Audio mode
Overview
Section titled “Overview”Audio mode is designed for music and other audio files. It can match by comparing the sound itself for similarities, or by the tags embedded in the files (song title, artist and so on).
Audio tags are usually provided with a song download, or created by a CD-ripping program.
Supported file types include .mp3, .m4a, .aac, .flac, .ogg, .opus, .wav, .wma,
.aiff, .ape, .wv and .dsf. The full list is shown under All file extensions in
Search filters. All other file types in the scan are ignored.
Audio match settings
Section titled “Audio match settings”This controls how the audio is compared. There are several preset modes:
- Exact match - The exact audio data is compared, ignoring tags. The audio must match exactly - with identical format, length and compression.
- Similar - compare first 2 minutes - The first two minutes of audio are compared for similarity. Small differences in length, quality and content are acceptable. Tags are ignored.
- Similar - compare full file (slower) - The whole of each file is compared for similarity. Small differences in length, quality and content are acceptable. Tags are ignored.
- Similar -quick match (compare first 15 seconds) - The first 15 seconds of audio are compared for similarity. Small differences in length, quality and content are acceptable. Tags are ignored.
- Custom - Set your own similar audio matching:
- Length to compare - How many seconds from the start of each file to compare.
- Compare full file - Compare the whole file instead.
- Match threshold - How closely the audio must match, out of 100. Higher is stricter.
- Ignore content (match by tags or attributes) - Files are matched using only their audio metadata (artist, title, etc). Useful on a fully tagged collection. Set the fields to match in the Metadata section.
Match length
Section titled “Match length”Match the duration of the audio files, within a set Tolerance.
Metadata
Section titled “Metadata”Audio mode can show and match audio tags, such as Title, Album, Artist, Year, Genre and Bit rate.
For instance, if Artist and Title are set to be matched then two or more tracks with matching Artist AND Title will be grouped as duplicates. Tags shown in the results can then be used with the Selection Assistant to help mark files - for example to keep the copy with the highest bit rate. See Metadata.
You can listen to the files in the results with the Media player.