To reverse audio in Adobe Audition, open the file in the Waveform Editor, select the range you want flipped (or nothing, for the whole file), and choose Effects → Reverse. The waveform mirrors instantly. Reverse does not work on clips in the Multitrack Editor — open the clip in the Waveform Editor first, ideally after converting it to a unique copy so other clips sharing the file stay forward.
Where is Reverse in Adobe Audition?
In the Effects menu, near the top, grouped with other direct edits such as Invert and Silence. It only works while the Waveform Editor is active, which is the view that shows one audio file as a continuous waveform rather than a session of clips on tracks.
Audition splits editing into two modes. The Waveform Editor changes audio data itself — every sample in the open file. The Multitrack Editor arranges clips that point at files, and its effects run live through the Effects Rack without rewriting anything. Reverse belongs to the first group because it has to rearrange every sample: the last one becomes the first. A real-time effect cannot do that, since it would need to hear the end of a sound before playing its beginning.
That is also why the command looks disabled when a session is in front. Switch views with the Waveform button in the toolbar, or double-click a file in the Files panel, and Reverse becomes available.
Selection controls the scope. Drag across a single word, one drum hit, or a cymbal tail, and only that range flips while the audio either side keeps playing forward. With nothing selected, Audition reverses the whole file.
How do you reverse a clip in the Multitrack Editor?
Take the clip into the Waveform Editor, reverse it there, and come back. The catch is that a Multitrack clip is a window onto a source file, and several clips can share one file — every copy you pasted, every chop of a long take. Reverse that file and all of them flip.
The safe route:
- In the session, select the clip and choose Clip → Convert to Unique Copy. Audition writes a new file for that clip alone.
- Double-click the clip to open its new file in the Waveform Editor.
- Select all and choose Effects → Reverse.
- Return to the Multitrack view. The clip now plays backwards, and the other clips from the original recording do not.
If the clip carries Effects Rack processing you want flipped too — a reverb tail, for example — bounce it first with Multitrack → Bounce to New Track so the effects are printed into audio, then reverse the bounced clip. This is the same copy-before-you-flip habit covered in how to reverse audio in Premiere Pro, where audio from a sequence often needs the same kind of detour.
Which reverse method should you use?
It depends on where the audio lives and whether other clips depend on it.
| Method | Works in | Keeps the original | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Effects → Reverse on a file | Waveform Editor | Only if you Save As | Single samples, sound effects, voice clips |
| Convert to Unique Copy, then Reverse | Multitrack → Waveform | Yes | One clip inside a larger session |
| Bounce to New Track, then Reverse | Multitrack → Waveform | Yes | Clips with reverb or delay you want flipped |
| Browser tool, then import | Any app, Audition closed | Yes | Quick one-off flips |
For podcast and dialogue editors, the second row is the usual answer: one reversed swoosh or word inside a session, with everything else untouched.
How do you make reverse reverb in Audition?
Flip the dry sound, add reverb, and flip it back, so the reverb tail swells into the note instead of trailing after it.
- Open the sound in the Waveform Editor and choose Effects → Reverse.
- Add a few seconds of silence at the end with Edit → Insert → Silence, placed after the last sample. Without room, the reverb decay gets cut off at the file boundary.
- Apply a reverb from Effects → Reverb, set mostly wet with a long decay, and click Apply.
- Choose Effects → Reverse again.
- Trim the leading silence and save as a new file.
The result is a rising, breathy wash that lands exactly on the original attack. Place it so the end of the swell hits the downbeat or the cut. The underlying technique and its variations are explained in reverse reverb, and the same process in a free editor is covered in how to reverse audio in Audacity.
Why does reversed audio in Audition start late or click?
Two common artifacts, both easy to fix.
Late start. Silence or a quiet tail at the end of the original file moves to the front after reversing. A clip with half a second of room noise after the last word now opens with half a second of room noise. Trim it before or after reversing, then line up the reversed peak with your edit point.
Click at the start. The original fade-out usually ends near zero, but a hard cut at the end of a file becomes a hard jump at the beginning once reversed. Drag the fade-in handle at the top-left of the waveform a few milliseconds in, or select the first moment and apply a fade. The same fix works at the end, where the original attack now sits.
Reversal itself does not degrade audio — it reorders samples without changing any of them, and reversing twice returns the original exactly. Quality only drops if you save to a lossy format like MP3 along the way, so keep working files as WAV.
Can you reverse audio without Audition?
Yes, and for a single file it is faster than opening a project. The free audio reverser runs in a browser tab, records from the microphone or accepts MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG, and WebM, and reverses locally — nothing is uploaded. An A/B control compares forward and reversed, and the result downloads as a free WAV ready to import into Audition.
On a phone, Reverse Audio PRO records, reverses, and plays back on one screen. The paid tier adds speed from 0.25× to 3.0×, pitch shifting across ±12 semitones, ten effects, and WAV/M4A export, sold as a weekly or yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. Setup steps are in how to reverse audio on iPhone and how to reverse audio on Android.