Cue sheet
Encyclopedia
A cue sheet, or cue file, is a metadata
file which describes how the track
s of a CD or DVD
are laid out. Cue sheets are stored as plain text
files and commonly have a ".cue" filename extension
. CDRWIN
first introduced cue sheets, which are now supported by many optical disc authoring
applications and media players.
Cue sheets can describe many types of audio and data CDs. The main data (including audio) for a CD described by a cue sheet is stored in one or more files referenced by the cue sheet. The data files may be audio files (commonly in MP3
or WAV
format), or plain disc images (sometimes with a ".bin" extension). Cue sheets also specify track lengths, and CD-Text
including track and disc titles and performers. They are especially useful when dividing audio stored in a single file into multiple songs or tracks.
The name "cue sheet" originates from the "send cue sheet" SCSI/ATA command
in optical disc authoring
. The specification for that command defines a cue sheet format containing mostly the same information, but in a tabular, binary data structure, rather than a text file.
s and hardware digital audio players often treat each audio file as a single playlist
entry, which can make it difficult to select and identify the individual tracks. A common solution is to split the original audio file into a series of separate files, one per track.
Another approach is for the audio player to support the cue sheet directly. This may involve providing a new playlist (for example, an extra window) for the contents of the cue sheet, or adding an entry for each track directly into the main playlist.
file containing commands with one or more parameters. The commands usually apply either to the whole disc or to an individual track, depending on the particular command and the context. They may describe the layout of data to be written, or CD-Text
(metadata
). The original specification of the cue sheet syntax and semantics appears in the CDRWIN User Guide.
The standard commands are:
The cue sheet format, as specified in the CDRWIN Users Manual, doesn't support file sets of this type; rather, it's designed with the expectation that all of the audio data exists in a single file (CDRWIN only creates cue sheets for that kind of rip) or in separate files, but only with the gap portions of the audio either removed or placed at the beginning of the files.
In order to allow cue sheets to be used to burn a CD from ordinary file sets which have the gap portion at the end of each file, the CD ripping & burning program Exact Audio Copy
(EAC) allows the creation of cue sheets that relax the CDRWIN Users Manual's restriction on where FILE commands can be used. This non-conforming cue sheet format, intended only for burning CDs with EAC, isn't supported by some other pieces of software, such as the media player foobar2000
, which allows to use cue sheets as playlists.
. At this concert, Faithless performed eight songs in the order shown below. Therefore, the track listing is as follows:
Since the MP3 is one file containing the entire performance, burning it to a CD as-is would make it inconvenient to skip to individual songs. To design the cue sheet, one must first find the points in the MP3 at which each song starts. The times are cumulative: each track must have a later time than the previous one.
The first three lines denote the disc information. This is followed by the information for each track, indented from the rest. The INDEX 01 line reads the same for each track, with the exception of the time value that follows it. REM, TITLE and PERFORMER are optional.
An example of a cue sheet used in conjunction with a CD image file:
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
file which describes how the track
Track (CD)
On an optical disc, a track or title is a subdivision of its content. Specifically, it is a consecutive set of sectors on the disc containing a block of data. One session may contain one or more tracks of the same or different types...
s of a CD or DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
are laid out. Cue sheets are stored as plain text
Plain text
In computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....
files and commonly have a ".cue" filename extension
Filename extension
A filename extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file applied to indicate the encoding of its contents or usage....
. CDRWIN
CDRWIN
CDRWIN is a CD/DVD burning software for Microsoft Windows developed by Golden Hawk Technology company.Once popular, CDRWIN's usage has diminished due to the bundling of limited versions of other software packages, such as Nero Burning ROM and Roxio Easy CD Creator, with new computers and optical...
first introduced cue sheets, which are now supported by many optical disc authoring
Optical disc authoring
Optical disc authoring, including DVD and Blu-ray Disc authoring , is the process of assembling source material—video, audio or other data—into the proper logical volume format to then be recorded onto an optical disc .-Process:To burn an optical disc, one usually first creates an...
applications and media players.
Cue sheets can describe many types of audio and data CDs. The main data (including audio) for a CD described by a cue sheet is stored in one or more files referenced by the cue sheet. The data files may be audio files (commonly in MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
or WAV
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
format), or plain disc images (sometimes with a ".bin" extension). Cue sheets also specify track lengths, and CD-Text
CD-Text
CD-Text is an extension of the Red Book Compact Disc specifications standard for audio CDs. It allows for storage of additional information on a standards-compliant audio CD...
including track and disc titles and performers. They are especially useful when dividing audio stored in a single file into multiple songs or tracks.
The name "cue sheet" originates from the "send cue sheet" SCSI/ATA command
MultiMedia Commands
MultiMedia Commands defines a SCSI/ATA based command set for accessing multimedia features on devices capable of such functionality. T10 subcommittee is responsible for developing it as well as other SCSI command set standards.-See also:...
in optical disc authoring
Optical disc authoring
Optical disc authoring, including DVD and Blu-ray Disc authoring , is the process of assembling source material—video, audio or other data—into the proper logical volume format to then be recorded onto an optical disc .-Process:To burn an optical disc, one usually first creates an...
. The specification for that command defines a cue sheet format containing mostly the same information, but in a tabular, binary data structure, rather than a text file.
Audio file playback
An entire multi-track audio CD may be ripped to a single audio file and a cue sheet. However software audio playerAudio player (software)
An audio player is a kind of media player for playing back digital audio, including optical discs such as CDs, SACDs, DVD-Audio, HDCD, audio files and streaming audio....
s and hardware digital audio players often treat each audio file as a single playlist
Playlist
In its most general form, a playlist is simply a list of songs. They can be played in sequential or shuffled order. The term has several specialized meanings in the realms of radio broadcasting and personal computers.-In radio:...
entry, which can make it difficult to select and identify the individual tracks. A common solution is to split the original audio file into a series of separate files, one per track.
Another approach is for the audio player to support the cue sheet directly. This may involve providing a new playlist (for example, an extra window) for the contents of the cue sheet, or adding an entry for each track directly into the main playlist.
Cue sheet syntax
A cue sheet is a plain textPlain text
In computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....
file containing commands with one or more parameters. The commands usually apply either to the whole disc or to an individual track, depending on the particular command and the context. They may describe the layout of data to be written, or CD-Text
CD-Text
CD-Text is an extension of the Red Book Compact Disc specifications standard for audio CDs. It allows for storage of additional information on a standards-compliant audio CD...
(metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
). The original specification of the cue sheet syntax and semantics appears in the CDRWIN User Guide.
The standard commands are:
Essential commands
- FILE
- Names a file containing the data and its format (such as MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, and WAVWAVWaveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
audio file formatAudio file formatAn audio file format is a file format for storing digital audio data on a computer system. This data can be stored uncompressed, or compressed to reduce the file size. It can be a raw bitstream, but it is usually a container format or an audio data format with defined storage layer.-Types of...
s, and plain "binary" disc images)
- Names a file containing the data and its format (such as MP3
- TRACK
- Defines a trackTrack (CD)On an optical disc, a track or title is a subdivision of its content. Specifically, it is a consecutive set of sectors on the disc containing a block of data. One session may contain one or more tracks of the same or different types...
context, providing its number and type or mode (for instance AUDIO or various CD-ROMCD-ROMA CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
modes). Some commands that follow this command apply to the track rather than the entire disc.
- Defines a track
- INDEX
- Indicates an index (position) within the current FILE. The position is specified in mm:ss:ff (minute-second-frame) format. There are 75 such frames per second of audio. In the context of cue sheets, "frames" refer to CD sectors, despite a different, lower-level structure in CDs also being known as frames. INDEX 01 denotes the start of the track, while INDEX 00 denotes the pregapPregapThe pregap on a Red Book audio CD is the portion of the audio track that precedes "index 01" for a given track in the table of contents . The pregap is typically two seconds long and usually, but not always, contains silence...
. The pregap of Track 1 is used for Hidden Track One Audio (HTOA).
- Indicates an index (position) within the current FILE. The position is specified in mm:ss:ff (minute-second-frame) format. There are 75 such frames per second of audio. In the context of cue sheets, "frames" refer to CD sectors, despite a different, lower-level structure in CDs also being known as frames. INDEX 01 denotes the start of the track, while INDEX 00 denotes the pregap
- PREGAP and POSTGAP
- Indicates the length of a track's pregapPregapThe pregap on a Red Book audio CD is the portion of the audio track that precedes "index 01" for a given track in the table of contents . The pregap is typically two seconds long and usually, but not always, contains silence...
or postgap, which is not stored in any data file. The length is specified in the same minute-second-frame format as for INDEX.
- Indicates the length of a track's pregap
CD-Text and other metadata commands
- REM
- Adds a comment that usually has no bearing on the written CD at all, with the exception of some applications that use it to store additional metadataMetadataThe term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
(e.g. Exact Audio CopyExact Audio CopyExact Audio Copy is a proprietary CD ripping program for Microsoft Windows. It has also been tested to work under newer versions of Wine on Linux...
writes some additional fields, which foobar2000Foobar2000foobar2000 is a freeware audio player for Windows developed by Peter Pawlowski, a former freelance contractor for Nullsoft. It is known for its highly modular design and extensive SDK which allows third-party developers to do such things as completely replace the interface...
can read)
- Adds a comment that usually has no bearing on the written CD at all, with the exception of some applications that use it to store additional metadata
- CDTEXTFILE
- Identifies a file containing CD-TextCD-TextCD-Text is an extension of the Red Book Compact Disc specifications standard for audio CDs. It allows for storage of additional information on a standards-compliant audio CD...
information
- Identifies a file containing CD-Text
- FLAGS
- Sets subcode flags of a track
- CATALOG
- Contains the UPCUniversal Product CodeThe Universal Product Code is a barcode symbology , that is widely used in North America, and in countries including the UK, Australia, and New Zealand for tracking trade items in stores. Its most common form, the UPC-A, consists of 12 numerical digits, which are uniquely assigned to each trade item...
/EANEuropean Article NumberAn EAN-13 barcode is a 13 digit barcoding standard which is a superset of the original 12-digit Universal Product Code system developed in the United States...
code of the disc
- Contains the UPC
- ISRC
- Define the ISRC of the current TRACK
- TITLE, PERFORMER and SONGWRITER
- CD-TextCD-TextCD-Text is an extension of the Red Book Compact Disc specifications standard for audio CDs. It allows for storage of additional information on a standards-compliant audio CD...
metadata; applies to the whole disc or a specific track, depending on the context
- CD-Text
Non-standard cue sheets
CD ripping programs normally offer the option of creating a separate file for each audio track, with the (pre)gap portion of a track placed at the end of the preceding track's file. This coincides with normal playback operation — the beginning of each file is the beginning of a track, not the gap preceding it — and with the layout described in the disc's table of contents, which doesn't specify gap information at all.The cue sheet format, as specified in the CDRWIN Users Manual, doesn't support file sets of this type; rather, it's designed with the expectation that all of the audio data exists in a single file (CDRWIN only creates cue sheets for that kind of rip) or in separate files, but only with the gap portions of the audio either removed or placed at the beginning of the files.
In order to allow cue sheets to be used to burn a CD from ordinary file sets which have the gap portion at the end of each file, the CD ripping & burning program Exact Audio Copy
Exact Audio Copy
Exact Audio Copy is a proprietary CD ripping program for Microsoft Windows. It has also been tested to work under newer versions of Wine on Linux...
(EAC) allows the creation of cue sheets that relax the CDRWIN Users Manual's restriction on where FILE commands can be used. This non-conforming cue sheet format, intended only for burning CDs with EAC, isn't supported by some other pieces of software, such as the media player foobar2000
Foobar2000
foobar2000 is a freeware audio player for Windows developed by Peter Pawlowski, a former freelance contractor for Nullsoft. It is known for its highly modular design and extensive SDK which allows third-party developers to do such things as completely replace the interface...
, which allows to use cue sheets as playlists.
Examples
The MP3 file "Faithless - Live in Berlin.mp3", contains a live recording of the band FaithlessFaithless
Faithless were a British electronica band consisting of Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo. The group is best known for their dance songs . Faithless recorded six albums. During their career they sold over 15 million records worldwide...
. At this concert, Faithless performed eight songs in the order shown below. Therefore, the track listing is as follows:
- Faithless – Reverence
- Faithless – She's My Baby
- Faithless – Take the Long Way Home
- Faithless – Insomnia
- Faithless – Bring the Family Back
- Faithless – Salva Mea
- Faithless – Dirty Old Man
- Faithless – God Is a DJ
Since the MP3 is one file containing the entire performance, burning it to a CD as-is would make it inconvenient to skip to individual songs. To design the cue sheet, one must first find the points in the MP3 at which each song starts. The times are cumulative: each track must have a later time than the previous one.
The first three lines denote the disc information. This is followed by the information for each track, indented from the rest. The INDEX 01 line reads the same for each track, with the exception of the time value that follows it. REM, TITLE and PERFORMER are optional.
REM GENRE "Electronica"
REM DATE "1998"
PERFORMER "Faithless"
TITLE "Live in Berlin"
FILE "Faithless - Live in Berlin.mp3" MP3
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "Reverence"
PERFORMER "Faithless"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "She's My Baby"
PERFORMER "Faithless"
INDEX 01 06:42:00
TRACK 03 AUDIO
TITLE "Take the Long Way Home"
PERFORMER "Faithless"
INDEX 01 10:54:00
TRACK 04 AUDIO
TITLE "Insomnia"
PERFORMER "Faithless"
INDEX 01 17:04:00
TRACK 05 AUDIO
TITLE "Bring the Family Back"
PERFORMER "Faithless"
INDEX 01 25:44:00
TRACK 06 AUDIO
TITLE "Salva Mea"
PERFORMER "Faithless"
INDEX 01 30:50:00
TRACK 07 AUDIO
TITLE "Dirty Old Man"
PERFORMER "Faithless"
INDEX 01 38:24:00
TRACK 08 AUDIO
TITLE "God Is a DJ"
PERFORMER "Faithless"
INDEX 01 42:35:00
An example of a cue sheet used in conjunction with a CD image file:
FILE "sampleimage.bin" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE1/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
See also
- XSPFXSPFXML Shareable Playlist Format , pronounced spiff, is an XML-based playlist format for digital media, sponsored by the Xiph.Org Foundation....
- Comparison of audio player software#Metadata capability
- Comparison of video player software#Metadata capability
- Comparison of disc authoring softwareComparison of disc authoring softwareThis comparison of disc authoring software compares different optical disc authoring software.-General information:Basic general information about the application.- Operating system support :...
- MusicBrainz PicardMusicBrainz PicardMusicBrainz Picard is a cross-platform MusicBrainz tag editor written in Python. Picard replaced an earlier "Classic" tagger is intended to be the next generation of tagger for MusicBrainz, with a focus on album-oriented tagging and cross platform compatibility.Since version 0.7.0, MusicBrainz...
- mp3spltMp3spltLibmp3splt is a free digital audio splitter library that runs on Linux, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. The source code for libmp3splt is released under the GNU General Public License. Libmp3splt is a library based on mp3splt...
External links
- Cue Sheet section of digitalx.org web site
- Cuesheet Tutorial A detailed tutorial describing what cue sheets are, and how to use them.