What Is Clipping in Audio? Plain Explanation

The short version

Clipping flattens the tops of the waveform when a sound exceeds full scale.
It sounds like a harsh, buzzy distortion on the loudest words.
It cannot be undone in the original; it can only be softened by repair.
Record with peaks well below full scale to avoid it.

The short definition

A digital recording has a top level called full scale. Any sound louder than that cannot be stored, so the recorder cuts it off. On a waveform, the peaks look flat, like a plateau, where the real sound kept rising. That flattening is clipping.

What it sounds like

Clipping adds harsh overtones that were not in the original. It sounds like fuzz, crackle or buzz on loud consonants and laughs. A little on a single shout may hardly be noticed; clipping on every word is very obvious.

Why it is hard to undo

Once the peaks are flat, the information is gone. Repair tools can rebuild some clipped peaks from the wave around them, but heavy clipping cannot be rebuilt reliably. The clipping repair guide explains what is possible.

How to avoid it

Set the input so the loudest words peak well below the top of the meter, around -6 dB, and keep some headroom. Move the mic a little further away if the peaks are high, rather than turning the gain up and down.

How to check it

Look for flat tops on the waveform in your editor, and listen for a harsh edge on the loudest words. The vocal checker flags clipping in a file on this site.