Audacity can write one audio file per label in a single export pass. You place labels under the waveform, choose Multiple Files in the Export Audio dialog, and each labelled section comes out as its own file. The manual's description: "This command exports multiple files at once, either one file for each Audacity audio track, or one file for each label placed below audio tracks."
What trips people up is the naming — three schemes with three different numbering rules — and one bug the manual openly admits to. Both are below, quoted from the official Audacity Manual.
Before you start
- A label track with at least one label. Audacity decides what to offer based on history: "IF you last used Multiple Files AND you have a label track with at least one label THEN Multiple Files will be offered, ELSE Entire Project will be offered."
- Pick your label type. "Point labels mark the start of each section of audio you want to make into a separate file" while "Region labels span each section of audio you want to make into a separate file."
- Check the Mute and Solo buttons. Audacity "will only export tracks that are not grayed-out by use of the Mute or Solo buttons in the tracks' Track Control Panels."
- Your selection is irrelevant here. "For Exporting multiple audio files, selections in the waveform play no part in determining the audio that is exported."
The route — and the three names this feature goes by
The official manual refers to this feature three different ways.
| Where you read it | What it is called there |
|---|---|
| Export Audio dialog page | "Multiple Files" |
| Title of its own manual page | "Export Multiple" |
| Advanced Mixing Options / Audacity Projects | "Split in parts" |
| FAQ: Opening and Saving Files | File > Export Multiple |
Go by the Export Audio dialog page: the entry point is File > Export Audio, shortcut Ctrl + Shift + E, and Multiple Files is an Export Range option inside that dialog. In the manual's words: "You can use Multiple Files to export multiple audio files (based on labels or multiple audio tracks) in one process." The Export Multiple page confirms it is not a separate command: "This expansion of the Export Audio dialog appears in response to selecting Multiple Files in the Export Audio dialog."
Step 1 — Place the labels
Put point or region labels under the audio, one per section you want as a file. If your first section has no label marking its start, there is a checkbox for that: "Include audio before first label: Check this option only if you do not have a point label marking the start of the first file or do not have a region label spanning the first file."
Step 2 — Choose Labels, not Tracks
In the expanded dialog you pick what the split is based on:
- Labels: "You may choose this option if your project contains labels as well as one or more audio tracks. Only labels in the uppermost label track are used for export. If more than one audio track is above the uppermost label track, the audio of all those tracks will be mixed into the exported files, unless you press the Mute button on some of the tracks to exclude them from the mix."
- Tracks: "Export each audio track in your project to a separate file. File names are based on the track names. Any labels in the project are ignored."
Read that first clause twice: audio from every track above the label track is mixed into every exported file unless you mute it.
Step 3 — Pick a naming scheme
Three options, quoted because the numbering differs:
- Using Label/Track name: "Each file will be named exactly as the text of each label if "Split files based on Labels" was selected, or exactly as the name of each track if "Split files based on Tracks" was selected. If any labels are empty … Audacity will name each associated file as "untitled" and add a number as necessary to distinguish multiple "untitled" files."
- Numbering before Label/Track Name: "Label or track names are used but a consecutive two-digit number and hyphen are prefixed to each file name. The numbering starts from "00-" if you chose "Include audio before first label", or from "01-" if you did not. This is a good choice if you are burning tracks to an Audio CD."
- Numbering after File Name Prefix: "Label or track names are ignored. Instead, each file is named using a standard prefix specified in "File Name Prefix" below followed by a hyphen and a consecutive two-digit number. The numbering starts from "-00" if you chose "Include audio before first label", or from "-01" if you did not."
That is the rule almost nobody spells out: the "Include audio before first label" checkbox is what decides whether your numbering starts at 00 or 01.
Name collisions have their own rule. Overwriting is "off (unchecked) by default", and when it is off, "any files to be exported which have the same name as pre-existing files in the export location will be renamed with a hyphen and numerical suffix. The pre-existing files are left "as is". The first file which is exported with an identical name is renamed with suffix "-2" and subsequent files exported with that same name are renamed with suffix "-3", "-4" and so on."
Turning overwrite on does not fully disable that rule: "if the Export Multiple process would create identically named files based on label text or track name these files will not be overwritten but given an ascending numerical suffixes."
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
If the audio you want to chop up is still inside a video file, pull it out with the tool above — it runs in your browser tab, nothing is uploaded — then import the result and label it. Browse all Clapr tools for other conversions.
Step 4 — Sort out metadata before you export
The manual documents a bug here: "There is a bug whereby user supplied metadata applies only to the first exported file - it does not carry through to any further files exported as part of the multiple export, instead Audacity uses the default metadata set for the second and subsequent files exported. Please see Bug #5825."
Two official workarounds: "Before the export use Edit > Metadata Editor to set the default metadata set, or Use the Edit Metadata button in the Export Audio dialog and set your required metadata for the export." For the status of Bug #5825, check the official documentation.
Two tags come through per file regardless: "When exporting multiple files, the "Track Title" and "Track Number" tags are pre-filled automatically from the names and ordering of the tracks or labels." If tags still come out wrong, see why Audacity export metadata goes missing.
Common mistakes
- Custom FFmpeg export produces extensionless files. "When exporting using Custom FFmpeg Export, Audacity will not add an extension to the file name. As workarounds: add the appropriate file extension to the labels or the track names / add the extension to the files after export."
- The (external program) format fails outright. "When exporting using (external program), Audacity will not export the files, and will show an error message, unless you add an appropriate extension to the (external program) Command or to the file names (the labels or tracks)."
- Surround audio is out of scope. "Currently there is no support for exporting multi-channel files when using Split in parts (to export multiple audio files) from the Export Audio dialog."
- Label text becomes a file name, so OS character rules apply. The manual lists the forbidden characters per platform:
On Windows, all of the following \ / : * ? " < > |
On Mac OS X/macOS, colon only(1) :
On Linux, forward slash only /FAQ
Why did Audacity only export one file? Most likely the Export Range fell back to Entire Project. Audacity only offers Multiple Files if you used it last time and the project has a label track with at least one label.
Why are my labels being ignored? Either you chose Tracks rather than Labels — "Any labels in the project are ignored" in that mode — or your labels are not in the uppermost label track, since "Only labels in the uppermost label track are used for export."
Why do my file names start at 01 instead of 00? Because "Include audio before first label" was unchecked. With Numbering before Label/Track Name, the numbering starts from "00-" only if that option is chosen; otherwise it starts from "01-".
Why does only the first exported file have my metadata?
That is the documented bug: user-supplied metadata "applies only to the first exported file", and Audacity uses the default metadata set for the rest. Set the default metadata set with Edit > Metadata Editor before exporting.
Do I need to install anything to export these as MP3? On Windows and Mac, no: "the LAME library for MP3 export is built-in with Audacity for Windows and Mac. Linux users will still need to download and install the free and recommended LAME third-party encoder to export MP3 files from Audacity."
Exporting lossless first and converting afterwards keeps your options open — WAV to MP3 does that step in the browser. For more walkthroughs, see the how-to guides.
All quotations are from the official Audacity Manual, checked 16 September 2026. Verify against the current manual before relying on specific behaviour.
