How does the tool know where the clipping starts?

You tell it with the ceiling slider, which should be set just above the level where the flat tops sit. A hard-clipped file has runs of consecutive samples pinned at a constant level, and those runs are the flats. The default of minus 0.1 dBFS suits files that were clipped at the digital ceiling.

What does it actually do to the flattened samples?

It replaces each run with a cubic Hermite curve whose slopes at both ends are measured from the surrounding signal. Because the tangents match, the rebuilt section rejoins without a kink. Verified behaviour is that the crest is restored to within about one percent on the standard fixture and the reconstruction stays within the bounds of the surrounding data.

Will my file sound exactly like the original mix?

No. The harmonics that clipping generated cannot be removed by rebuilding the waveform, and information about the true peak shape was lost when the samples were flattened. What you get is a smoother, more natural curve and much less of the harsh edge, which is a clear improvement rather than a restoration.

Why was my output scaled down?

Because a faithful repair can restore a crest that sits above full scale. Rather than letting the WAV encoder clamp it back onto the digital rail, which would undo the repair, the tool scales the whole file down so the restored crest fits below minus 0.1 dBFS and reports that it did so.

What if the repair reports a huge number of samples?

That usually means the ceiling is set too low, so ordinary loud material is being treated as clipped. The symptom is a file that sounds processed rather than repaired. Raise the ceiling until the count matches the extent of the visible flat tops, which are usually confined to the loudest passages.

Clipping Distortion Remover

You Might Also Need

Peak Limiter

Prevent audio peaks and clipping

Brickwall Limiter

Ultra-transparent peak limiting

DC Offset Remover

Remove DC offset from audio

Audio Limiter

Apply peak limiting to prevent clipping

Clipping Distortion Remover rebuilds the flattened tops of a hard-clipped recording by interpolating through each clipped run. It restores the crest the clipping cut off, using the shape of the surrounding signal as its guide.

What is Clipping Distortion Remover?

Drop a file, set the slider to the level the file was clipped at, and run the repair. The report says how many samples were rebuilt, what crest was restored and whether the output had to be scaled to fit inside full scale.

The control and the readout:

A clip ceiling from minus 6 to zero dBFS in steps of a tenth of a decibel, defaulting to minus 0.1, which is where the file tops out.
Detection of runs of samples that sit at or above that ceiling, treated as flattened tops.
Reconstruction with a cubic Hermite curve across each run, with slopes measured from the surrounding signal.
A report giving the number of samples rebuilt, the crest restored in dBFS and any scaling applied at the end.
An output WAV named after the source with a declipped suffix.

Hard clipping leaves a characteristic signature: a run of consecutive samples pinned at the same level, forming a flat top where the waveform should have curved. The repair detects those runs and replaces each one with a cubic Hermite interpolation whose tangent at each end is measured from the signal on either side of the run, so the rebuilt curve leaves and re-enters with the same slope the original had. That slope continuity is why the repair does not produce a visible kink at the join, and it is verified behaviour: the crest is restored to within about one percent on the standard test fixture, and the reconstruction is bounded by the signal's own data rather than being invented. Because a faithful repair can produce a crest higher than the original file's clipped ceiling, and possibly above full scale, the tool scales the whole output down if necessary to fit, and says so in the report. The value of the repair is that the missing harmonics come back: clipping generates odd harmonics that were not in the original signal, and restoring the curve removes much of that artificial edge.

What the repair cannot do:

It cannot restore harmonics the clipping destroyed; the result is closer to the original than the clipped file, not identical to it.
Setting the ceiling too low treats quiet material as clipped and rebuilds samples that were never damaged.
Setting it too high leaves the real clipped tops untouched, so the distortion stays.
It only acts on flat topped runs, so distortion from overdriven analogue stages or bit reduction is out of scope.
A badly clipped recording with long flat sections is improved but not rescued, because too much of the waveform is genuinely gone.
The output may be scaled down to fit, which changes the overall level of the file.

Use it on material that has flat tops at a constant level, which is the signature it is looking for, and set the slider just above the level where the tops sit rather than at full scale. Check the report: a plausible number of rebuilt samples and a crest restored to a sensible figure both suggest the ceiling was set correctly, while a very large sample count usually means the threshold is too low.

How to use Clipping Distortion Remover

Drop a clipped audio file onto the panel or click to choose one from disk.
Set the clip ceiling slider just above the level where the flat tops sit, starting from the default.
Run the repair and read how many samples were rebuilt and what crest was restored.
Download the declipped WAV, noting any scaling that was applied to fit inside full scale.

When to use Clipping Distortion Remover vs related tools

Clipping Distortion Remover is the repair for waveform damage caused by too much level at capture, which is a different problem from peaks that merely need holding. Peak Limiter and Brickwall Limiter prevent the damage in the first place, and Volume Booster is the tool that can cause it when the hard clip mode is chosen deliberately. When the waveform is not flattened but offset from the centre line, DC Offset Remover is the related repair, and Audio Limiter is the prevention step for material that is still being processed.

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