I have a relatively large music library (about 55,000 songs - primarily .m4a and .mp3), some of which was ripped from scratched CDs. How can I either fix the files, or get a list of ones with issues? Most tools I have found that claim they can do this only work for .mp3 files, and foobar2000 2.0 doesn't find any issues with a track that has atrocious skipping.
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1Does this answer your question? Is there a tool that can detect (and if possible, fix) glitches in MP3 files?– Destroy666Jun 5, 2023 at 3:45
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Also a bunch of similar questions can befound, mostl for mp3. But regardless, this should be asked on softwarerecs.stackexchange.com rather, software recommendations are off-topic here.– Destroy666Jun 5, 2023 at 3:47
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You can search for pazera free audio converter to convert your m4a to mp3 files. you can then use your tool that works on mp3 to detect the songs.– LPChipJun 5, 2023 at 8:12
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@Destroy666 I did find that post, and none of the tools there could look at .m4a files.– mark5000432Jun 5, 2023 at 15:02
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1Then I suggest you edit the question to limit to m4a to prevent it from being closed.– Joep van SteenJun 5, 2023 at 15:32
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3 Answers
Without knowing how the digital media was ripped and encoded it will be difficult to answer your question. The more information you provide in your question about how the media was created can be useful to those who provide answers. I say this because there are several kinds of 'skips' that can result from ripping audio:
- the original CD had something that was blocking the laser, so when it was being read, information was missing.
- the .mp3 was encoded wrong, or has become corrupted
- Not so common today, but in the past codec issues can cause skipping in digital audio.
- The media player itself can have issues with .mp3 files that are encoded with certain codecs.
What can I do to fix my .mp3 files?
If the digital audio file was recorded from CD in real time with the skips there isn't much you can do other than editing the audio file which might not be worth the time and effort considering how easy it is to come by digital music in today's era.
If you really want to fix a song with a skip in it you could open the file in a DAW, and edit the file, but depending on how bad the skip is, the method of fixing will vary. For small skips I found a YouTube video that explains how to fix them with a free DAW called Audacity.
There are also other tools that help restore issues with .mp3 files. One I found is mp3diags which "Finds problems in MP3 files and helps the user to fix many of them". This program might help flag problematic audio files, but I haven't tested it so you would have to check that on your own.
There is also a list on this Microsoft forum page that has links to various other tools that may be able to help spot and or repair damaged audio files.
answered Jun 5, 2023 at 7:51
The files are likely neither detectable nor fixable - the files themselves are not 'broken', the audio within them is what's broken. The file is an accurate translation of what a skipping CD presents at data output [which is why you need adequate error-correction at read on scratched CDs.]
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Hmm... Audacity - audacityteam.org - has "Click removal" as a function, might be there is a corresponding command line tool?– HannuJun 5, 2023 at 15:53
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@Hannu tbh, I don't know Audacity all that well to know whether there are CLI equivalents. I only have it for if people ask 'simple' audio questions & don't have their own DAW to work with. Removing clicks won't fix skipping, though… only the clicks. There's nothing you can do for the random rapid jumping of a scratched CD once it's been ripped.– TetsujinJun 5, 2023 at 15:57
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True about skipping, it might be possible to "mend" though, e.g. by simply cutting out a slight portion of sound, assuming one can find an even slightly matching position further down in the sound / music. Can't tell if there is an automated command line tool to do that though.– HannuJun 5, 2023 at 16:08
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@Hannu -if all the bits are actually there at all. Unless it was an irreplaceable recording, it simply wouldn't be worth the effort. I have one track somewhere in my collection that skips - ironically I only ever hear it in the car & have always forgotten what it was by the time I get home, so it's still in there somewhere. It's really incomplete; after a lot of repetition it then goes on some kind of random & worsening 'road trip' around the track until I skip it in irritation.– TetsujinJun 5, 2023 at 16:18
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That is the worst version of it, destroying the music-piece, yes. But "skipping" might be much less, and depending on how it actually has ended up, e.g. with a repeating scratch, you can actually get a decent repaired piece out of it.– HannuJun 5, 2023 at 20:22
Collected from comments; This might not be a true answer, but may be a lead forward...
Audacity - audacityteam.org - has "Click removal" as a function, might be there is a corresponding command line tool or a suitable macro?
I believe Audacity is for manual editing, but Macros might be one way to attack your "problem" - https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/macros.html
Note here also; https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/scripting.html
If the "skipping" is an endless repetition of a (random) section of the music, then Audacity will not help much. That is the worst version of it, destroying the music-piece, yes.
But "skipping" might be much less, and depending on how it actually has ended up, e.g. with a repeating scratch, you can actually get a decent repaired piece out of it. So it might be possible to "mend", e.g. by simply cutting out a slight portion of sound, assuming one can find an even slightly matching position (to where you start cutting) further down in the sound / music / stream.
I have personally sampled entire LP:s (Vinyl), at times with slight scratches and repaired the result as indicated above, leaving a piece of music with genuine "analog" feel in the playback and a good representation of the original.
Without automation it takes quite some time though...
