Audacity – Using Labels to Split a Recording into Individual Songs

If you have one long audio recording containing multiple songs, such as a digitized vinyl record, cassette or live performance, you can use labels to mark where each song begins and ends. Audacity can use these labels to export each song as a separate audio file automatically.

This saves time because you don't need to manually select and export each track one at a time.

Typical uses include:

• Splitting a vinyl record recording into individual songs.
• Separating tracks from a cassette recording.
• Dividing a live concert into individual performances.
• Creating separate files from a continuous recording.

Lets get started

Step 1: Open Your Audio File

• Open Audacity.
• Select File > Open. 
• Locate and choose your audio file.

Step 2: Add Labels for Each Song

Begin by placing a label at the start of the first song and enter its title. Repeat this process for each subsequent song. Labelling every song, including the first, ensures that all exported files use the song titles as their filenames.

• Click at the beginning of the first song.
• Press Ctrl + B (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + B (Mac) to add a label. The label will appear as it does in the image below (circled in red). 

• Click on the box (circled in purple in the image below) and type the title of the song. Pess Enter, or click outside of the box to lock in the name.

• Repeat these steps at the beginning of each remaining song in the recording.

Tip: Zoom in on the waveform if you need to place labels more precisely.

Step 3: Check Your Labels

Review the Label Track to ensure:

• Every song has a label.
• Labels are in the correct order.
• Song titles are spelled correctly, as these names can be used as the exported filenames.

Step 4: Export Multiple Files

• Select File > Export Audio > Export Multiple....
• Under Split files based on, select Labels.
• Under Files, choose whether to:
  • Include audio before first label to export any audio before the first label as a separate file.
  • Start after the first label to begin exporting after the first label. 
• Choose the folder where you want to save the exported files.
• Select the audio format you want to use (such as MP3, WAV, or FLAC).
• Click Export.
• If prompted, review or edit the metadata for each song, then complete the export.

Audacity will automatically create a separate audio file for each labelled song.

Step 6 (Optional): Add Silence Between Songs

If you want a short pause between exported tracks, you can add silence after each label using Audacity’s Generate Silence feature.

• Click in the waveform immediately after the label where you want the silence to begin.
• Go to Generate > Silence.
• Enter the duration of silence you want to add (for example, 1–4 seconds).
• Click Generate. The silence will be inserted at the selected location, creating a clearer gap between songs when the files are exported.

Tips

1. Place each label at the exact start of a song for clean track beginnings.
2. Use the actual song titles as label names to make the exported files easy to identify.
3. Play a few seconds before and after each label to confirm the placement before exporting.
4. Save your Audacity project so you can make edits later if needed.