Exact Audio Copy
Exact Audio Copy (EAC) is a CD ripping program for Microsoft Windows. The program has been developed by Andre Wiethoff since 1998. Wiethoff's motivation for creating the program was that other such software only performed jitter correction while scratched CDs often produce distortions.
 | |
| Developer(s) | Andre Wiethoff |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 25 June 1998[1] |
| Stable release | 1.6
/ 11 November 2020[1] |
| Operating system | Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 |
| Size | 5.0 MB |
| Type | CD ripper |
| License | Proprietary, Freeware |
| Website | exactaudiocopy |
Overview
Exact Audio Copy is proprietary freeware, free for non-commercial use.[2] It is written for Microsoft Windows. It has also been tested to work under newer versions of Wine on Linux.[3]
EAC is used to convert the tracks on standard audio CDs to WAV files, which can then be transcoded into other formats. These include lossy ones such as MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, or lossless ones such as ALAC, FLAC, or WavPack using external encoders. It also has the option of using the Windows Audio Compression Manager (ACM Codecs) for direct compression. It supports AccurateRip, which automatically compares the copy with rips made by others,[4] and can automatically create cue sheets, with all gaps, track attributes, ISRC, and CD-Text included. EAC also supports automatic ID3 tagging using Internet-based databases such as freedb, GD3 (see below), or a local database.[5]
If there are uncorrectable errors the software reports the error location.
EAC is popular among audiophiles for its accuracy and ability to rip slightly damaged audio compact discs.
History
The program was created by Andre Wiethoff in 1998, while he was a student at the University of Dortmund in Germany. Wiethoff stated that he became "fed up with other audio grabbers"[6] that only do jitter correction while scratched CDs often produce distortions, and decided to develop his own.
In release 1.0b1, EAC supported the downloading of CD cover art, and in b2, an option was added to have the ID3 information, such as artist, CD title, track names, and cover art downloaded automatically from the GD3 database. Release 1.0b1 removed support for Windows 2000 and older versions of Windows.
Version 1.1 was released in 2015. Version 1.2, released in 2016, provided mainly bug fixes for the cdrdao component and updated the cover search in the freedb++ plugin.[7] Version 1.3 was a hotfix released soon after version 1.2.[1] Version 1.4 was released in 2020 with version 1.5 released soon after as a hotfix.[1]
Examples
Example of a log file generated by EAC.
Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016
EAC extraction logfile from 31. May 2019, 19:57
Hiroyuki Sawano / PROMARE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
Used drive : PIONEER BD-RW BDR-XD05 Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Burst
Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "BAND=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%--tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %hascover%--picture="%coverfile%"%hascover% %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:54.04 | 0 | 17553
2 | 3:54.04 | 3:47.63 | 17554 | 34641
3 | 7:41.67 | 5:09.42 | 34642 | 57858
4 | 12:51.34 | 2:21.25 | 57859 | 68458
5 | 15:12.59 | 4:27.71 | 68459 | 88554
6 | 19:40.55 | 3:18.38 | 88555 | 103442
7 | 22:59.18 | 5:56.06 | 103443 | 130148
8 | 28:55.24 | 3:49.20 | 130149 | 147343
9 | 32:44.44 | 5:27.13 | 147344 | 171881
10 | 38:11.57 | 5:17.14 | 171882 | 195670
11 | 43:28.71 | 3:36.04 | 195671 | 211874
12 | 47:05.00 | 2:24.39 | 211875 | 222713
13 | 49:29.39 | 2:09.62 | 222714 | 232450
14 | 51:39.26 | 3:11.13 | 232451 | 246788
15 | 54:50.39 | 2:34.67 | 246789 | 258405
16 | 57:25.31 | 2:27.14 | 258406 | 269444
17 | 59:52.45 | 2:38.67 | 269445 | 281361
18 | 62:31.37 | 2:20.22 | 281362 | 291883
19 | 64:51.59 | 2:54.73 | 291884 | 305006
20 | 67:46.57 | 2:27.25 | 305007 | 316056
21 | 70:14.07 | 5:21.17 | 316057 | 340148
Track 1
Filename C:\EAC\Hiroyuki Sawano - PROMARE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK\1-01 Inferno.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 11.3 X
Test CRC DC10A7F5
Copy CRC DC10A7F5
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename C:\EAC\Hiroyuki Sawano - PROMARE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK\1-02 PRO--MARE.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 12.4 X
Test CRC 7AC4A903
Copy CRC 7AC4A903
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
(skipped to the bottom)
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
See also
References
- "What's new » Exact Audio Copy".
- "Registration » Exact Audio Copy".
- "WineHQ - EAC - Exact Audio Copy". appdb.winehq.org.
- "AccurateRip". www.accuraterip.com.
- "Exact Audio Copy - Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase". wiki.hydrogenaud.io. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- "AudioMastermind Weblog". audiomastermind.us. Archived from the original on 26 June 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
- "Exact Audio Copy". Download.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.