How to Cut Audio on Xiaomi Devices: From Smartphones to Smart Speakers

Cutting audio files on Xiaomi devices can be needed in a variety of situations, from creating a ringtone from a favorite song to preparing a voice note for a presentation. Unlike video files, working with sound often seems easier, but in practice users face the limitations of standard tools, loss of quality or incompatibility of formats. This article covers all the current ways, from built-in MIUI functions to professional applications, and also reveals the nuances of working with smart speakers Xiaomi and Redmi.

The Xiaomi ecosystem is that even low-end models like the Redmi Note 12 or POCO M5 support basic audio editing tools, but their capabilities are limited. If you need to precisely cut a fragment without losing bitrate or convert a file to MP3/AAC with certain parameters, you will have to use third-party solutions. We tested 15 applications and services to select those that work stably on MIUI 14 and later, do not overload the system and do not contain hidden advertising.

Important: the pruning procedure may vary depending on the type of device (smartphone, tablet, smart speaker), file format (e.g. WAV vs M4A) and even firmware version. The article provides universal methods, but for rare cases (e.g., working with FLAC on Xiaomi 13 Ultra), we give separate recommendations.

Method 1: Standard Music app on MIUI

The fastest way to cut audio is to use the built-in Mi Music player (or "Music" in Russian localization), which is suitable for basic cropping of MP3, AAC, WAV and M4A files, but has limitations: you can not change the bitrate, apply effects or save the project for further editing.

To cut the track:

1. Open the Music app and find the desired audio file in the library.
2. Slip along the track and select ⋮ → Edit (on some models - Cut off).
3. Drag the sliders on the timeline to highlight the fragment, accurate to 0.1 seconds.
4. Click Save and select the folder to export (by default — MIUI/sound_recorder).

Limitations of the method:

• 🚫 No files longer than 10 minutes are supported (Redmi limit is 5 minutes).
• 🚫 There is no way to change the format or bitrate of the output file.
• 🚫 On some firmware (for example, MIUI Global 13.0.4) may not have a pruning function.

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If your Music app doesn’t have a cropping feature, upgrade it via Google Play or install an alternative player – Poweramp or VLC – that supports editing.

Method 2: The Dictator App for Voice Recordings

If you need to crop a voice recording (such as an interview, lecture or memo), use the standard Mi Sound Recorder, which is optimized for AMR and MP3 files, but is also suitable for other audio formats if they have been imported into the application.

Instructions:

1. Open the recorder and find the entry in the list (or import the file through the ⋮ → Imports).
2. Slip on the record and select Edit → Cut.
3. Set the starting and ending points of the fragment with sliders.
4. Save the result – the file will be automatically saved to the Recordings folder.

Advantages of the method:

• ✅ Maintains smooth attenuation (fade-in/fade-out) pruning-line.
• ✅ You can use the simplest effects: increase volume, remove noise.
• ✅ It works on all Xiaomi devices, including POCO X5 Pro and Redmi. K60.

Method 3: Third-party applications for advanced pruning

For more complex tasks (such as bitrate trimming, format conversion or batch processing), specialized applications will be required. We tested 7 popular editors and selected the three best for Xiaomi:

Selection recommendations:

• 🎵 To create ringtones: MP3 Cutter (lightweight, no unnecessary functions).
• 🎛 For professional editing: Lexis or WaveEditor.
• 📱 For weak devices (e.g. Redmi) 9A): Avoid WaveEditor – it requires a lot of RAM.

Download the application from an official source (Google Play or APKMirror)|Check permissions (access to files and microphone)|Create a backup of the original file |Close the background applications to save RAM-->

Method 4: Online services for cropping without software installation

If you don’t want to install additional programs, use online editors, which are suitable for one-time tasks, but have file size restrictions (usually up to 50-100 MB) and require a stable Internet connection.

1. AudioTrimmer (audiotrimmer.com) – supports MP3, WAV, M4A, allows you to trim to within milliseconds.
2. BearAudio (bearaudiotool.com) – there is a function of normalizing the volume and removing the silence.
3. Online MP3 Cutter (mp3cut.net) is a simple interface, but the file size limit is 30MB.

How to work with online services:

1. Download the file from the device or from the cloud (Google Drive, Mi Cloud).
2. Select a fragment for pruning (in some services you can manually specify the time, for example, 00:45-01:30).
3. Select the format and quality of the output file (recommended MP3 320 kbps for music).
4. Download the result to the device.

⚠️ Note: Online services may add metadata to output files (such as watermarks or service information.

Method 5: Cutting audio on Xiaomi smart speakers

Xiaomi’s Mi Smart Speaker and Redmi Smart Speaker smart speakers don’t have built-in audio cropping tools, but you can use them paired with a smartphone, for example, to create an alarm from a snippet of a song or a voice alert for smart home scripts.

Algorithm of action:

1. Cut the audio file on your smartphone (by any of the methods described above).
2. Save the file in MP3 or M4A format with a bitrate not higher than 192 kbps (columns do not support higher values).
3. Upload the file to Mi Home: Open the Mi Home app → select the column → Settings → Sounds and Alerts. Under User Sounds, download the cropped file.

Assign audio to an event (such as a motion sensor or alarm clock).

Limitations:

• 🔊 Maximum duration of downloaded file – 30 seconds.
• 🔊 No formats supported WAV and FLAC.
• 🔊 On speakers with Google Assistant (e.g. Xiaomi Smart Speaker) GA2>) Only standard sounds can be used.

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For Xiaomi smart speakers, the optimal audio format is MP3 128-192 kbps with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. Files with higher parameters will be automatically recoded, which can degrade the quality.

How to maintain sound quality when trimming

One of the main problems with audio cropping is loss of quality, especially if the file is repeatedly saved in a compressed format (for example, MP3).

• 🔄 Avoid re-compression: if the original file is already in MP3, Cut it without changing the bitrate. Every new compression degrades the quality.
• 🎧 Work with lossless formats: if possible, convert MP3 into WAV before editing and then export back to MP3.
• ⚙ Export settings: Use for music MP3 320 kbps or AAC 256 kbps; enough for speech MP3 128 kbps.
• 📊 Check the spectrum: editors like Lexis or Audacity can visually compare source and crop files for artifacts.

⚠️ Attention: On Xiaomi devices with Snapdragon processor 4xx (Like Redmi. 10A) file-editing FLAC or WAV It can cause lags. In this case, use it. MP3 or crop files on a PC.

To check the quality after pruning:

1. Compare the file size – if it has decreased significantly, more compression is likely applied.
2. Listen to the snippet in the headphones with good sound insulation (for example, Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro), paying attention to the high frequencies - they suffer first when compressed.
3. Use audio analysis apps like Spectroid (free on Google Play).

Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Even experienced users have problems cropping audio on Xiaomi, and here are the typical mistakes and ways to solve them:

If none of these methods worked, try:

• 🔄 Update firmware: in MIUI 14.0.5 and later, bugs with audio editing have been fixed.
• 📱 Reset the application settings: Settings → Annexes → Music/Dictophone → Warehouse → Drop it.
• 🖥 Use a PC: For complex tasks (e.g., 5.1 surround cropping), it is better to use Audacity or Adobe Audition.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions