Cuesheets (or "cue sheets") are used to provide index information for a large audio file. They are generally used in conjunction with either extracting from, or burning to, CD. Cuesheets have the file extension ".cue", and are simple plain text files.

The cuesheet may contain metadata (e.g.: TITLE and PERFORMER statements), but must contain information regarding the file(s) referenced by the cuesheet (FILE command) and the TRACK and INDEX points within the file. INDEX points are specified using the MM:SS:FF format, where MM is the number of minutes, SS the number of seconds, and FF the number of frames (there are seventy five frames to one second).

The cuesheet has become popular thanks to EAC users who rip CDs to one image file, with an accompanying cuesheet. EAC can create four different cuesheet layouts, three for use with separate track files (a cuesheet may reference more than one file), but the single file cuesheet is most likely the more popular.

Cuesheets can be used when writing data to discs, as well as audio CDs. This document focuses solely on the audio-related commands.

The Background

The cuesheet format was invented by Jeff Arnold of GoldenHawk Technology for use with his DAO (Disc At Once) and CDRWIN applications. The format has since been adopted as the de facto standard, and is used by various other applications, including foobar2000. The official cuesheet specification is widely accepted to be Appendix A of the CDRWIN User's Guide.

The name is taken from the SEND CUE SHEET command, when a cuesheet describing the disc layout must be sent to the drive before writing starts in SAO write mode. The drive writes to the disc, using the cuesheet information to generate the P and Q subchannel data, and to retrieve the format and block size of the data transfered with the WRITE command.

Text adapted from a post by Martin H.

Cuesheet Commands

The following commands are detailed in the Appendix A of the CDRWIN User's Guide:

CATALOG
CDTEXTFILE
FILE
FLAGS
INDEX
ISRC
PERFORMER
POSTGAP
PREGAP
REM
SONGWRITER
TITLE
TRACK

The following are those most often used:

Command	Description
FILE	The FILE command specifies the file that the cuesheet is currently referencing. Valid file types are WAVE, MP3 and AIFF, although other formats, e.g.: lossless formats like WavPack and FLAC, can also be used under the WAVE file type.
INDEX	A number between 00 and 99. Index points are specified in MM:SS:FF format, and are relative to the start of the file currently referenced. INDEX 01 commands specify the beginning of a new track. INDEX 00 commands specify the pre-gap of a track; you may notice your CD player count up from a negative value before beginning a new track - this is the period between INDEX 00 and INDEX 01.
PERFORMER	At top-level this will specify the CD artist, while at track-level it specifies the track artist.
PREGAP	Used to specify the length of a track pre-gap, in MM:SS:FF format.
REM	Used to record comments in a cuesheet. This command is often used to store additional meta data to TITLE and PERFORMER, e.g.: the date or genre of the disc.
TITLE	At top-level this will specify the album name, while at track-level it specifies the track name.
TRACK	A number between 0 and 99, indicating the track number.

Example Cuesheet

REM GENRE Ska
REM DATE 1991
REM DISCID D00DA810
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v0.95b4"
PERFORMER "The Specials"
TITLE "Singles"
FILE "The Specials - Singles.wav" WAVE
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "Gangsters"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "Rudi, A Message To You"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 02:47:74
    INDEX 01 02:48:27
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "Nite Klub"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 05:41:50
    INDEX 01 05:42:27
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "Too Much Too Young"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 08:53:47
    INDEX 01 08:54:37
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
    TITLE "Guns Of Navarone"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 10:59:20
    INDEX 01 11:00:17
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
    TITLE "Rat Race"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 13:20:55
    INDEX 01 13:20:67
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
    TITLE "Stereotype"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 16:29:67
    INDEX 01 16:30:30
  TRACK 08 AUDIO
    TITLE "International Jet Set"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 20:19:27
    INDEX 01 20:20:20
  TRACK 09 AUDIO
    TITLE "Do Nothing"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 24:30:70
    INDEX 01 24:32:27
  TRACK 10 AUDIO
    TITLE "Ghost Town"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 28:23:30
    INDEX 01 28:23:42
  TRACK 11 AUDIO
    TITLE "Why?"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 34:21:37
    INDEX 01 34:21:47
  TRACK 12 AUDIO
    TITLE "Friday Night, Saturday Morning"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 38:16:50
    INDEX 01 38:16:55
  TRACK 13 AUDIO
    TITLE "War Crimes"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 41:50:07
    INDEX 01 41:51:00
  TRACK 14 AUDIO
    TITLE "Racist Friend"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 45:50:55
    INDEX 01 45:51:72
  TRACK 15 AUDIO
    TITLE "Nelson Mandela"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 49:35:55
    INDEX 01 49:38:22
  TRACK 16 AUDIO
    TITLE "(What I Like Most About You Is Your) Girlfriend"
    PERFORMER "The Specials"
    INDEX 00 54:11:00
    INDEX 01 54:12:40

Useful Applications

Playing

foobar2000

Splitting

Joining

CueMake
foobar2000: http://www.foobar2000.org/

Creating

foobar2000: http://www.foobar2000.org/
Goldwave: http://www.goldwave.com/
Wave Repair: http://www.waverepair.com/
CueMaster: http://cuemaster.host.sk/
CueTools: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=41476

Other

Links

Internal

Gap Settings

EAC Cuesheets

External

Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cue_sheet
The Goldenhawk website: http://www.goldenhawk.com/