Remove silence from audio
Automatically detects and removes the pauses in meeting and lecture recordings. An hour-long recording often shrinks to 40 minutes, saving time when listening back or transcribing. Feed the shortened file to Transcriber (in-browser transcription) and the transcription is faster too.
Settings
How to use
- 1
Add audio
Drop the recording you want to tighten up. Ideal for meetings, lectures and podcasts.
- 2
Set threshold and minimum length
Any stretch quieter than the threshold (dB) that lasts at least the minimum length counts as silence. Start with the defaults; lower the threshold if speech gets cut.
- 3
Run and check
After processing you see how many seconds were removed and the lengths before and after. Set the kept silence to 0 to close gaps completely.
How it works and how to tune it
The audio is measured in 20-millisecond windows (RMS level). Any stretch below the threshold that lasts at least the minimum silence length is treated as silence and removed. A margin equal to "Silence to keep" is left on either side so the start of words is not clipped.
The default −40 dB suits recordings made in a quiet room. With air conditioning or street noise in the background, silence may not be detected; raise the threshold to −35 to −30 dB. If speech gets cut, lower it to −45 to −50 dB.
Frequently asked questions
Speech is being cut mid-sentence
Lower the threshold (e.g. −45 dB) or increase the minimum silence length (e.g. 1 s). Short pauses between words are then left alone and only long silences are removed.
No silence is detected at all
Background noise can keep "silent" parts above the threshold. Try raising the threshold to around −30 dB.
How much shorter will it get?
It depends on the material: meeting recordings often shrink 20–40%, lectures 10–30%. The number of seconds removed is shown after processing.
Can I remove silence from a video?
This tool outputs audio only. Dropping a video produces an audio file with the silence removed; tightening the video itself is not supported.
Help us improve the service
If a conversion fails, sending us the circumstances helps us track down the cause. Knowing which devices and formats fail most often, and how long processing takes, lets us revise the supported formats and fix the bugs behind them. If you don't mind, leaving this on is a real help.
What is sent
The tool you used and the settings you chose (output format, quality, etc.), your device specs (GPU, memory, core count), the input format with a rough size, how many files succeeded or failed and how long it took, and the error type and details when something fails.
What is never sent
The files themselves, file names, text, subtitles or prompts you add to a video, and IP addresses. The data goes only to this site's own server, never to a third-party service.