What is CUE sheet ?

[Ananias]

hello everyone,

I want to know what do you mean by CUE sheet ? and how it is created ? I am using Windows XP. Is it possible for me to create CUE sheet ? Does anybody have any ideas regarding this....plz help

thanx

[Glenny]

A cue sheet, or cue file, is a metadata file which describes how the tracks 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.

For an audio CD, a cue sheet specifies titles and performers for the disc and its tracks as well as the names of one or more audio files to be used. MP3, WAV and BIN files are often used, although some programs support other formats. Cue sheets are especially useful when burning or listening to live sets where all tracks are recorded in one file.

Cue sheets are also used for many types of CDs in conjunction with an image file. The image file generally has a ".bin" extension.

[chroma]

CUE sheet is a special file that contains information about tracks in a continuous audio file. Suppose that you have a large MP3 file with a whole album of some band. Tracks are not separated, which makes searching for particular songs quite difficult. However, you are lucky if you have a small supplement to your MP3 file - a CUE sheet.
You can load the CUE file into some media player and see tracks, their names etc. You can also easily burn the file to create Audio CD with tracks. No need to cut the big file.

You can easily create CUE sheet. Let's consider how this can be done with a program like Visual MP3 Splitter & Joiner.

Step 1: Download and install the program.
Download Visual MP3 Splitter & Joiner to a known location.
Run setup and follow on-screen instructions to install the application.

Step 2: Start the program. Open your audio file.
Launch Visual MP3 Splitter & Joiner.
Click the "Add file" on its toolbar - A usual "Open" system dialog pops up. Browse to the directory where your audio file is stored, select it, click "Open".
The program loads the file and builds its waveform. With big files, it can take several seconds. Use the default zooming level.

Step 3: Mark parts for splitting. Save CUE sheet.
As soon as your file is loaded, you can start marking its tracks. This can be done automatically with the built-in silence detection tool, or you can also mark tracks directly on the waveform using left and right mouse buttons.
After marking a track, don't forget to click the highlighted "Add" button to add it to the split list.
When all tracks are added, click "File", select "Save CUE file".
A usual "Save as" dialog will be shown.
Enter some name for your CUE sheet (usually CUE sheets bear the same names as their main audio files, except for the extension), hit "Save".

Now you can burn your album to Audio CD with a proper tracks system.

The trial version of Visual MP3 Splitter & Joiner creates maximum 5 tracks per file. If you are satisfied with the functionality and quality, you can register the software online and unlock it with provided data.

[ThoMas321]

Cue sheet syntax

A cue sheet is a plain text file containing commands with one or more parameters. These commands describe the data as a whole as well as individual tracks. The most commonly used commands are:

TITLE
At the start: title of the work as a whole.
After a TRACK line: title of the corresponding track.

PERFORMER
At the start: Artist or creator of the work as a whole.
After a TRACK: Artist or creator of the corresponding track.

FILE
Name of a file containing the data.

TRACK
Define a track, providing its number and data type, the lines that follow it, such as INDEX, TITLE and PERFORMER, provide information on this track, and may appear in any order.

INDEX
Indicates the start position within the data where a given track begins, in MMS:FR (minute-second-frame) format (for example, 04:18:63 = 4 minutes, 18 seconds, 63 frames). Note that the maximum allowed value for CDDA frames is 74