MP3CUT(1)

💖 mp3cut — the manual page, but make it cute ✨

okay bestie, so this is mp3cut(1) from the User Command section, and it's literally the glow-up your MP3 collection has been waiting for 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

mp3cut — cut and assemble MP3 files 🦋 (yes, both. it slices, it dices, it stitches back together, main character energy fr fr)

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

mp3cut [ -o outputfile ] [ -T title ] [ -A artist ] [ -N album-name ] [
-t [hh:]mm:ss[+ms]-[hh:]mm:ss[+ms] ] mp3file [[ -t ...  ] mp3file1 ...]

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so the way that mp3cut works is: it cuts and assembles MP3 files based on the time specifications you give it on the command line. no cap. ✂️🎵

the mp3 output gets written to the outputfile. and if you didn't hand it an outputfile on the command line? no stress — it makes one up for you from the name of the first mp3 file by adding output.mp3 at the end. iconic behavior honestly.

the -t flag is the one doing the heavy lifting — it specifies which part of the mp3 file following it will be extracted. it's giving "point at the good bit" energy 👑

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

• -o outputfile — tell it where the output is supposed to go. that's the whole vibe. 📍
• -T title — set the title ID3 tag for the output file. give your track a name, it deserves one 💖
• -A artist — set the artist ID3 tag for the output file. credit the icon (that's you, or whoever made the bop) 🎤
• -N album-name — set the album name ID3 tag for the output file. put it in its little album home 🏠
• -t [hh:]mm:ss[+ms]-[hh:]mm:ss[+ms] — specify which part of the following mp3file will be included in the output file. the moment of truth, the scissors, the slay ✂️

here's what all the little letters mean:

hh  = hours
mm  = minutes
ss  = seconds
ms  = milliseconds

and here's the tea 🍵: if the starting time is omitted, 00:00:00+00 is used as the starting time. if the ending time is omitted, the end of the MP3 file is used as the ending time. so you can leave either side blank and it'll just... handle it. lowkey thoughtful of it.

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

these are the real ones, verbatim, don't touch the characters bestie

example one — the precision cut ✨

mp3cut -o output.mp3 -t 23:42+500-01:23:42+750 input.mp3

cut the segment from 23 minutes, 42 seconds and 500 milliseconds to 1 hour, 23 minutes, 42 seconds and 750 milliseconds from input.mp3 and write the output to output.mp3. see how the hour part is optional at the front? yeah. chef's kiss 👩‍🍳💋

example two — the three-way mashup 🔥

mp3cut -t 00:01-00:02 input1.mp3 -t -15:23 input2.mp3 -t 9:87+500-
input3.mp3

append the segments from input1.mp3, input2.mp3 and input3.mp3 and write the output to input1.output.mp3. yes the output name comes from the first file — that's the rule we talked about up in DESCRIPTION. also notice -t -15:23 with nothing before the dash, and 9:87+500- with nothing after it. the omitted-times rule is doing SO much work here 🫶

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🧚 AUTHORS 🧚

Manuel Odendahl <manuel@bl0rg.net>, Florian Wesch <dividuum@bl0rg.net>

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okay that's the whole page bestie, you're officially an mp3cut girlie now 💜 this was MP3CUT(1) — February 2005, the era-defining date, and yeah the manual is literally called MP3CUT(1) too. periodt. 🎀✨🦋