Free waveform visualizer
Turn a track into an animated waveform. Eight wave shapes, each with its own controls for thickness, amplitude, detail and fill.
Wave shapes
All eight run the same analysis and differ in how they draw it.
Waveform
The classic horizontal wave. Reads clearly at small sizes and sits well under a title.
Mirror Waveform
A wave reflected across its centre line, which gives a symmetrical shape that suits square formats.
Dual Waveform
Two waves growing towards each other from the top and bottom edges, leaving room for artwork in between.
Oscilloscope
A hard-edged trace on an optional grid, in the style of lab test equipment.
Minimal Line
A single thin line that reacts to level rather than to individual frequencies. Restrained enough to sit under text.
Circular Waveform
The waveform wrapped into a continuous ring, giving a softer shape than bars.
Ribbon
A thick flowing band that twists with the waveform. Softer and more organic than a line.
Wings
Two mirrored curves down the left and right edges, leaving the middle of the frame clear for artwork or text.
The controls that matter
Amplitude decides how far the wave travels from its centre line. Past about 1.5 it will clip against the edges of its box on loud passages, which can look deliberate or can look like a mistake depending on what you are going for.
Detail sets how many points the line is drawn through. Low values give a rounded, simplified shape. High values show fine movement and read as busier, which suits an oscilloscope look and works against a minimal one.
Thickness is in pixels at 1920 wide and scales with your export resolution, so a 3 pixel line looks like a 3 pixel line whether you export at 480p or 1080p.
Smoothing under audio response is the one people miss. If the wave looks twitchy, raise it. If it feels sluggish and disconnected from the track, lower it and raise attack.
Fill
Most of the wave shapes can fill the area between the line and its baseline. A low fill opacity of around 0.15 to 0.25 gives the shape some weight without turning it into a solid block.
Where waveforms work well
Waveforms sit under text better than bars do. Because they are a single continuous line rather than a row of separate shapes, they read as a graphic element rather than competing for attention, which makes them a good choice when the title and artist name are the point and the animation is support.
For podcast and spoken word audio, a waveform or the three band meter tends to read better than a full spectrum, because speech does not have the wide frequency movement that makes a spectrum interesting.