Exact Audio Copy is a free audio CD ripper for Windows that extracts tracks from discs with a secure, error-checking read mode and verifies results against the AccurateRip online database before saving them as lossless or compressed audio files.
Exact Audio Copy is a Windows audio grabber that reads music from audio CDs using standard CD, DVD, USB and SATA drives. Instead of trusting a single quick pass, it re-reads problem areas in secure mode, compares the results and reports the exact time position of any sample it could not correct. From there you can verify a rip against the AccurateRip database, detect your drive's read offset, and export tracks as WAV, FLAC, MP3 or Ogg Vorbis through an external encoder. The usual workflow is: insert a disc, fetch track names from an online database, define gaps, then test and copy. Audiophiles and archivists use Exact Audio Copy because it makes the accuracy of a digital copy measurable rather than assumed.
EAC's accuracy focus comes from three cooperating systems: secure re-reading of bad sectors, drive offset correction, and AccurateRip checksum comparison against rips submitted by other users. Gaps between tracks are handled explicitly, so you can append them to the following track, fold them into the previous one, or drop them, and cue sheets can carry indices, UPC, ISRC and CD-Text for a replica of the original disc. Because the program keeps metadata tidy as well, many users pair Exact Audio Copy with Mp3tag to clean up names and cover art across a library after ripping. The bundled WAV editor covers trim, normalize, fade and pop removal for one-off repairs.
The main benefit of Exact Audio Copy is confidence: every extracted track can be checked against an independent database, so you know whether a copy is bit-perfect before you delete the disc from your shelf. Secure mode and offset correction remove the guesswork that makes other rippers produce silent clicks, and when something cannot be fixed the log tells you the exact second to audition instead of forcing you to listen to a whole album. That combination saves hours on large collections. Flexible gap handling and cue sheet export let you reproduce a disc's original layout, which matters for gapless albums, live recordings and DJ mixes. Output is not locked to one format either, since external encoders such as LAME, FLAC and Ogg Vorbis are called after extraction, and batch compression lets you convert an existing WAV archive. Free for personal use and actively maintained, Exact Audio Copy remains a practical choice for anyone who wants an archive they can trust.
Secure mode reads each sector several times and compares the results, so damaged or dirty discs are detected rather than silently distorted. EAC reports the time position of every uncorrected sample, letting you audition only the suspect seconds. You can also switch to fast or burst modes when speed matters more than certainty.
The AccurateRip plugin included with Exact Audio Copy compares your rip's checksums with results submitted by other users worldwide. A confidence score tells you how many matching submissions exist, so a bit-perfect copy is confirmed rather than assumed. Tracks that do not match are flagged immediately, which is invaluable when auditing an older archive.
Optical drives rarely begin reading at the exact sample they are asked for, so EAC detects each drive's offset and applies it consistently to every disc. Reference CDs plus AccurateRip data make detection straightforward, and missing samples can be padded with silence. Correct offsets keep rips from different drives identical.
EAC reads sub-channel data to find pre-track gaps, then lets you append them to the following track, keep them with the previous one, or leave them out entirely. Generated cue sheets can include gaps, indices, UPC, ISRC and CD-Text, producing a faithful replica of the original disc layout.
After extraction EAC can hand tracks to external command-line encoders such as LAME, FLAC, WMA or Ogg Vorbis, including on-the-fly compression while reading. Multi-processor aware batch compression converts existing WAV files, and compression offset support keeps re-encoded audio aligned with the original source.
A small audio editor ships with the application for repairing captured audio: trim, normalize, fade in or out, pad, interpolate ranges, remove glitches and detect pops. It is enough for cleaning up a recording made from vinyl or radio without opening a separate digital audio workstation.
Exact Audio Copy queries local and remote CD databases to fill in artist, album and track names automatically, then writes ID3 tags and can rename files according to those tags. Track title editing, catalog extraction and a browsable local database keep large collections organized with minimal manual typing.
Beyond digital ripping, EAC offers record and loop-record functions for capturing vinyl or radio through a sound card, plus CD player and pre-listening features, copying of arbitrary audio ranges rather than whole tracks, and support for multisession CD-Extra discs.
Yes. Exact Audio Copy is free for personal, non-commercial use, and you may copy and share it on that basis. A separate commercial SDK licence is available for organisations that want to build the extraction technology into their own products.
Most rippers perform simple jitter correction and leave you to listen for problems. EAC re-reads suspect sectors, corrects for your drive's offset, verifies checksums against the AccurateRip database and reports the exact time position of any sample it could not fix, so accuracy is demonstrable instead of assumed.
Exact Audio Copy itself extracts audio to WAV and calls a separate command-line encoder for compressed output. LAME is commonly used for MP3, while FLAC, Ogg Vorbis and WMA encoders are also supported. You place the encoder executable in the EAC folder and select it under Compression Options.
AccurateRip stores checksums submitted by other users for the same disc and pressing. The confidence value shows how many matching submissions agree with your rip. A higher number means more independent copies produced the same result, which makes the verdict about your extraction far more reliable.
CD drives commonly start reading a fixed number of samples before or after the requested position. EAC measures that offset once using reference discs or AccurateRip data and then applies it to every subsequent rip, so tracks extracted on different drives match each other sample for sample.
Yes. The gap detection command reads sub-channel data to measure the pauses between tracks, and you choose whether each gap belongs to the following track, the previous one, or is omitted. Cue sheet export can include gaps, indices, UPC, ISRC and CD-Text for an exact copy.
Yes. EAC can copy ranges of audio rather than complete tracks, test and copy only the tracks you select, and extract short catalog samples such as the first twenty seconds of a track. A test pass compares checksums before the real copy is written.
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