OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Audio Reverser
Play MP3 Backwards or Reverse Just One Selected Part, Export WAV or MP3
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How the Audio Reverser works
This audio reverser plays and saves a track backwards. Drop a file in and press Preview to hear it backwards. Drag on the waveform to reverse only that region and leave the rest playing forwards; the whole file is exported with the selected section flipped in place. There are no settings to adjust. The reversal happens in this tab and nothing is uploaded.
Audio reverser: getting a good result
Reversing audio simply writes the samples out in the opposite order, last first. It is a trivial operation with a surprisingly wide range of uses, from classic studio effects to checking whether a voice memo really did capture what you thought.
Reverse effects. The reverse reverb, where a swell rises into a vocal or snare, is made by reversing a clip, adding reverb to it, then reversing the result so the reverb tail arrives before the sound. This page handles both reversal steps; any tool that adds reverb can go between them. Reversed cymbals make the rising swooshes heard before drops in electronic music, and reversed piano chords give an eerie, breathing texture that has been used on records since the 1960s.
Reversing a section. Drag across the waveform to select part of the file. Only that region is reversed and it stays exactly where it was, so a single word, beat or bar can be flipped while the rest plays normally. Because the reversed section starts where the original ended, there may be a click at the join if the levels differ; the Fade In and Fade Out tool cannot help with that in the middle of a file, but selecting a region that starts and ends on quiet moments avoids it.
What does not change. Channels stay in their places — the left channel is still on the left — the sample rate is untouched, and the length is identical. Reversing twice gives you back exactly the original samples, so the operation is lossless in WAV.
Speech. Reversed speech is not intelligible; the brain is very good at recognising phonemes played forwards and very bad at them played backwards. What you hear in reversed recordings is pattern-matching, not hidden content. That said, reversing is a handy way to listen for background noise, since with the words gone the room tone and hum become much more obvious.
Output. Export as WAV to keep the samples exact, or MP3 for a smaller file. Any format the browser can decode can be dropped in.
FAQ
Can I reverse just one word?
Yes. Drag on the waveform to select the region containing the word and only that part is reversed. The rest of the file is untouched and the whole thing is exported together.
Does reversing change the pitch or speed?
No. Every sample is kept at its original value and spacing; only the order changes. To alter pitch or speed as well, use the Audio Pitch and Speed tool on the result.
How do I make a reverse reverb?
Reverse the clip here, export it, add reverb to that file in an editor or plugin, then drop the result back into this page and reverse it again. The reverb tail now swells up into the original sound.
Will the reversed file be the same length?
Exactly the same length, sample for sample. If you reverse a selection, the file length and everything outside the selection are unchanged, so it drops back into a timeline exactly.
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