Ripping on Windows

Make sure to download the latest version of Exact Audio Copy.

Tip

Skip to Ripping if you already have everything setup and wish to skip to the ripping part of the guide.

Warning

Possible causes for "File Creation Error" are the following:

The path of a track file is longer than 255 characters. (Shorten artist/album/title values...)
The filename of a track file begins with a space character. (Remove beginning spaces...)
The drive is not capable of retrieving UPC/ISRC codes. (Disable in drive settings...)

Warning

When WinFSP (often installed for Rclone) is installed opening any filesystem dialog from EAC will immediately crash the program (#162). To fix the issue either uninstall WinFSP or run fix162.bat.

Setup

The following should be done once when setting up the program.

1. Install

Uncheck the paid metadata plugin.

2. Launch

Cancel the setup wizard as we will configure everything manually.

Upon inserting the most popular disc you own in the drive, the AccurateRip dialog should appear. If it does not appear skip this step for now, otherwise proceed to configure AccurateRip, depending on the result you might need to insert multiple discs and repeat this step.

3. EAC Options

Open EAC options...

Normalization should never be used as it irreversibly modifies the data, which guarantees an inaccurate rip. Non-destructive ReplayGain can be applied to the tracks after ripping instead.

The following track naming scheme (%cdnumber%-%tracknr2%. %title%) is recommended for all rips. Do not include folder parts in the scheme as the generated cuesheet will get messed up.

Remove all character replacements. Original titles are always available from the file tags, replacing characters in filenames, especially with similar symbols, causes unnessecary confusion when performing file operations.

4. Drive Options

Open drive options...

Autodetect the read command.

If you could not configure AccurateRip earlier in the guide find the offset for your drive from the AccurateRip Drive Offsets page and set it as the read sample offset correction.

5. Compression Options

Open compression options...

Additional command-line options:
-8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "YEAR=%year%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "DISCTOTAL=%totalcds%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "TRACKTOTAL=%numtracks%" %source% -o %dest%

6. Metadata Options

Open metadata options...

Pick the CUETools DB Metadata Plugin and proceed to configure it. If you submit metadata and disc ids to MusicBrainz before ripping, pick the MusicBrainz Metadata Plugin instead.

Pick large cover search mode, otherwise it'll only find thumbnails.

Use any random email.

Ripping

The following should be done for every rip.

1. Prerip

After inserting a disc the following metadata should be properly filled out: CD Title, CD Artist, Year, Title, Artist, Number of CDs, CD Number.

If no metadata was found automatically click on the caret to the left of the mailbox in the top-left corner to change the data source and then click the icon to fetch metadata from that source.

2. Midrip

Danger

To rip a hidden track (when the first track is highlighted in red) you must first rip the disc normally by the guide, then proceed to range rip (Action -> Copy Range -> Compressed...) from block 0 to block [start sector of first track] - 1.

It's recommended for the folder name to simple and be consistent, for example Album Artist - Album Title (Year) {Cat. No}.

Warning

Make sure to pick a folder that won't leave any personal information in the path as it will be added to the generated rip log.

Tip

When ripping multiple discs select the same folder and be sure to update the CD Number in the bottom-right corner of the main window.

3. Postrip

Check the rip log with a logchecker. See Ripping CDs
Add a high quality cover. See Finding Artwork
Make scans of your physical release. See Scanning Media

Salty | Created 2021/10/04 | Updated 2022/10/29