CUE Sheets
A CUE sheet describes track boundaries and metadata for referenced disc-image or audio files.
One long audio recording can represent an album with several songs. A CUE sheet describes their positions and names while the sound remains in the referenced file.
FILE "Concert.wav" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "Opening"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "Second song"
INDEX 01 04:30:00
FILE identifies the recording. TRACK starts a disc-track description, TITLE names it, and INDEX 01 identifies its main start. The example does not create a second audio stream or a separate sound file.
Convert the position before using it
CUE time is minutes:seconds:frames at 75 CD frames per second. Those frames are units of disc time, not video pictures or milliseconds.
seconds = minutes × 60 + seconds field + frames ÷ 75
| CUE value | Calculation | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 04:30:00 | 4 × 60 + 30 | 270 s |
| 04:30:30 | 270 + 30/75 | 270.4 s |
| 04:30:74 | 270 + 74/75 | 270.9866… s |
For 44.1 kHz PCM, one 1/75-second disc frame corresponds to 588 sample frames per channel. The 04:30:30 position therefore corresponds to 270.4 × 44,100 = 11,924,640 sample frames. This relationship explains how a disc-oriented boundary can become a precise location in the decoded recording.
Turning a boundary into individual songs
A splitter uses a track's start and the next applicable boundary to select a region of the referenced audio. It writes separate outputs and associates each with the track's descriptions. In contrast, a player interpreting the CUE can offer those regions without physically splitting the long file.
INDEX 00 can describe a pregap position before INDEX 01. Handling that interval is a disc-layout decision: assigning it to the preceding output, the following output, or a separate region produces different file boundaries. Read the actual indexes when the exported songs have unexpected starts or gaps.
This CUE “track” is a region of a recording, unlike a separately selectable movie audio track. For an Emby music collection, establish whether the chosen reader uses those regions or sees the source as one long recording.
If the audio is edited, the positions need to be mapped onto the new timeline. If its filename changes, the FILE reference needs to identify the new location. These operations preserve different relationships: one concerns time and the other concerns access to the recording.