I have some MP3s that were encoded at CBR 320. The problem is that the guy (or girl?) didn't manage to correctly RIP them gaplessly. (d'uh )


So is there any tool somewhere that can get rid of the gap once and for all? I don't want to install any plugins or DSP in fb2k for it to work. What I mean is that I want to permanently correct the gap in the mp3 file directly.

So, is that possible? what tool / soft?

Thank you all,

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One option - mp3DirectCut:
http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html

I'm pretty sure there are other programs that have been mentioned before in the past as well.

MP3 is not a gapless encoder, but it can be faked out (LAME tag). You can probably get it to sound fairly close to gapless with mp3directcut but it will never be truly gapless.

Using foobar2000 0.9.4.2

right click the loaded file, Utils and click Edit MP3 Gapless Playback Information

for the encoder delay, enter 576 samples (which is default for LAME encoder)
For padding enter 0 to disable (someone please correct me if i am wrong about this)

If you still have trouble, then try, Utils > Fix VBR MP3 Header
because many Fhg encoders in the past make some weird header and most proggies show the incorrect lenght of the encoded audio.

You could even try, Utils > Rebuild MP3 Stream
This would strip all the sh*t in front and the back of the file and start fron scratch!

If this is not the case then, you would need a non destructive mp3 editor like mp3directcut and remove the additional silence manually from each file,

but like dreamliner77 reply, it will not be truly gapless.

Assuming the original was from a CD, the accurate length must be a multiple of 588 samples (at 44.1 kHz sampling rate and in stereo). The original rip probably wasn't done using EAC or dBpowerAmp offset correction.

If you manage to get the correct encoder delay (LAME is known, and if you have iTunes, you'll have a widely-used FhG encoder to test on your own CDs) then it's possible you can work out the sort of settings to look for and choose the nearest multiple of 588 samples for the total length.

Another method, as suggested is to combine the tracks into one using mp3directcut and remove the gaps between them frame-by-frame. These would be mp3 frames, so 1152 samples (and 576 sample granules), not 588 samples, so they'd rarely match the CD frame boundaries.

You'll find that fb2k and the lame decoder are rare examples of decoders that will work gaplessly. Most DAPs and CD-MP3 players will interrupt the audio between files, even if you used mp3directcut or lame's --no-gap encoding. To make them gapless you can fix a live or mix album as well as possible (usually audibly very good) using mp3directcut then create a single mp3 of that album (or all gapless sections of the album). This means you can't shuffle. An alternative is to apply fades using mp3directcut and make a bunch of individual tracks that you can shuffle.