Audiobook Stitcher

This app lets you turn multiple audio files into a single, clean, chaptered audiobook with proper metadata ready for any audiobook player, quickly and without hassle.

Audiobook Stitcher on Mac stitching eight chapter files into one audiobook with title, author and cover art.

What it does

Audiobook Stitcher takes a folder of audio files — chapters, parts, recordings — and combines them into a single M4B audiobook. Every file becomes a chapter, and you fill in the title, author and cover art before exporting. The result is one clean file for Apple Books or any other player that supports M4B.

It’s built for people who download public domain audiobooks in pieces, rip CDs, collect lectures or sermons, or record their own narrations, and want a proper finished file at the end.

How to use it

  1. Add your files. Drag audio files, or whole folders, onto the window or the app’s icon in the Dock, click the + button, or press ⌘O. MP3, M4A, WAV and AIFF all work, even mixed together. Files are sorted by name, just like in Finder, so a simple numbering scheme (01.mp3, 02.mp3, and so on) keeps things in order.
  2. Check the chapters. Each file becomes a chapter, named after its title tag or its file name. Select a track and press Return to rename it, drag it to reorder, or click its play button to hear it.
  3. Set the details. Click the title and author to edit them. If your files are tagged, the album and artist fill them in for you. Drag a PNG or JPEG onto the cover area, or double-click it to choose one.
  4. Stitch. Click Stitch, or press ⌘E, and choose where to save the audiobook. It exports in the background, so you can keep editing or start on the next book.

What’s inside

  • Chapters from your files. One chapter per track, in the order you set, with the names you give them.
  • Any mix of formats. Tracks can differ in format, sample rate and channels. They’re all converted to one consistent audiobook without losing audio.
  • Just the right size. Choose Smaller File, High Quality or Highest Quality in Settings. An audiobook never gets a higher bitrate than its files need, so 64 kbps files won’t become a 256 kbps audiobook.
  • Exports in the background. Queue up several audiobooks, even from different windows, and they export one after another. The Exports button in the toolbar shows the time left for each, lets you cancel or try again, and shows finished ones in Finder.
  • Clear errors. If a track can’t be stitched, you’re told which one.
  • Keyboard and VoiceOver. Tab and Shift-Tab move between the cover, title, author, Stitch button and track list. Tracks can be reordered and previewed from the keyboard, and VoiceOver reads each track with its length.
  • Ten languages. English, Romanian, German, Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Russian, Spanish and Italian.
  • Private by design. No account and no tracking. Your files are processed on your Mac by a built-in copy of FFmpeg, and the app doesn’t connect to the internet.

Requires macOS 14.6 or later.

Keyboard

KeysActionKeysAction
⌘OAdd files↩Rename the selected track
⌘EStitch the audiobookSpacePlay or stop the selected track
⌥⌘LShow exports⌫Remove the selected tracks
⇥ / ⇧⇥Move between controls⌥⌘↑ / ⌥⌘↓Move the selected tracks up/down

With the cover selected, ↩ chooses an image, Space previews it and ⌫ removes it.

Support

If something isn’t working, or you have a question or an idea, email me at [email protected]. I read and answer every message myself.

If you’re reporting a problem, it helps to include your macOS version (Apple menu › About This Mac), the Audiobook Stitcher version (Audiobook Stitcher › About Audiobook Stitcher), what you did, what you expected, what happened instead, and a screenshot if it shows the problem.

My audio files won’t import

Audiobook Stitcher accepts MP3, M4A, WAV and AIFF. If a file in another format won’t add, convert it to one of these first.

The Stitch button is disabled

Add at least one audio file. The button turns on as soon as the book has a track.

My cover image isn’t appearing

Covers can be PNG or JPEG. If one still won’t show, try another image or convert it to PNG.

Exporting is taking a long time

Long audiobooks take a while, depending on their length and your Mac. The Exports button in the toolbar shows the time left, and you can cancel an export there at any time. Choosing Smaller File in Audiobook Stitcher › Settings also makes exports faster.

Will Audiobook Stitcher change my original files?

No. Your files are only read. The audiobook is a new file, saved where you choose.

Privacy

Audiobook Stitcher doesn’t collect or send any data. Your files and their details are processed on your Mac and never leave it.

Changelog

1.3

  • Exporting is up to four times faster.
  • Choose the audio quality in Settings: Smaller File, High Quality or Highest Quality. An audiobook never gets a higher bitrate than its files need, so 64 kbps files won’t become a 256 kbps audiobook.
  • Drag audio files or a folder onto the app’s icon in the Dock. They go into a window that has no tracks yet, or start a new audiobook in a new window.
  • The book’s title and author now come from the first track, and an album that only repeats the genre, such as “Audiobook”, is ignored.
  • Files dropped together are added in file-name order.
  • A book keeps the best sample rate and channels among its tracks, so a mono or low-sample-rate first track no longer lowers the quality of the rest.
  • The Exports popover no longer cuts off the time left when it opens for a new export.
  • Chapters in audiobooks made from MP3 files no longer start a little later with every track.

1.2

  • Now available in ten languages: English, Romanian, German, Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Russian, Spanish and Italian.
  • Audiobooks now export in the background, so you can keep editing or start the next book while one exports.
  • Queue up several audiobooks, even from different windows. They export one after another.
  • The new Exports button in the toolbar (⌥⌘L) shows the time left for each audiobook, lets you cancel or try again, and shows finished ones in Finder.
  • Quitting while audiobooks are exporting now asks first.
  • Stitching now works with tracks of different formats, without losing audio.
  • Preview your cover art in its own window.
  • A refreshed sidebar, metadata editing and app icon.
  • Tab and Shift-Tab move between the cover, title, author, Stitch button and track list.
  • Move tracks up and down with ⌥⌘↑ and ⌥⌘↓, and preview the selected track with Space.
  • Better VoiceOver support throughout the app.
  • Clearer errors when a track can’t be stitched.

1.0.0 — Initial release

  • Import MP3, M4A, WAV and AIFF files
  • Set title, author, and cover art
  • Automatic chapter markers from file order
  • Custom chapter names
  • Export to M4B
  • Light and dark mode support