A practical community standard for extremely high quality audio archiving
This specification defines the current best practice in high quality audio archiving. Audio CD rips; "Über Music" created in compliance with this standard are of guaranteed consistency and perceptual transparency, and vastly exceed the poor compromises of other formats. ÜberStandard rips feature outstanding audio quality at very manageable sizes using the de-facto standard LAME MP3 (MPEG I Audio Layer 3) encoder.
This specification was conceived and compiled by, and with the help of, the founders, admins and users, past and present, of UberStandard.org community, formerly UberNet.org. It is considered roughly canonical and complete; if you have any corrections or improvements, contact us.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 (See also: Key Word Meanings).
Fundamentals and Common Mistakes
- All discs ripped MUST be original and authentic. NO CD-Rs, CD-RWs or pirate silvers (copies pressed by large-scale pirates). NO emulated "image drives". (Generation loss WILL happen, and is VERY un-Über.)
- So-called "Copy Controlled" CDs may need extra care. Clean them well, use a Recommended Drive if possible, and do not scratch them.
- freedb's track listings are very often wrong (typos, errors, etc). You MUST check and correct the track titles (done like renaming a file) before you begin ripping. (See also: freedb Typos.)
Ripping Standard
- Discs MUST be ripped with Exact Audio Copy.
- The version of EAC used SHOULD be 0.95 beta 4. It is possible that improvements to EAC will be implemented, but for the foreseeable future, this is the version to use even if it isn't the newest. The ÜberStandard will be updated if and when it is decided that a new release produces superior results. If you do install a newer version and wish to go back to 0.95b4, you must delete the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AWSoftware using regedit.exe so that 0.95b4 doesn't crash.
- The Read Mode used MUST be EXACTLY: "Secure with NO C2" as listed in the log file (follow the Über Guide to learn how to set this, as it is not as obvious as it seems).
- EAC's ripping .LOG file MUST be saved with the MP3s to verify the integrity of the rip.
- All audio tracks (even silent tracks) MUST be ripped.
- Suspicious positions or sync or read errors MUST NOT be allowed (they indicate unrecoverable errors; try cleaning the disc and re-ripping.
- Read offset MAY be used (but MUST be correct if it is, and MUST be 0 if unknown). Read offset MUST NOT be determined using EAC, it will give wrong results! Instead, use the tables at AccurateRip.com. If using a read offset, Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out MUST be used if the drive can properly support it. (Detect this with EAC, double check by ripping something as a test - if you see clicks at the start or end of tracks, your drive does not support it.) Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out MUST NOT be used if the drive cannot support it. (Do not tick that box if you are not **SURE** - Plextors are the usual ones that can.) Combined read/write offset MUST NOT be used (but does no harm only if set to 0).
- Normalization MUST NOT be used.
- The "Native Win32 interface" SHOULD be used under Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista or later. (This prevents 99% of EAC-doesn't-work problems before they start) If the SPTI interface that comes with windows is unavailable, (unlikely) then the Ahead Nero ASPI driver file (wnaspi32.dll) MAY be copied into the EAC folder, and the "Installed external ASPI interface" option used instead.
- Synchronize between tracks MUST be used.
- Skip track extraction on read or sync errors MUST be used.
- Error recovery quality SHOULD be set to High.
- Delete leading and trailing silent blocks MUST NOT be used.
- A compression offset MUST NOT be used.
Some "copy controlled" (copy protected) discs, which are usually labeled externally with the logo (international standard trademark of IFPI) shown on the right, may require special voodoo, or just a very good quality drive (see Recommended Drives for details), to rip correctly, and may not even play on normal CD players (especially if scratched). They may even contain intentional errors, which EAC is not able to detect on some drives. If these errors creep into one of your rips, you MUST delete them and try again; the logo is fair warning enough for you to pay special attention to this disc and double-check the results.
Encoding Standard
- MP3s MUST be encoded with:
- LAME MP3 Encoder version 3.98. You MUST use this version for all new rips. If you have older rips made with a previous version of LAME such as 3.90, there is no need to re-rip those discs as encoder improvements since then have been minor. Because of the finite sensitivity of human ears, and because of the theoretical upper limit on the amount of compression that can be achieved without degrading quality below the threshold of perceptual transparency, it is extremely unlikely that a revolution in encoding technology will ever warrant re-ripping discs encoded since version 3.90 provided that they were properly ripped using EAC's Secure Mode in the first place.
- The "Parameter passing scheme" MUST be:
- "User Defined Encoder"
- The MP3s MUST be encoded with the following command line:
- "-V2 %s %d"
- See also: FLAC, MP3, Vorbis and the Future of Encoding.
Metadata Standard
- All audio files MUST include correct metadata tags.
- MP3 files MUST include valid ID3v1.1 and ID3v2.3.0 tags, and MUST NOT include any other tag formats. (The metadata MUST be consistent, allowing for technical limitations, between the two tag types.)
- Track number MUST be present and correct, MUST be correct per CD (no run-ons for multiple discs) and SHOULD be in the zero-padded, no-total, numeric format: 01, 02, 03, 04. (NOT 1, 2, 3, 4 and NOT 01/04, 02/04, 03/04, 04/04.)
- Track title MUST be present and correct (as far as is possible). (Untitled) is the standard for tracks with no title.
- Artist MUST be present and correct (as far as is possible), even for Various Artists albums.
- VARIOUS ARTISTS: Enable Various Artists checkbox in the "EAC Options" menu under the "Filename" tab. Then, in the "Compression Options" menu under the "ID3 Tag" tab, the box labeled "Construction of filenames from ID3 tags" should read "%T - %A". Doing this incorrectly results in files named 01 - Artist - Title - Artist - Title.mp3. Doing it correctly, on the other hand, results in all files in a VA album having correct metadata for every track.
- ÜberStandard is not a library. Do not tag as "Last Name, First Name", and if there is a "The" in the artist name, include it. The Beatles should be "The Beatles", not "Beatles, The" or "Beatles". The Chemical Brothers. The Prodigy. It's not "Who", or "Who, The" but "The Who". David Bowie should not be "Bowie, David". You will find that, in the grand scheme of things, this actually works better for sorting, especially in the presence of applications that are aware of this, and also given the existence of a group named "The The". AllMusic.com does it this way (or tries to), although sometimes the groups themselves are inconsistent!
- Album (disc title) MUST be present and correct (as far as is possible). There are several conventions used for this, which MUST be adhered to wherever possible:
- Soundtracks are NOT to be named with a suffix like "Soundtrack" or "(OST)". The Album tag simply contains the title of the production, example:
Spiderman
Garden State
When Audiophiles Attack: The Movie - Singles and EPs are denoted in parentheses:
Indier Than Thou (Single)
Though exactly what a Single vs. EP vs. Album is, is a cause of confusion amongst many... See also: Disc Classification
6 Strange Things To Do With A Synth (EP) - Albums or compilations comprising multiple discs (not necessarily volumes!) MUST be tagged indicating the disc number, with no leading zero, in parentheses with a "Disc" indicator, following the album title and any classification like this: (Disc <discnum>), example:
The Most Mediocre Album In The World... Ever! (Disc 1)
And so on - NOT (Disc 1 of 4), (Disc 1/4), (Disc 01), Disc (NOT Disk or CD). Use normal parentheses () NOT a hyphen - or square brackets []. Multiple volumes do not count, but multiple discs within a volume do; if they come in the same CD case they probably count. If the different discs of a collection have names, this MAY be noted as a disc subtitle following that marker, also in parentheses, in the following format:
The Most Mediocre Album In The World... Ever! (Disc 2)Cygnus X - Collected Works (Disc 1) (Original Works)
- Variant releases of a disc MUST be indicated in square brackets: [Like So].. Variant releases are packs such as special editions, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs 24-karat gold UltraDisc remasters (often considered the best remasters, conventional remasters (which must include the year if possible, as shown), special regional releases such as Japan-only releases, some promotional releases, clean (edited) versions. Specifically: A release is a variant if multiple versions exist with differing content. (Note particularly: if an album was only ever released as, for example, a promotional item, it is not a variant, it's the only version there is, and thus SHOULD NOT carry a "[Promo]".) A change in the packaging is not enough; a change in the content in any way, such as bonus tracks or remastering, is. Here are some real-world examples:
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon [MFSL UltraDisc II UDCD 517]
Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell [MasterSound Limited Edition]
Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan - Silence (Single) (Disc 1) [Nettwerk UK]
Slipknot - Slipknot [Digipak]
Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin [Bonus Track]
Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters [UK]
- Soundtracks are NOT to be named with a suffix like "Soundtrack" or "(OST)". The Album tag simply contains the title of the production, example:
- Year MUST be present (unless it absolutely cannot be determined). It MUST be correct if present, and should be determined from the AllMusic.com or Discogs.com if possible, otherwise should be the (P) date on the disc or packaging, or failing that the (C) date, if available.
- Genre MAY be included, and SHOULD be correct if present, but also SHOULD be from the pre-set ID3v1.1 lists (we suggest consulting AllMusic.com or Discogs.com and picking a Style that is in the list, or failing that, using the more general Genre). (In any case, if Genre is subdivided too closely, people merely start disagreeing about classification more intensely.)
- All these fields MUST be accurate, free from typographical errors, correctly spelled and capitalized appropriately. This is critical. It also often requires human judgment. The freedb database is frequently inaccurate and contains literally millions of typographical errors. Even AllMusic.com and Discogs.com make mistakes, and many supplied tags do not conform to the standard; yours MUST. ALWAYS double-check the tagging BEFORE you begin extraction! (See also: Correct MP3 Capitalization)
Collection Layout Standard
- The files MUST be organized in directories, one CD per directory, with no missing tracks, including the .M3U and .LOG file.
- Covers MAY be included in JPG, GIF, or PNG format. The file sizes of such covers SHOULD be kept reasonable, reasonable typically meaning well under 1MB, and probably below 400KB mark. You MAY use a small thumbnail file of the front cover as the folder.jpg/folder.gif/folder.png as that is typically the use of that file, however you MUST ensure the front cover is accurately represented, i.e., the covers MUST NOT be of the wrong album or release. You do not have to scan them yourself, though because of regional variations in the licensing of CDs and their track listing and artwork, it is suggested you do not add cover artwork in the case where you are not the original ripper.
- No other files SHOULD appear. Executable or potentially executable file types (even HTML or MHT) or unencoded WAVs MUST NOT appear.
- Directory path names SHOULD NOT include unnecessary accented characters such as Ü, as these introduce undesirable side effects with client transfers. Briefly, though, substituting the obvious things from the tags exactly as above (where possible, as some characters are disallowed in filenames e.g., /, , ", *, $, | and 0xFF (ÿ), and some others not listed - and yes, Album includes the Disc numbers and type markers etc.), one of the following naming templates MUST be used, and SHOULD be used consistently throughout a collection:
Artist - Year - Album\Track - Title.mp3 (RECOMMENDED)
Or, for discs with Various Artists:
Artist - Album\Artist - Album - Track - Title.mp3
Artist - Year - Album\Artist - Album - Track - Title.mp3
Artist - Album\Artist - Album - Track - Title.mp3
Artist - (Year) - Album\Artist - Album - Track - Title.mp3
Artist - Album\Artist - Track - Title.mp3
Artist - Year - Album\Artist - Track - Title.mp3
Artist - (Year) - Album\Artist - Track - Title.mp3
Artist - Album\Track - Title.mp3
Artist - (Year) - Album\Track - Title.mp3Album - Year\Track - Artist - Title.mp3 (RECOMMENDED)
Album\Album - Track - Artist - Title.mp3
Album - Year\Album - Track - Artist - Title.mp3
Album - (Year)\Album - Track - Artist - Title.mp3
Album\Track - Artist - Title.mp3
Album - (Year)\Track - Artist - Title.mp3 - M3U files MUST be named:
Artist - Album.m3u
OrAlbum.m3u
- LOG files MUST be named:
Artist - Album.log
OrAlbum.log
The IFPI "Copy Control" logo is a trademark of the IFPI. This standard may be freely copied, adopted and attributed. Thank You - enjoy.