Audio tools

Picmal’s sidebar has an Audio section for working with audio files as a whole, rather than converting them one by one. Merge Audio joins several files into a single track — and can build a chaptered M4B audiobook — while Split by Chapter breaks an audiobook back into one file per chapter. Like everything else in Picmal, both run entirely on your Mac.

Merge Audio

Select Merge Audio in the sidebar
Drop two or more audio files into the window
Drag rows to set the order — the list order is the play order
Click Merge

Merge Audio in Picmal: three audio files queued under the Audio section of the sidebar, with the Audio Options popover showing the output format and name

The merged file is saved next to the first one as <name> (merged).<ext>. If that name is taken, Picmal counts up instead of overwriting — <name> (merged) 2.mp3, and so on.

Drag rows to reorder; the number on each row is its position in the merged track.
Select rows and press Delete to remove them, or right-click for Remove / Show in Finder.
A file Picmal can’t read as audio shows an orange warning and blocks the merge. Remove it and try again.

Lossless when it can be

When every file in the list already shares the same format, sample rate, and channels, Picmal joins the streams without re-encoding — it’s fast and there’s no quality loss. Mix formats (say an MP3 and a WAV) and it re-encodes them to the output format instead. Either way you get one continuous track.

Output format

Open Audio Options to choose the output format. Leave it on Same as first file to keep the first track’s format — the setting that keeps a same-format merge lossless — or pick one of MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, OGG, OPUS, or AC3 to convert everything as it merges. Your choice is remembered between sessions.

Build a chaptered audiobook

Pick M4B as the output format and a Add chapter markers option appears in Audio Options. Tick it, and each file you added becomes its own chapter in the finished book, named after the file. Point Merge Audio at the per-chapter files you get out of Audible or Libation and you get a single M4B that scrubs by chapter in Books, Music, or QuickTime. Leave it unticked for one continuous track with no chapters.

Merge Audio in Picmal building an M4B audiobook: several audio files queued with the Audio Options popover showing M4B output and the Add chapter markers option

Output name

In the same popover, type a name for the merged file, or leave it blank for the automatic <name> (merged) name. The extension follows the output format you picked. The file is always saved next to the first input.

Split by Chapter

The reverse of building an audiobook: take one chaptered file and get one file per chapter back.

Select Split by Chapter in the sidebar
Drop in a chaptered audiobook (M4B, M4A, or any file that carries chapter markers)
Its chapters show up in a list so you can check them
Choose an output format, or keep the original
Click Split

Split by Chapter in Picmal: a chaptered audiobook's chapters listed under the Audio section of the sidebar, ready to split into one file per chapter

Each chapter is written out as Book - 01 - Chapter Title, tagged with its chapter title and track number so it stays in order in your library. Leave the format on the original to split without re-encoding, or pick another format (say MP3) to convert as it splits.

A file with no chapter markers can’t be split — Picmal tells you and skips it.

Use it from Shortcuts and the terminal

Merge Audio is available beyond the app window:

In Shortcuts, the Merge Audio action takes audio files in and returns the finished track. See Integrations.
From the terminal, use picmal-cli merge-audio to join files and picmal-cli split-chapters to split an audiobook. See Command line.

Like Convert and Compress, both tools require an active license.