Convert an album from a single media file with a .cue file to individual tracks instead.

Option 1: foobar2000 (easy, very reliable)

If you already use foobar2000, this is usually the best choice.

Steps

1. Open foobar2000
2. Drag either the .cue file or the .flac file into foobar
   • If the CUE is correct, you’ll see the album broken into tracks.
3. Select all the tracks
4. Right-click → Convert → …
5. Choose:
   • Output format: FLAC
   • Processing: none needed
6. Click Destination
   • Output path: your album folder
   • File name pattern (example): %tracknumber% - %title%
7. Convert

Result

• Individual FLAC tracks
• No quality loss (bit-perfect split)
• Metadata pulled from the CUE

💡 Note: If the cue has gaps or pre-emphasis flags, foobar2000 handles them correctly.

Option 2: CUETools (best for archival accuracy)

If you care about log verification, AccurateRip, or preserving exact offsets, this is the gold standard.

Steps

1. Download CUETools
2. Open it and load the .cue file
3. Set:
   • Action: Encode
   • Audio Output: FLAC
   • Mode: Tracks
4. Start

Result

• Sample-accurate track splits
• Excellent for archival rips
• Strong metadata handling

This is especially good if the album originated from a CD rip.

Option 3: FLAC + shntool (command line, Linux-friendly)

If you’re on Linux, shntool works well.

Example

shnsplit -f album.cue -o flac album.flac

Then tag the files:

cuetag album.cue *.flac

Result

• Clean, lossless splits
• Metadata from CUE applied
• More manual, but very transparent

Option 4: MusicBrainz Picard (semi-automatic)

Useful if:

• The CUE has weak or missing metadata
• You want MusicBrainz tags

Workflow:

• Load the CUE
• Let Picard identify the release
• Use Tools → Split files

Not as precise as foobar or CUETools for offsets, but fine for most albums.