How do I convert only a portion of an MP3 file to WAV at a certain frequency, from the command-line?

Question

This transcodes the entire .mp3 to a .wav

mpg123 -w output.wav input.mp3

Is there any way I can transcode a portion from the 10 second mark to the 20 second mark at a 44100hz?

Answer 1

Note : What you want isn't directly possible with mpg123. I recommend using SoX instead -- the "Swiss Army Knife of sound processing".

Transcoding only a portion of an MP3 file to WAV and resampling it to a different rate

• Install SoX along with MP3 format support from the terminal with sudo apt-get install sox libfmt-sox-mp3

• You can then perform the transcoding you require via this command:

  sox -V3 input.mp3 -r 44100 output.wav trim 0:10 0:10
  

  • The -r option, inserted before the output file name, indicates that you want to resample the output to 44100 Hz.
  • The trim option, inserted after the output file name, indicates that you want to transcode only the portion beginning at 0 minutes and 10 seconds (first 0:10), for a length of 10 seconds from that point (second 0:10).
  • The -V3 is optional and simply tells sox to display the input/output parameters and transcoding progress for your information.