Volume Booster
Boost or reduce audio volume level
100% free. Runs entirely in your browser - your files and data never leave your device and nothing is uploaded to any server.
Drop an audio file or click to upload
MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, AAC · max 100 MB · max 10 min
About this tool
Raising the volume of a recording sounds simple and has a hard limit built into how digital audio works. Every sample has a maximum value, and once the loudest peaks reach it there is nowhere further to go - pushing harder does not make those peaks louder, it flattens their tops. That flattening is clipping, and it sounds like harsh crackling distortion that cannot be removed afterwards. So a quiet recording with a few loud peaks may have very little usable headroom, even though most of it sounds too soft. This is why professional audio uses compression before amplification: reducing the gap between loudest and quietest first, so the whole thing can be raised without the peaks hitting the ceiling. For a straightforward boost, the practical approach is to raise gradually and listen to the loud moments rather than the quiet ones. Processing runs in your browser, with a server fallback only for formats it cannot decode locally.
Clean up a recorded voice track
Record, cut the dead air, level it, then export in the format you need.
- 1RecordCapture straight from your microphone.Open
- 2TrimCut it down to the take you want.Open
- 3Remove silenceStrip the long gaps between sentences.Open
- 4Level the volumeBring a quiet recording up to a usable level.You are here
- 5Convert formatMP3, WAV or whatever the destination wants.Open
How to use this tool
- Add your audioProcessed in your browser. Only an unsupported format falls back to the server.
- Set the volume adjustmentUp to boost a quiet recording, down for one that is too loud.
- Listen to the loudest partsThat is where clipping appears first - the quiet sections will always sound fine.
- Reduce and retry if it distortsClipping is permanent in the exported file, so back the boost off rather than accepting it.
How to make audio louder without distortion
Raise the volume until the loudest parts come close to the top of the level meter, but do not let them hit it. Once the peaks reach the maximum they are flattened - clipping - which sounds like crackling and cannot be undone. A recording that is quiet only in places is better fixed with a gentle boost than a big one.
For a voice note or podcast, aim for speech that peaks around three quarters of the way up the meter. Lowering the volume works the same way, if a recording is too loud or distorted already.
Key features
- Fixes a recording that is too quiet to hear without a full audio editor.
- Works in both directions, for over-loud files as well as quiet ones.
- Original file untouched, so you can try a different level.
- No account, no watermark and no software to install.
- Simple single-purpose control rather than a complex mixing interface.
Common uses
- Rescuing an interview or lecture recorded too far from the microphone.
- Making a quiet voice memo audible on a phone speaker.
- Bringing a track down to match the level of others in a set.
- Raising a video's extracted audio before re-syncing it.
- Balancing levels across a set of recordings made at different times.
Tips for better results
- Increase gradually and check the loud passages. Judging by the quiet parts is how people end up with a clipped file.
- If the recording has a few very loud peaks, there is less headroom than the overall quietness suggests.
- Keep the original. Clipping cannot be undone once it is baked into the exported audio.
- Background hiss gets amplified along with the voice - if it becomes obtrusive, the Silence Remover may help more than more gain.
- For a recording where quiet and loud parts differ wildly, a full editor with compression will beat a simple boost.
Mistakes to avoid
- Boosting until it sounds loud enough on quiet passages, which clips every loud moment.
- Assuming distortion can be repaired later. Clipped peaks are gone from the file permanently.
- Overwriting the original with a clipped version.
- Expecting a boost to improve clarity - it raises noise and voice equally.
- Trying to fix a badly recorded source with volume alone when re-recording would be quicker.
Frequently asked questions
Yes - pushing volume significantly beyond the audio's natural headroom can introduce clipping/distortion, since there's a ceiling to how loud audio can go before it starts to sound harsh or broken.
Yes - the tool adjusts volume in either direction, whether you need a quieter or louder result.
No. It raises everything equally, including background hiss, hum and microphone noise. A quiet recording becomes a loud noisy recording rather than a clean one - the underlying problems need addressing separately.
Digital audio has a hard maximum level. Pushing peaks past it flattens their tops instead of making them louder, which sounds like harsh crackling. It cannot be repaired afterwards, because the information is simply not in the file - the only fix is to boost less and export again.
Because it probably contains a few loud peaks. Headroom is set by the loudest moment, not the average, so a recording that sounds quiet overall can still be close to the ceiling.
Normally no - the adjustment is applied in your browser, so recordings stay on your device. Only a format your browser cannot decode falls back to server processing, and that file is discarded after the job.
Aim for peaks a little below the maximum - around -1 to -3 dB - so there is headroom and nothing clips. Podcast platforms typically normalise to an average loudness of about -16 LUFS for stereo, so a recording that is far quieter will sound weak next to other shows.
Extract the audio track first, boost it here, then put it back with a video tool - or record the audio separately next time. Boosting works on the audio file itself, so a video needs its sound separated before and re-attached after.
A single volume change raises everyone equally, so the gap between speakers stays. Boost until the quiet voice is clear without the loud one clipping; for interviews, recording each person on their own microphone avoids the problem entirely.