EAC placeholders
Exact Audio Copy provides numerous placeholders to be used when invoking a command-line encoder and when naming output files.
Beginning with EAC version 1.0 beta 2, the naming scheme for placeholders was revamped, necessitating that users moving to this new version revise their command lines. Both old and new lists of placeholders and their meanings have long been available in the official EAC FAQ and in several of the Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase’s own Guides; however, there was no easy way to look up values and to compare them between different versions.
Moreover, confusion can arise from the fact that versions of EAC prior to 1.0b2 used different placeholders for naming the output file compared to those for passing to the external encoder. These two sets of placeholders do not correspond, but they are similar enough to get mixed up.
For these reasons, as well as for general convenience and ease of use, this page intends to simplify the processes of using placeholders, including comparing/substituting them between versions, by collating all of those listed by the EAC FAQ into a single table.
| Property | External Compression placeholders pre-1.0b2 | External Compression placeholders in 1.0b2 and later | Filename placeholders pre-1.0b2 | Filename placeholders in 1.0b2 and later |
| Files | ||||
| Source filename | %s | %source% | ||
| Destination filename | %d | %dest% | ||
| Original filename (without temporary renaming) | %o | %original% | ||
| Quality settings | ||||
| Text “…” only when “High quality” selected | %h…%h | %ishigh%…%ishigh% | ||
| Text “…” only when “Low quality” selected | %l…%l | %islow%…%islow% | ||
| Common metadata | ||||
| Track artist | %a | %artist% | %A | %artist% |
| Track title | %t | %title% | %T | %title% |
| CD artist | %v | %albumartist% | %D | %albumartist% |
| CD title | %g | %albumtitle% | %C | %albumtitle% |
| Track composer/performer | %composer% | %composer% | ||
| CD composer | %albumcomposer% | %albumcomposer% | ||
| CD performer | %albuminterpret% | %albuminterpret% | ||
| Year | %y | %year% | %Y | %year% |
| Track number | %n | %tracknr% (same as %tracknr2%) | %N | |
| Track number (at least 1 digit) | %tracknr1% | %tracknr1% | ||
| Track number (at least 2 digits) | %tracknr2% | %tracknr2% | ||
| Track number (at least 3 digits) | %tracknr3% | %tracknr3% | ||
| Total number of CDs in the given CD set | %totalcds% | %totalcds% | ||
| Number of the CD | %cdnumber% | %cdnumber% | ||
| Number of tracks on album | %x | %numtracks% | %numtracks% | |
| MP3 music genre | %m | %genre% | %I | %genre% |
| freedb music type | %B | %cddbtype% | ||
| Comment (as selected in EAC) | %e | %comment% | %comment% | |
| Album artwork | ||||
| Text “…” only when storing CD cover is enabled | %j…%j | %hascover%…%hascover% (only when storing CD cover is enabled and cover exists) | ||
| Filename of CD cover image | %i | %coverfile% | ||
| Lyrics | ||||
| Text “…” only when lyrics exist | %haslyrics%…%haslyrics% | |||
| Lyrics | %lyrics% | |||
| Filename of lyrics text file (ANSI) | %lyricsfile% | |||
| Other information | ||||
| Text “…” only when “CRC checksum” selected | %c…%c | %crcenabled%…%crcenabled% | ||
| CRC of extracted track | %b | %trackcrc% | ||
| Track duration (minutes part) | %lengthmin% | |||
| Track duration (seconds part) | %lengthsec% | |||
| Bitrate (“32″..”320″) [set in Compression Options] | %r | %bitrate% | ||
| freedb ID | %f | %cddbid% | %F | %cddbid% |
| The ‘%’ character | %% | %% |