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Topic: what are HTOA flac files? (Read 8471 times) previous topic - next topic
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what are HTOA flac files?

When I take embedded flac files and extract the tracks, I usually end up with a file that looks like: artist - (HTOA).flac. My track format is: %artist% - %title%

Those HTOA flac files are around 22kB in size.  What are they?

Re: what are HTOA flac files?

Reply #1 –
Just a waste of disc space when they’re that small. ;)

The beginning of the first track doesn’t always start at 00:00:00. Cuetools will preserve any data from 00:00:00 up to the beginning of the first track even if it is just silence. Sometimes you might find actual content there which is why it is called Hidden Track One Audio (HTOA).

I think we have a wiki article on it. Search the wiki for the term and you should find out all you need to know. If you haven’t already seen it our wiki has a lot of good information and may save you from having to ask here.

Re: what are HTOA flac files?

Reply #2 –
Thanks for the response. I was looking through db.cuetools.net and ran across mention of it. I was coming back here to update my post, but you beat me to it. The result seems to be that they are useless and I will delete when I get them.

Re: what are HTOA flac files?

Reply #3 –
Dump them all into a media player and check the lengths. And if you are curious, scan them for peaks ... you will find out most are digital zero.

Re: what are HTOA flac files?

Reply #4 –
Quote from: MrVideo on
The result seems to be that they are useless and I will delete when I get them.
They are also a placeholder to preserve the original CD layout. Of course there are other ways to do that: pregap in CUE file, TOC file, TOC in extraction log, AccuraterRip metadata tags, CTDB metadata tags, CDTOC metadata tag.
See setting in CUETools to not write HTOA file.
http://cue.tools/wiki/CUETools_Advanced_Settings:_CUETools#Gaps_handling
korth

Re: what are HTOA flac files?

Reply #5 –
Thanks. Since there are zero plans to recreate CDs, the HTOA and gaps aren't needed. The extracted file will be for listening only via media players.