Sampling audio from a YouTube video used to take three tools: a downloader site, a file converter, and an audio editor to cut out the part you actually wanted. Samplecut collapses that into one browser tab — paste a link, see the audio as a waveform, drag across the section you want, and download it as a WAV or MP3.
That works for any kind of clip, not just music: a line of dialogue for a video edit, a sound effect, a section of a lecture or podcast, a drum break. Here is the whole flow, plus a URL trick that skips most of it.
Step 1 — Paste the YouTube link
Open the editor and paste the video's URL into the input — regular watch links, Shorts, and live or embed links all work. Hit Extract Audio.
Samplecut pulls the audio track server-side and renders it as an interactive waveform. For a typical video this takes a few seconds, and there is nothing to install.
Step 2 — Find the exact section on the waveform
The track loads with a highlighted selection over it — that selection is your cut. Shape it directly:
- Drag the edges of the selection to set the start and end points.
- Click anywhere on the waveform to seek. Play the selection, loop it, and nudge the boundaries until the cut is tight.
- Zoom in when the details matter — the peaks give you a visual anchor for hits, words, and transients.
Step 3 — Download it as WAV or MP3
When the selection sounds right, download it. WAV is uncompressed and exact — best if you plan to edit or produce with the clip. MP3 is encoded at 320 kbps — smaller, and it plays anywhere.
You can also grab the whole track without trimming, as an untouched WAV or a full-length MP3, from the same download menu.
The shortcut: edit the YouTube URL
The fastest path skips the paste step entirely. On any YouTube video, edit the address bar and swap the domain:
youtube.com/watch?v=… → youtubecut.com/watch?v=…
Press Enter and you land straight in the editor with extraction already running. It works on Shorts and live URLs too, and if the link carries a timestamp (?t=90), a ten-second selection starting at that moment is pre-selected — handy when you already know where the good part is.
Frequently asked questions
Is Samplecut free?
Yes. Extracting audio, trimming, and downloading WAV or MP3 files are all free, with no account. You only sign in for one thing: publishing a cut to the shared library.
What audio formats can I download?
WAV (uncompressed PCM — a lossless copy of the extracted audio) and MP3 (320 kbps). Both are available for a trimmed selection and for the full track.
Is there a limit on video length?
Yes — very long videos are rejected at extraction time; the cap is currently around 40 minutes of source video. Everything under that works, and the length of the cut you take from it is up to you.
Does it work with YouTube Shorts?
Yes. Paste the Shorts link like any other URL, or use the domain-swap trick directly on a youtube.com/shorts/… address.
Why did a video fail to extract?
Some videos cannot be pulled: age-restricted, private, or members-only videos usually fail, and region-locked ones can too. If a video errors out, another upload of the same content often works.