Clipping (audio)

Clipping is a form of waveform distortion that occurs when an amplifier is overdriven and attempts to deliver an output voltage or current beyond its maximum capability.

The extra signal which is beyond the capability of the amplifier is simply cut off, resulting in a sine wave becoming a distorted square-wave-type waveform.

The additional high frequency energy in the harmonics generated by an amplifier operating in clipping can damage the tweeter in a connected loudspeaker via overheating.

[2][3] Clipping can occur within a system as processing (e.g. an all-pass filter) can change the phase relationship between spectral components of a signal in such a way as to create excessive peak outputs.

Electric guitarists frequently and intentionally overdrive their guitar amplifiers to cause clipping and other distortion in order to get a desired sound.

If, during processing, the amplitude of the signal is doubled, sample values of, for instance, 32000 should become 64000, but instead cause an integer overflow and saturate to the maximum, 32767.

The soft-clip feature begins to engage prior to clipping, for instance starting at 10 dB below maximum output power.

The output waveform retains a rounded characteristic even in the presence of an overload input signal as much as 10 dB higher than maximum specified.

Complex hard-clipped signals cannot be restored to their original state because the information contained in the peaks that are clipped is completely lost.

Several software solutions of varying results and methods exist to repair clipping: CrumplePop ClipRemover, MAGIX Sound Forge, iZotope RX De-Clip, Acon Digital Restoration Suite,[7] Adobe Audition, Thimeo Stereo Tool, declipping solutions from CEDAR Audio,[8] and Audacity plugins such as Clip Fix.