video chats. Auphonic includes a Global Loudness Normalizer and True Peak Limiter so you can pass admission criteria for your favorite platforms.
Auphonic's automated features will appeal to beginners, but experienced users may want to edit audio with more control. These users may prefer an AI-powered free audio editor that also features manual controls for additional tweaking. We also found that although Auphonic works wonders with loudness control and balance, its AI tools did little to enhance low-quality audio, and in many cases only made it worse. That being said, it has moved up a spot on our list of the best free audio editing software due to rising online review scores.
7. OcenAudio - Best for editing speech
Key Features:
- Select different parts of an audio clip and edit them simultaneously
- Support for waveform and spectrogram views
- Remove background noises using automatic or manual controls
Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux
Capterra Rating: 4/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 4/5
Price: Free
OcenAudio is a multitrack free audio editor with a wide range of features for content creators. You can edit the audio from videos or podcasts with speech enhancement and restoration tools. It also handles large files with ease, so an hour-long podcast would be no problem. We think it is one of the best free audio editing software for beginners because it is incredibly simple to use and has a clean interface.
A popular feature of OcenAudio is that it allows you to preview your sound effects in real time. When you edit audio, you can adjust the playback parameters from the timeline without modifying your original audio file. That allows you to quickly and easily edit audio with different effects until you find the one that works best for your project.
With the OcenAudio interface, you can import files from cloud servers or your local storage while using keyboard shortcuts to save time. This free audio editor lacks multitrack editing and other advanced features found in AudioDirector or Audacity. However, Audacity users will find it has a much cleaner and more appealing interface, which is why we placed OcenAudio higher on our list of best free audio editors for beginners.
8. Audacity - Best for big audio projects
Key Features:
- Support for 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit audio processing
- Support for LADSPA, LV2, Nyquist, VST and Audio Unit plug-ins
- Automatically lowers background music track when dialogue begins
Compatibility: Windows, Mac, Linux
PCMag Rating: 4/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 3.5/5
Price: Free
During our testing, we found Audacity to be one of the best free audio editing software for big audio projects. The program is extremely lightweight, so it can handle long audio recordings such as an audiobook or hours-long podcast without crashing (and if it does crash, the automatic crash recovery tool is there to save your bacon). We recommend it for advanced users on a budget who want a powerful free tool for professional projects.
This free audio editing software includes unlimited audio tracks, restoration tools, batch processing, spectral/spectrogram views, and audio effects like reverb and distortion. You can also edit audio with basic tools such as cut, copy, paste, and delete.
Audacity has a streamlined user interface that is similar to professional DAWs. In a recent update, it even added musical features, including a beats and measures grid and time stretching. We think it’s a good tool for beginners hoping to learn audio editing, simply because of its free price point. But those beginners should be prepared to spend some time learning how to use it.
9. Ashampoo Music Studio - Best for creating and burning CDs
Key Features:
- Use tempo analysis and smart synchronization to easily mix tracks
- Search for pauses and split audio into smaller parts to edit audiobooks and podcasts
- Convert audio by selecting frequency and bitrate or choosing a preset format
Compatibility: Windows
TechRadar Rating: 3.5/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 4/5
Price: Free
*Premium version available for $44 or $12/year
Ashampoo Music Studio is a comprehensive program for managing and editing your audio files. It is the best free audio editing software for making CDs. With Ashampoo, you can design CD labels, rip and burn discs, record and edit audio, and create mixtapes or playlists.
Unlike the other free audio editing software in this guide, you can also use Ashampoo Music Studio to play and organize audio files. You can edit file metadata tags and extract audio tracks from a video file using this free audio editor.
Audio producers will mainly use the Modify and Record features, but the other features can also be helpful. If you are a hobbyist or your audio editing needs are relatively straightforward, Ashampoo Music Studio is a viable choice. But for professional-sounding results, something more comprehensive may be necessary.
10. Avid Pro Tools Intro - Best for aspiring professionals
Key Features:
- 36 plug-ins such as virtual instruments, loops, reverb, and delay
- Hardware support for third-party software with Core Audio, ASIO, or WASAPI-compatible interfaces
- 8 audio tracks, 8 MIDI tracks, and 8 instrument tracks available
Compatibility: Windows, Mac
TechRadar Rating: 4/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 3/5
Price: Free
*Premium subscriptions available for $99/year for Artist, $299/year for Studio, and $599/year for Ultimate
Avid Pro Tools is often considered the industry standard for music production. Future music producers now have the opportunity to learn Pro Tools on a pared-back and completely free version of the software. Not only do we recommend it for beginners who want to learn professional software, but also for professionals looking for a free audio editor. In fact, if your Pro Tools subscription lapses, it will default to Pro Tools Intro so you can continue using familiar tools for no charge.
You can edit audio in countless ways with precision and endless flexibility with this free audio editing software. Fix, enhance, tweak, and mix audio and MIDI files with the same GRAMMY-winning tools used by pros.
If you don’t need endless audio tracks or surround sound, then Avid Pro Tools Intro should more than cover your audio editing needs. However, as you’d expect from something so close to professional software, there is a learning curve and high system requirements. Anyone looking for a quick and easy free audio editor should look elsewhere. But those hoping to enter the business of music production or feature film sound editing should take the time to learn. In our updated list, we moved Avid Pro Tools Intro above the similarly-rated Audiotool. While they both have a learning curve and high system requirements, Pro Tools is closer to professional software and more worth the effort.
11. Audiotool - Best for artist collaboration
Key Features:
- 28 unique effects including MIDI effects
- Multiple synthesizers including Bassline, Space, Tone Matrix, and more
- Professional royalty-free samples from Loopmasters and New Loops
Compatibility: Web Browser
G2 Rating: 4/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 3/5
Price: Free
If you are making and producing music on a budget, Audiotool could be the best free audio editor for you! It is our pick for the best free audio editing software for artist collaboration because Audiotool was built to connect artists and allow collaboration in real-time. Invite other producers to your online studio and work simultaneously on projects. There’s a built-in publishing platform so you can release your work and get instant feedback. If you need inspiration, you can listen to over 1 million songs on Audiotool for free and even reach out to the artists to use their samples in your projects. This free audio editing software also offers video and audio text chat to offer help when you need it.
This online free audio editing software is a good tool for mixing and sampling music tracks. There are more than 200K presets for synthesizers and effects, a library of user-created samples, and tons of virtual instruments. There are also editing tools to chop, route, split, and merge different tracks.
Audiotool is a fantastic social platform for artist collaboration and creativity. If you are a beginner and want to get into music production, it can be a helpful tool. However, it has a confusing interface and will take time to learn. It is also very resource-intensive and crashes quite easily.
12. AudioMass - Best for waveform editing
- Measure and display signal strength with the spectrum analyzer
- Fade in or fade out of intros, outros, and background music
- Insert and remove silences automatically
Compatibility: Web Browser
Cyberg Rating: 3/5
Beginner-Friendly Tools: 4/5
Price: Free
Key Features:
AudioMass is an open-source, free audio editing software found online. We like it best as a waveform editor, because we could zoom in extremely close on our audio waveform, and had the option to view it horizontally or vertically. You can also apply effects to only a section of your waveform. AudioMass is a quick and free audio editor for beginners and short audio projects.
This free audio editing software has zero learning curve. We clicked on the site for the first time and began to edit audio in seconds. AudioMass has tempo and rhythm tools, audio effects like distortion, delay, reverse, and reverb, and basic tools such as compressing, trimming, cutting, and copying audio files.
AudioMass is perfect for beginners to edit audio for short projects. However, it lacks music production tools and would not do for professionals or complex edits.
How to Choose the Best Free Audio Editor?
There are many different reasons you may need to edit audio, and not all the options on our list will suit your needs. Here are some things to look for when choosing the best free audio editor for you.
Ease of Use
While all the free audio editors on our list are appropriate for beginners, some are simpler than others. Some are for beginners hoping to become professional audio editors or music producers. They are pared-down and no-cost versions of professional editors that would be too complex for someone who just wants to clean up some dialogue. Others have quick and simple tools, so even first-time users can jump in and edit audio right away. In each of our reviews, we lay out exactly how easy (or not) each free audio editor is going to be for most beginners.
Tracks
It is important to know how many tracks you think you will need when you edit audio. The free audio editors on our list range from a single track to unlimited tracks. If you edit audio for a single speaker, such as an audiobook or sermon, then one track will suffice. However, if you are editing a music recording with instruments, or a podcast with multiple guests, you will require more tracks.
Audio Restoration Tools
Unless you have access to a professional recording studio, your audio will probably need some help. We highly recommend choosing a free audio editor with audio restoration tools, especially if you didn’t record in a sound-proof environment. These tools can eliminate wind, background voices, sirens, airplanes, and even bird sounds from your recordings. They can also clean up audio by removing plosives, hisses, hums, and more that can occur even in a professional setting.
Compatibility
We always recommend checking the System Requirements of any free audio editor before attempting to use it. Our reviews will let you know if the program works on Windows, Mac, Linux, or online, but sometimes a specific version of your OS is required, and some of the online tools only work in certain browsers. Some free audio editing software require a large amount of computer space, or even additional hardware to work properly.
How Did We Conduct Our Test
We’ve compiled the best solutions by evaluating features, performance, and workflow. Here's a breakdown of how we approach this:
Test and Compare Features
First, we test audio editor’s ability to perform common tasks like cutting, splitting, trimming, and inserting audio clips. Next, we experiment with adding effects like EQ, reverb, compression, and noise reduction. We want to see how easy it is to apply and adjust these effects and check the accuracy and sound quality of the results.
Check Functionality
While testing key features, we are also looking at the overall functionality of each editor. We check if it supports non-destructive editing and multitrack editing. We decide if it is appropriate for music production, podcasts, videos, etc. We look at the intuitiveness of the user interface and the supported file formats.
Rate Performance
We check the system requirements to see how much CPU, RAM, and storage space the free audio editor needs to see if the average desktop can handle downloading and using the software without interruption. We test for crashes and bugs while using the editors by trying audio files of varying sizes and complexities. Finally, we evaluate the responsiveness of each free audio editor during playback and while applying effects in real-time.
Best Free Audio Editor Comparison Chart
| Product | Best For | Notable Feature | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MyEdit | Quick and easy AI audio editing found online | Generates AI sound effects from a text prompt | Free; Premium: $4.00/month | Try Online |
| AudioDirector | Easily recording, editing, mixing, and restoring audio for videos and podcasts | AI-powered restoration tools including wind removal, noise reduction, and speech enhancement | Free trial; Premium: $4.33/month | Free Download |
| Acon Digital Acoustica | Splitting audio | Automatic captioning and transcription with speech recognition | 30-day free trial; Standard: $59.90, Premium: $199.90, Suite: $299.90 | Download |
| WavePad | Audio effects | Award-winning WAV recording, editing, and lossless cutting | Free; Standard: $50, Master’s: $80, or $4.44/month | Download |
| GarageBand | Editing music | Sound library with instruments, presets, and session drummers | Free | Download |
| Auphonic | AI-powered audio editing | Podcast tools with chapters and waveform audiograms | Free up to 2 hrs/month; 9 hrs: $11, 21 hrs: $24, 45 hrs: $49, 100 hrs: $99 | Try Online |
| OcenAudio | Editing speech | Real-time effects preview for precise edits | Free | Download |
| Audacity | Big audio projects | Spectrogram view and Vamp analyzers for analysis | Free | Download |
| Ashampoo Music Studio | Creating and burning CDs | Burn CDs with custom cover artwork | Free trial; Premium: $44 or $12/year | Download |
| Avid Pro Tools Intro | Aspiring professionals | 39 instruments/effects and 2GB of loops and samples | Free; Artist: $99/year, Studio: $299/year, Ultimate: $599/year | Download |
| Audiotool | Artist collaboration | 200K+ presets for synths and effects | Free | Try Online |
| AudioMass | Waveform editing | Horizontal/vertical waveform views with local effects | Free | Try Online |
What is the Best Free Audio Editor?
If you are looking to edit audio files, you have plenty of options. Expensive audio editing software generally offers high-end features that give you the freedom to edit your tracks to perfection—but so do some free programs.
While free audio editor may not have as many complex bells and whistles, they often offer all the features you need to create podcasts and other professional content while being much easier to use.
If you're looking for the best value and functionality, we recommend MyEdit. It's hands-down the best free audio editor for anyone from first-time users to media producers on a budget.
Open MyEdit today and start producing professional audio content with the best free audio editor.
Free Audio Editor FAQ
1. What is audio editing software?
Audio editing software is also referred to as DAW or Digital Audio Workstation. This refers to software used for recording, editing, and producing audio, be it for music, podcasts, audiobooks, sound effects, or any other audio files.
While DAW can refer to a highly complex configuration of components, audio software is a single application found on a laptop or computer.
2. What features should I look for in free Audio editor?
The top ten features you should look for in free audio editor are
- Easy to Use
- Multitrack editing
- Audio effects
- Audio restoration tools
- Audio mixing tools
- Royalty-Free sounds library
- Vocal removal tool
- Smart Fit for background tracks
- Recording capabilities
- Batch processing
3. What is the best free audio editing software to edit music?
AudioDirector is the best free audio editor for music. It has 100 audio tracks (so you can record and edit a full orchestra if you need to), pitch refinement, a BPM finder, and powerful mixing tools. It can separate vocals from music and adjust the volume of each accordingly, or remove the vocals entirely to create karaoke tracks. There's even a library of royalty-free music clips, with new music packs added regularly.
4. What free audio editor can I use to edit audio clips?
MyEdit is the best free audio editor to edit audio clips. It is incredibly easy to use, with AI-powered tools to repair and enhance audio. It includes speech enhancement, plus noise, reverb, distortion, and wind removal.
5. Is Audacity really free?
Yes, all of Audacity's tools are completely free to use.
6. Is there a free alternative to Audacity?
AudioDirector is the best free alternative to Audacity. AudioDirector has a similar professional feature set but is much more beginner-friendly. It has a modern and pleasing interface, and AI tools for easier, one-click repairs. While Audacity offers restoration only through third-party plug-ins, AudioDirector has tons of native tools to restore and edit audio.
7. What are the disadvantages of Audacity?
Audacity used to be a great alternative to professional DAWs for beginners, but this is no longer the case. The free audio editing software has a learning curve and is one of the hardest free audio editors on our list.
Some other disadvantages include limited format support and a huge reliance on 3rd-party plug-ins for many necessary features.
8. How do I cut and edit recorded audio?
You can open MyEdit, then import your audio files. First-time users can edit audio right away with MyEdit's easy-to-use tools.
