cuebreakpoints

extract track split points from CUE sheets

TLDR

Extract breakpoints from a CUE sheet

$ cuebreakpoints [file.cue]

Output in samples format

$ cuebreakpoints --input-format samples [file.cue]

Prepend 2-second gaps

$ cuebreakpoints --prepend-gaps [file.cue]

Append gaps to previous track

$ cuebreakpoints --append-gaps [file.cue]

Output for use with shnsplit

$ cuebreakpoints [file.cue] | shnsplit -o flac [file.wav]

SYNOPSIS

cuebreakpoints [options] file.cue

cuebreakpoints reads a CUE sheet file and outputs the track split points in a format suitable for audio splitting tools like shnsplit. CUE sheets describe how an audio CD is divided into tracks, including exact frame positions.The output is a list of timestamps in mm:ss.ff format (minutes:seconds.frames at 75 fps) representing where each track begins. This information is piped to splitting tools to divide a single audio file into individual tracks.Gap handling options control how the silence between tracks is distributed. Different ripping/encoding workflows may require gaps prepended, appended, or split between adjacent tracks.

PARAMETERS

--input-format format

Input time format: cue (default) or samples.

--prepend-gaps

Prepend track gaps to each track.

--append-gaps

Append gaps to previous track (except track 1 pregap).

--split-gaps

Split gaps between tracks.

--help

Display help.

--version

Display version.

INSTALL

sudo apt install cuetools

sudo dnf install cuetools

sudo pacman -S cuetools

sudo apk add cuetools

brew install cuetools

nix profile install nixpkgs#cuetools

CAVEATS

CUE sheet must match the audio file exactly (sample-accurate). Incorrect CUE files produce wrong splits. Only works with single-file images; multi-file CUEs don't need splitting. The cuetools package must be installed.

HISTORY

cuebreakpoints is part of cuetools, a set of utilities for working with CUE sheets created by Svend Sorensen. The tools were developed in the mid-2000s to help process CD images, particularly for converting single-file rips (common with Exact Audio Copy) into individual tracks while preserving accurate metadata.