Producers and mix engineers
See where a bass and a kick fight, a resonance that rings on every note, or a reverb tail that hides the next hit. Check loudness in the waveform analyzer.
Free Online Spectrogram for Audio Files and Your Microphone
EzVisualizer is a free online spectrogram: it draws every frequency of your audio over time, with loudness as color. Open a song to see the whole file in one picture, or turn on your microphone for a live spectrogram that scrolls as you speak or play. Choose the colormap, FFT size and frequency scale, then save a high-resolution PNG. Nothing is uploaded.
- Free, no sign-up
- File or live microphone
- High-res PNG export
- Nothing uploaded
What Is a Spectrogram?
A spectrogram is a picture of sound with three dimensions. Time runs left to right, frequency runs bottom to top, and color shows how loud each frequency is at each moment: dark for quiet, bright for loud. It is built from thousands of short spectrum measurements laid side by side, a method called the short-time Fourier transform. Where a waveform only shows how loud the audio is, an audio spectrogram shows what the sound is made of: the notes, the drums, the hiss and the hum, each in its own place.
Make a SpectrogramHow to Read a Spectrogram
Once you know the shapes, a spectrogram reads like a score. Open any song in the spectrogram viewer and look for these:
- Horizontal lines are steady pitches. A stack of evenly spaced lines is one note with its harmonics, the way a voice or a violin looks.
- Vertical stripes are short sounds that hit every frequency at once: kick drums, snares, claps and clicks.
- Bright haze high up is noise: cymbals, breath, the “s” in a vocal.
- A thin bright line at 50 or 60 Hz that never moves is mains hum.
- A flat ceiling near 16 kHz is where a lossy encoder cut the top. Dark gaps are silence.
Why Use This Online Spectrogram
A spectrogram viewer with the controls of desktop spectrogram software, in a browser tab, with three more views of the same audio.
The whole file in one picture
The file is analyzed from start to finish, so you see the whole song at once instead of waiting for it to play through.
Live from your microphone
Whistle, sing or play and watch the live spectrogram scroll. Good for lessons, birdsong and checking a room.
Your view, your settings
Pick a colormap, a dB range, a log or linear frequency axis, the FFT size and the overlap.
Read any point
Hover anywhere for the time, frequency and level under the cursor, so a bright spot becomes a number.
Four views of one sound
Switch the same audio to a waveform, a spectrum or an oscilloscope without opening another tool.
Private, free, high-res PNG
The analysis runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded. Save the audio spectrogram as a sharp PNG, free.
How to Make a Spectrogram Online
Three steps with the online spectrogram above, on a computer or a phone.
Drop an MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A or OGG file, press the microphone button for a live view, or load the demo track.
Choose a colormap and a dB range, switch the frequency axis between log and linear, and set the FFT size and overlap.
Hover to read time, frequency and level, play any part to hear what you see, then export a high-resolution PNG.
Step 1 · Open audio or your mic
Spectrogram Viewer Features
What the spectrogram analyzer draws and every setting that changes the picture.
A whole song as one audio spectrogram
Drop a file and the spectrogram generator works through it from the first sample to the last, then draws the complete picture. Intro, verses and choruses show as distinct blocks, and the playhead moves across them while you listen. Zoom in on any passage and it is recomputed sharp at that range. It turns a three minute song into a map you can read in seconds.
Open a SongA live spectrogram from your microphone
Allow the mic, or share another browser tab, and the live spectrogram scrolls from right to left as sound comes in. Nothing is recorded. Whistle a rising note and you draw a line; say “sss” and a haze appears up top. Built-in mics are not calibrated, so colors show levels relative to full scale, not sound pressure.
Try the Live ViewColormaps, dB range and frequency scale
Choose from five colormaps: VU (amber), Magma, Viridis, Ice and Gray. Each one gets brighter as the level rises, so it reads honestly even printed in gray. Narrow the dB range to pull quiet detail out of the noise, or widen it to see everything. A log frequency axis gives each octave the same height, like music; linear spreads out the highs, like speech research tools.
Change the ColorsFFT size and overlap: time or frequency detail
Every spectrogram trades time detail for frequency detail. A small FFT shows drum hits as sharp stripes but blurs close notes; a large one separates notes but smears the hits. Overlap adds more columns between them for a smoother picture. Set both in the spectrogram visualizer and watch the trade-off happen.
Set the FFT SizeAn Audio Spectrogram of a Song, Annotated
One song from intro to chorus in the online spectrogram, with the shapes from the reading guide labeled.
What you are looking at
The intro is a piano: separate horizontal lines with harmonics above them. The drums enter as regular vertical stripes, and the vocal brings stacks of curved lines that bend with the melody. In the chorus, cymbals fill the top with haze, and everything stops at a flat ceiling near 16 kHz, a sign the file was once an MP3. For the balance at a single moment, open the spectrum analyzer.
Online Spectrogram Specs
What this spectrogram viewer draws and how. Specs checked November 2026.
| This siteEzVisualizer online spectrogram | |
|---|---|
| Input | An audio file, your microphone or another browser tab (live; tab audio in desktop Chrome or Edge), or a demo signal |
| Files | MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A/AAC, OGG, or anything else your browser can decode; up to 400 MB and 20 minutes (10 on phones) |
| File mode | The whole file in one picture; zoom in and the visible range is recomputed sharp; the playhead follows playback |
| Live mode | Scrolling spectrogram from the microphone or a browser tab |
| Analysis | Short-time Fourier transform; FFT 512 to 16384; overlap 0, 50, 75 or 87.5 %; Hann, Blackman-Harris or flat-top window |
| Frequency axis | Log or linear, up to a top frequency you choose |
| Color | Five colormaps (VU, Magma, Viridis, Ice, Gray); dB floor and ceiling you set |
| Readout | Time, frequency and level under the cursor |
| Export | High-resolution PNG, 1920 × 1080 up to 7680 × 2160, with labels; the view, the whole file or a selection |
| Privacy and price | Runs in your browser, nothing uploaded; free, no account |
Spectrogram Online or Spectrogram Software?
Compared by type of tool. Audacity and Sonic Visualiser are free, open-source desktop programs with spectrogram views; Praat is the standard for speech research.
| This siteEzVisualizer | Simple online spectrogram pages | Desktop spectrogram software | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Install | None, runs in the browser | None | Required |
| Whole file | Yes | Often | Yes |
| Live microphone | Yes | Often mic only | Varies; often record first |
| Colormap and dB range | Yes | Rarely | Yes |
| FFT size and overlap | Yes | Rarely | Yes |
| PNG export | High resolution | Varies | Varies by program |
| Waveform, spectrum, scope | All three, one click | Rarely | Some of them |
| Editing and plugins | No | No | Yes, the reason to install |
Who Uses an Online Spectrogram
Anyone who wants to see what a sound is made of, not only how loud it is.
Birders and field recordists
Bird calls are easier to tell apart as shapes than by ear. Record, open the file and compare the trills and sweeps.
Speech and language study
Vowels show as bands called formants; consonants as bursts and hiss. A linear axis and a mid-size FFT suit speech.
Restoration and forensics
Clicks, crackle, hum and dropouts are plain to see. Find them here, then repair them in your audio editor.
Teachers and students
A live spectrogram on a projector shows harmonics, the Doppler effect and the difference between a flute and a voice.
Puzzles and hidden images
Some artists and game designers hide pictures or text in audio that only a spectrogram reveals. Try a log and a linear axis.
Online Spectrogram FAQ
What a spectrogram is, how to read it and how to get a clear one.
What is a spectrogram?
A picture of sound: time left to right, frequency bottom to top, and loudness as color. It shows which frequencies are present at each moment, so you can see notes, harmonics, drum hits and noise that a waveform hides.
How do I read a spectrogram?
Look for shapes. Horizontal lines are steady notes, stacks of them are harmonics, vertical stripes are drum hits and clicks, haze at the top is noise or cymbals, and dark areas are silence. Brighter means louder, and the colorbar beside the image gives the dB values.
How do I make a spectrogram of a song online?
Drop the song on the online spectrogram at the top of this page. It analyzes the whole file, draws it, and lets you play any part while the playhead moves across the picture. Then export a PNG.
Is this spectrogram generator free?
Yes. File and live modes, every colormap and the PNG export are free, with no account and no watermark on the image.
Can I see a live spectrogram from my microphone?
Yes. Press the microphone button and allow access; the live spectrogram scrolls as sound arrives. Levels are relative to digital full scale, because phone and laptop mics are not calibrated.
What is the difference between a spectrogram and a spectrum analyzer?
A spectrum analyzer shows one moment as a graph of level against frequency. A spectrogram shows many moments side by side, with level as color. Use the spectrum analyzer for the balance right now, and the spectrogram viewer for how it changes over time.
Which FFT size and overlap should I use?
For music, a middle size such as 2048 or 4096 with high overlap is a good start. Go bigger to separate low notes, smaller to sharpen drum hits. At 48 kHz, an FFT of 4096 gives bins about 11.7 Hz wide and covers 85 ms per column.
Should the frequency axis be log or linear?
Log for music, because each octave gets the same height and bass notes are not squeezed into a sliver. Linear for speech, birdsong and anything where the high frequencies matter most.
Which colormap should I choose?
All five (VU, Magma, Viridis, Ice and Gray) get brighter as the level rises, so any of them reads honestly. Magma and Viridis separate levels well, Gray prints well, and VU matches the site. Use whichever makes the detail you care about stand out, and keep the same one when you compare files.
Why is my spectrogram mostly dark, or mostly bright?
The dB range sets which levels map to the darkest and brightest colors. If the picture is dark, the audio may be quiet: lower the bottom of the range. If it is washed out, narrow the range to bring back contrast.
Can I save the spectrogram as an image?
Yes. Export a PNG of the audio spectrogram from 1920 × 1080 up to 7680 × 2160, with axis labels and the settings you chose, of the visible range, the whole file or a selection: ready for a report, a slide or a paper.
Do I need spectrogram software, or is online enough?
For looking, reading and saving images, the online spectrogram is enough. Install desktop spectrogram software such as Sonic Visualiser, Audacity or Praat when you need plugins, annotation layers, editing or research-grade analysis.
Is it accurate enough for science?
It uses a standard short-time Fourier transform, so the picture is right. Levels are relative and uncalibrated, and frequency detail depends on the FFT size you choose. For published research, confirm results in dedicated software.
Is my audio uploaded?
No. Files and microphone audio are analyzed inside your browser tab and never leave your device. To watch the stereo image of the same file, open the oscilloscope online; for moving visuals over music, try the audio visualizer.
More Audio Analysis Tools
Beyond the Spectrogram Visualizer
Turn the same audio into a waveform image, a podcast clip or a music video.
- Sound Wave GeneratorSound wave videos and images from any audio file.
- Audiogram GeneratorWaveform clips for podcast episodes and interviews.
- YouTube Visualizer16:9 visualizers for singles, albums and long mixes.
- MP3 to MP4 ConverterYour MP3 and cover art as an MP4 that video sites accept.
- Audio to Video ConverterWAV, M4A or FLAC into a shareable video with artwork.
- MP3 Tag EditorEdit title, artist, album and cover tags in your browser.
Open the Online Spectrogram
Drop an audio file or turn on your microphone: the online spectrogram shows every frequency over time, in the colors and scale you choose, and saves it as a sharp PNG. Free, private and in your browser.