How to crop a song on a Xiaomi phone: from standard tools to advanced apps

Cutting audio files on Xiaomi smartphones is a challenge that music lovers who want to create a ringtone from a favorite track and users who need to shorten the recording time for a messenger face. Unlike cutting video, working with audio often raises questions: where to find embedded tools, which applications will not clog the system with advertising, and how to maintain the original sound quality without artifacts. In this article, we will examine all the current ways, from hidden MIUI functions to third-party utilities that work even on low-end models of Redmi and POCO.

It's important to understand that the approach depends on the goal: a standard editor is enough to create a ringtone, and you need specialized programs to precisely trim a podcast or a music mix. We've tested each method on devices with MIUI 14 and HyperOS, so the instructions are relevant for most of the brand's modern smartphones. If you're looking for a way to crop a song without loss of quality or with minimal time, read on.

1. Built-in audio editor in MIUI: hidden features

Many users are unaware that MIUI has a basic audio cropping tool – it is hidden in the Music app (or Mi Music on older versions), a technique that is suitable for quickly creating ringtones or shortening tracks without installing additional programs. The main limitation is that the feature is not available on all models (for example, it is not in the POCO F5, but it is in the Redmi Note 12 Pro+).

To find the editor:

1. Open the Music app and select the track.
2. Click on the three dots in the top right corner → Edit (or Cut on some firmware).
3. Drag sliders on the timeline to highlight the desired fragment.
4. Click Save and select the format (usually offered.m4a or.mp3).

Note: the built-in editor saves the cropped file to the MIUI/sounds or Ringtones folder, and its length is limited to 30 seconds (for ringtones) or 5 minutes (for shared audio files).

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If your Music app doesn’t have a cropping feature, try updating it through Google Play or installing an alternative VLC player that also supports basic cropping.

2. cropping through Screen Recording and Video Editor

Unexpected but working lifehack: If your Xiaomi model doesn't have an audio editor built in, you can use the video editor that's in every firmware. The idea is to create an empty video with the right audio fragment, and then extract the sound. This takes a little longer, but it works on all devices, including the Redmi 10A and the POCO M4 Pro.

Step-by-step:

1. Open the Screen Recorder app (or Screen Recorder) and start recording without sound from the microphone (turn it off in the recording settings).
2. Enable the desired track to be played through any player (e.g. Google Play Music).
3. Stop recording when the track reaches the right moment.
4. Open the recorded video in the Video Editor app.
5. Cut the video by time, then click Export → select Audio Only.

The downside of the method: the final file will be in.aac or.m4a format, which may not be suitable for some purposes (for example, downloading to TikTok requires.mp3).

3.Audio cropping apps: TOP-5 for Xiaomi

If the built-in tools don't work, third-party apps will come to the rescue. We've selected the top 5 options that:

• 🔹 Don't require root rights.
• 🔹 Work on MIUI and glucose-free HyperOS.
• 🔹 No subscriptions (or free versions with minimal advertising).
• 🔹 Support formats.mp3,.wav,.flac.

For most tasks, enough is enough. MP3 Cutter or Lexis Audio Editor. If you need to not only trim but also apply effects (for example, remove noise or enhance the bass), pay attention to AudioLab – this is the only application on the list with support VST-Plugins (although on weak smartphones like Redmi) 9A it can slow down).

Pruning through a PC: when the smartphone can not cope

If you need to cut a song without loss of quality (for example, for a professional mix) or work with files larger than 1 GB, it is better to transfer the task to a computer.

• 🎛️ Audacity (free, cross-platform).
• 🎛️ Adobe Audition (paid, for advanced users).
• 🎛️ Ocenaudio (lightweight, with plugin support).

How to transfer a file from Xiaomi to PC:

1. Connect your phone over USB in File Transfer (MTP) mode.
2. Copy the audio file into a folder on your computer.
3. Open it in one of the editors, crop and save it in the desired format.
4. Return the file back to your phone (for example, to the Music or Ringtones folder).

The advantage of this method is to save the original bitrate and the ability to work with multichannel audio (for example, 5.1 or Dolby Atmos). minus it takes time and a computer. If you often work with audio, we recommend setting up sync through the cloud (for example, Google Drive or Mi Cloud) so that you do not connect your phone over a cable.

Download and install Audacity|Connect Xiaomi in MTP|Copy file to folder on PC|Check the format of the original audio|Save cropped file in.mp3 320 kbps

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5. Creating a ringtone from a song: features for Xiaomi

If the purpose of pruning is to make a ringtone, MIUI has a separate mechanism for doing that.

• 🔔 It must be no longer than 30 seconds (otherwise the system will cut them off automatically).
• 🔔 Save to Ringtones (for calls) or Notifications (for notifications).
• 🔔 They could be in formats.mp3,.m4a,.ogg, but not.wav (due to its large size).

How to assign a cropped song ringtone:

1. Place the audio file in the Ringtones folder (create it in the root directory if it is not).
2. Go to Settings → Sound → Phone Rington.
3. Select your file from the list (you may need to reboot your phone if the file is not displayed).

If the ringtone does not appear on the list, check:

• 📌 File format (convert to the.mp3 via Online-Convert).
• 📌 File size (no more than 5 MB for the MIUI).
• 📌 Presence of tags (remove them through the MP3Tag, if the file is not identified).

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Files in the Ringtones folder are indexed by the system only after the phone is restarted or the media base is updated (you can speed up through the Media Storage application).

6. Frequent mistakes and how to avoid them

When cropping audio on Xiaomi, users face typical problems that are easy to prevent:

⚠️ Note: If the file is quieter or clicks appear after being trimmed with the built-in editor, this is a sign of recoding with loss of quality.Solution: Use applications that save the original bitrate (for example, Lexis Audio Editor with the Copy Stream setting).

Other common mistakes:

• 🚫 Wrong format:.flac or.wav files don't appear in the standard player. Solution: convert to.mp3 Online Audio Converter.
• 🚫 File too big: The cropped track weighs more than 10MB and doesn't go to instant messengers Solution: Reduce bitrate to 192 kbps.
• 🚫 No editing saved: Apps like MP3 Cutter must be allowed to access the memory (Settings) → Annexes → Permits).

If the file is not played after pruning, check it through VLC - this application will show an exact error (for example, corrupted timestamps or unresistant codec). 90% of the time the problem is solved by re-saving the file in a different format.

7. Alternative methods: online services and bots

If you don't want to install apps, you can crop the song through online services or bots in instant messengers, which is suitable for one-off tasks, but has limitations:

• 🌐 AudioTrimmer.com – supports files up to 100 MB, saves in.mp3.
• 🌐 BearAudio.com – allows you to cut the track into several parts.
• 🤖 @AudioBot in Telegram – clips files directly in the chat (maximum) 50 MB).

How to work with online services:

1. Upload the file to the site (via the browser on your phone or PC).
2. Select a fragment on the timeline.
3. Choose the format and quality (recommended 320 kbps for music).
4. Download the result and transfer it back to the phone.

Warning: Online services do not guarantee privacy – if a file contains personal information (such as voice recordings), it is better to use offline methods. Also note that when downloading / downloading via mobile Internet, traffic is consumed (up to 100 MB per file).

⚠️ Note: Some online services add watermarks or limit the trimming length to 1 minute in the free version.Always check the final file before using.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions