4. The Mixxx Library

4.1. Overview of the Library features

The Mixxx Library

The library manages all of your music files. This is where you can find the tracks you want to play and load them into a deck or sampler; see Loading Tracks. Mixxx imports your music library automatically when it is run for the first time, see Changing music directories for more information.

The sidebar on the left contains different collections of music. The track list view on the right displays the tracks in those collections.

Sidebar:

• Search: Search for tracks in your Mixxx library.

• Tracks: View and edit your whole collection.

• Auto DJ: Automatically load and crossfade tracks for unattended mixing.

• Playlists: Arrange tracks in a set order.

• Crates: Organize tracks in (unordered) collections.

• Computer: Navigate, view, and load tracks from folders on your hard disk and connected devices.

• Recordings: Record your mix and view previous recordings.

• History: Browse lists of tracks played in past mixing sessions.

• Analyze: Generate Mixxx-specific data for tracks before a gig.

• External Libraries: Access your existing iTunes, Traktor, Rhythmbox, and Banshee libraries.

Track List:

• Sort: Display and sort track collections by different criteria.

• Load: Drag tracks you want to play to the waveform display.

• Edit: Rate tracks and edit track properties.

4.2. Tracks - View and edit your whole collection

A sortable list of all the tracks in your music library.

Customizing the view

Move columns by clicking a column header and dragging it to another position. Right-click on a column header to show or hide individual columns. Adjust the column width to fit the contents of the rows by double-clicking on the separator between two column headers.

Sorting Tracks

Tracks are automatically sorted by the active column. Click on the active column header to reverse the sort order. Click on another column header to change the active column.

• Multi-Column sorting

  You can sort multiple columns by clicking up to three column headers you wish to sort your tracks by. This makes searching for tracks in a large list more efficient. Clicking twice on a column header will reverse the sort order.

  Example:

  1. Click on the BPM column header -> list is sorted by BPM

  2. Click on the Year column header -> list is sorted by year. If year is equal, it is still sorted by the last criteria, e.g. BPM.

  3. Click on the Genre column header -> list is sorted by genre. If genre is equal, it is still sorted by year. If genre and year is equal, then it is sorted by BPM.

• Random sorting

  Click on the Preview column header to randomly sort tracks.

• Sort keys by circle of fifths

  Click on the Key column header. The order starts with C at the top, then its relative minor (a), then adds 1 sharp (G), then G’s relative minor (e), and so adding sharps/removing flats around the circle of fifths. For Lancelot notation, it starts with G#m at the top, which is 1A in that notation, and proceeds alphanumerically (minor keys appear before their relative major keys in this case).

Rating tracks

Make sure the Rating column is not hidden. Rate tracks by hovering over the rating field and clicking the stars.

Track Inline editing

Mixxx reads metadata from the tracks to fill the columns of the library. Double-click on a field, edit the data, and hit Enter when you are done. Go to the chapter edit metadata for detailed information.

Loading tracks

To load a track into a deck, you can either drag it to the waveform display, use the context menu or use keyboard shortcuts. Go to the chapter Loading Tracks for detailed information.

Importing tracks

Mixxx imports your music library automatically when it is run for the first time. Go to the chapter Changing music directories for detailed information.

Previewing Tracks

To pre-listen to tracks in your headphones without loading them to a regular deck, click the icon in the Preview column. Go to the chapter Previewing Tracks for detailed information.

Cover/Album Art

Mixxx can display cover art it finds for a track in the library. It will search for available cover art in the following places in order and will use the first one it finds:

1. The first image saved in the track’s ID3v2/Vorbis tags

2. An image file in the track folder (if there is only one image file there.)

3. %track-file-base%.jpg in the track directory for %track-file-base%.mp3

4. %album%.jpg

5. cover.jpg

6. front.jpg

7. album.jpg

8. folder.jpg

Mixxx supports the following image types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif, bmp

Rescan Library

If you want to manually refresh your library without exiting (for example because you added or moved files) you can do this with Library ‣ Rescan Library in the menu at the top of the application window. You can prompt an automatic rescan when Mixxx is started under Preferences ‣ Library ‣ Rescan on startup.

Rescanning the library will add new files to the library and mark tracks as missing if the corresponding file has been deleted. It tries to detect and relocate missing tracks if files have been renamed or moved into another directory.

Automatically refreshing the metadata of tracks when files have been modified by an external application is not supported, yet. In this case you need to select the affected tracks and (re-)import their metadata from file tags.

4.2.1. Track list context menu

Right-clicking on selected tracks in the track list reveals the context menu:

• Add to Auto DJ: Adds the content of the selection to either the bottom or top of the Auto DJ playlist for automatic mixing. The replace option deletes the Auto DJ queue first, and then fills it with the selected tracks.

• Load to: Loads a selected file to one of the available Decks, Samplers or to the Preview Deck. Alternatively simply drag it to the Waveform Displays. The number of available decks and samplers might differ, depending on the selected skin. Note that you can’t load multiple files at once.

• Add to Playlist: Add selected tracks to an existing playlist, or drag the selection to a playlist crate in the sidebar. Choose Create new playlist to put them into a new playlist.

• Crates: The checkbox shows in which existing crates the selection is in. Changing the crates selection does not collapse the menu, which allows much easier categorization of tracks without going through the menu from scratch. Choose Create new Crate to put them into a new crate.

• Metadata:

  • Import from File Tags: If the track’s metadata changes, (e.g. if you used iTunes to edit it,) this option lets you save the new values for the selected tracks to the Mixxx library. See edit metadata.

  • Import from MusicBrainz: Look up metadata online by searching the MusicBrainz database and apply the search results to your tracks. See edit metadata.

  • Export to File Tags: Saves metadata to files. Mixxx may wait to modify files until they are not loaded to any decks or samplers. If you do not see changed metadata in other programs immediately, eject the track from all decks and samplers or shutdown Mixxx.

  • Cover Art:

    • Choose New Cover: Select an image from the file browser as the cover.

    • Clear Cover: Delete any cover information saved for this track.

    • Reload from track/folder: Reload the cover from the tracks’ ID3v2 tags or a picture in the track folder if the tags do not supply any.

• Clear:

  • BPM and Beatgrid: Removes the BPM and beatgrid data from the selected tracks in the Mixxx library. After doing this, we recommend analyzing the tracks again.

  • Play Count: Marks selected tracks as not played in the current session and sets their play counter to zero. The icon in the Played column changes.

  • Hotcues: Clears all saved hotcues and hotcue labels.

  • ReplayGain: Clears all saved ReplayGain values.

  • Waveform: Clears the saved waveform data from the selected tracks. This is useful if a file is overwritten by another file of the same name, or was edited externally (e.g. in a waveform editor). To clear the waveform cache for all tracks in the library, select Preferences ‣ Waveforms ‣ Clear cached Waveforms .

  • All: Clears all of the data above from the Mixxx library database at once.

• Change BPM:

  • Allows to change the BPM to 50%, 66%, 75%, 133,33%, 150%, or 200% of the BPM set by Mixxx when analyzing the tracks. If many of the detected BPM values are incorrect, you might want to adjust the BPM Range in the Analyzer Settings and re-run the analysis.

  • Lock/Unlock BPM: Locks/Unlocks the BPM of selected tracks so you can’t edit them in the track properties. The icon next to the track’s BPM in the library row is a toggle. Clicking it will set the status to “locked”, and the icon changes to .

• Hide from Library: Temporarily hides selected tracks from the track list. Hidden tracks are listed in the Hidden Tracks menu item which is explained below.

• Open in File Browser: Brings up the selected files in your file manager.

• Properties: Similar to inline editing explained above, the properties dialog allows you to view and edit metadata such as title, artist, album, and view the full file name and path. Note that you can not edit multiple files at once.

Note

Most of the context menu items are available in file lists of other views like Auto DJ, Playlists, and Crates as well.

4.2.2. Missing Tracks

The Missing Tracks view is accessible by expanding the Library tree item in the sidebar. Any tracks that were previously loaded into your library but were later not found on your drive will appear here. Mixxx does not automatically delete records of missing tracks so that extra metadata Mixxx might have (such as hot cues and beat grids) will not be lost in case the file is replaced.

The features in detail:

• Select All button: Selects all tracks in the current view.

• Purge button: Purges the selected tracks from the Mixxx library, but does not remove them from your computer. This will delete all metadata Mixxx has for a track.

4.2.3. Hidden Tracks

The Hidden Tracks view is accessible by expanding the Library tree item in the sidebar. Any tracks that were previously loaded into your library but were later set to be hidden from the library will appear here. Use the Hide from Library context menu item in the tracks view to temporarily hide selected tracks.

The features in detail:

• Select All button: Selects all tracks in the current view.

• Purge Button: Purges the selected tracks from the Mixxx library, but does not remove them from your computer. This will delete all metadata Mixxx has for a track.

• Unhide Button: Removes the selected tracks from the Hidden Tracks view and makes them available in the regular track lists again. The tracks will re-appear in every playlist or crate they were in before being hidden.

See also

To learn how to permanently remove tracks from the Mixxx library using the Hidden Tracks view, see permanently remove tracks.

4.3. Loading Tracks

Tracks can be loaded into a deck in several ways:

• Right-click the library track table: Right-clicking on a track in the table will present the options Load in Deck 1 and Load in Deck 2, among others. Making either selection will load a track into a deck.

• By Using a Keyboard to load the selected track in the library track table. Use keyboard ↑ and ↓ arrow button to select a track, Shift + ← to load into Deck 1 and Shift + → to load into Deck 2.

• Drag-and-drop from library track table: Dragging-and-dropping a track from the track table onto a waveform display will load the track into that deck.

• Drag-and-drop from deck to deck: Once you’ve loaded a track to deck, sampler, or preview deck, click on the track title, track artist or cover art and drag it to another deck or sampler. Note that you can also drop tracks onto Playlists and Crates in the sidebar, as well as into track tables of active Playlists or Crates.

• Drag-and-drop from external file browser: Dragging-and-dropping a track from an external file browser directly onto a waveform display in Mixxx will load that track. This function also works with some other applications. For example, on macOS, dragging-and-dropping a track from iTunes onto one of Mixxx’s waveform displays will load it into that deck.

4.4. Finding Tracks (Search)

The search function filters the currently displayed list (e.g. a playlist, a crate, or even the whole library) for tracks that match your search query.

• Activate the search input field by clicking in it or pressing CTRL + F (Windows/Linux) or CMD + F (Mac).

• Type your search term(s). Mixxx filters the tracks as you type and shows only those matching the search term(s). Search terms can include an artist’s name, a song title, BPM, etc.

• To clear the search string hit ESC or click the clear button right next to the input field.

• Hit TAB to cycle between the search and the list of results in the library. Use the ↑ and ↓ keys to scroll in the list of results.

Note

If the search input field has focus, the Mixxx keyboard shortcuts are disabled, see Using a Keyboard.

4.4.1. Using search operators

Search operators allow you to form more complex search queries. They allow you to limit certain search terms to particular properties of your tracks.

Mixxx supports the following filters:

• Text filtering: album_artist, album, artist, comment, composer, crate, genre, grouping, location, title

  Examples

  artist: “com truise”
  album:Danger
  genre: Trance
  title: foo
  composer: foo
  comment: foo
  genre:hip-hop -genre:gangsta
  

  Note

  It doesn’t matter if you have space between the colon and the argument or not. Quotes must be used for multi-word text arguments.

• Numeric filtering: bitrate, bpm, played, rating, track, year

  Examples

  bpm:140
  bpm: >140
  year: <2010
  bpm: >=140
  rating: <=4
  bpm: 140-150
  played: >10
  

  Note

  You can put a space after the colon but currently there must be no space between the operator and the number.

• Special filtering: key, duration, added, dateadded, datetime_added, date_added

  • Supports fuzzy matching of key searches. The following example lists tracks with harmonically compatible keys to C# minor.

    ~key:c#m
    

    You can combine operators but there’s no way to do an “OR” search right now. The following example lists all tracks by “Danger” over 3 minutes long that are rated 4 or 5.

    artist:Danger duration:>3m rating:>=4
    

  • Negative search filters. Use the - prefix as negation operator. The following example would find “hip-hop“ from any year but 1990.

    genre:hip-hop -year:1990
    

  Examples

  duration:2m10
  duration:<2:10
  duration:>1m35s
  duration:>62
  

  Note

  You can put a space after the colon but currently there must be no space between the operator and the number.

4.5. Previewing Tracks

To pre-listen to a track, activate the Preview column in a library view. Clicking the icon in the library’s Preview column loads the selected track into a special Preview Deck that will only output sound in the headphones channel. Click the icon to stop the playback.

Alternatively, select a track from the track list of the Mixxx library, drag the track to the waveform view of the Preview Deck and click the Play button next to the waveform.

To display the Preview Deck, press CTRL + 4 (Windows/Linux) or CMD + 4 (Mac).

Hint

Click on the Preview column header to randomly sort tracks.

4.6. Edit metadata of audio files

Mixxx reads relevant metadata from the tracks and displays them in the library columns. You are free to edit most metadata, and Mixxx offers a number of different ways to do so. Note that some information can not be edited, such as bitrate, size, length, type, filename, and location.

Note

Mixxx does not support editing the metadata of many tracks at a time (bulk editing).

Warning

Mixxx won’t touch your audio files by default. Changes to a track’s metadata will be saved to the Mixxx library, but not to the track itself.

If you wish to write modified track metadata from the library into file tags, check the box in Preferences ‣ Library ‣ Track Metadata Synchronisation.

4.6.1. Manual Edit

Track Inline editing:

Double-click on a field in the library. If the field is editable, it will become an editable text box. Enter a value and hit Enter when you are done.

Mixxx library - Inline editing

Properties editor:

Click on a single track in the library and select Properties to open the editor. Add or change values in the editable fields, and save your changes as explained below.

Mixxx library - Properties editor

• OK: Accept the changes and close the editor.

• Apply: Accept the changes and leave the editor open.

• Cancel: Discard the changes and close the editor.

• Previous/Next: Load the previous or next track in the current library view.

• Import Metadata from File: Prompts Mixxx to re-read the metadata of the selected track (such as when you have modified it externally with another application.)

• Import Metadata from MusicBrainz: Look up metadata on-line by searching the MusicBrainz database. See below.

4.6.2. Using the MusicBrainz online database

MusicBrainz is an open-source music encyclopedia that collects music metadata and makes it available to the public.

Mixxx library - MusicBrainz Wizard

The MusicBrainz wizard in Mixxx allows searching the MusicBrainz database and applying the results to your tracks.

Click on a single track in the library and select Get Metadata from MusicBrainz. Mixxx fetches track data from the MusicBrainz database and displays the search results.

Select the best match from the search results by clicking on it in the list.

• Apply: Apply the selected MusicBrainz metadata to the track.

• Close: Close the wizard.

• Previous/Next: Load the previous or next track in the current library view and perform a MusicBrainz lookup on it as well.

Fetching track metadata from MusicBrainz can fail:

• if Mixxx is unable to find the specified track in the MusicBrainz database,

• if Mixxx cannot reach the MusicBrainz servers (if they are down),

• or if you are not connected to the Internet.

Hint

The MusicBrainz service has been designed for identifying full audio files. If a track is less than 2 minutes long, identifying the file will likely fail. Identifying a layered mix-track or mash-up may produce false positives in the result list.

4.6.3. Using third-party software

If you have modified file metadata in third-party software, select Library ‣ Rescan Library in the menu on top of the application window. This prompts Mixxx to re-read the metadata from all tracks in the library.

Popular software to edit metadata of audio files include:

• Mp3tag (Windows)

• Kid3 (Mac, Windows, Linux)

• Picard (Mac, Windows, Linux)

4.7. Auto DJ - Automate your mix

The Auto DJ queue is a special playlist that contains extra controls for automatic mixing. This is useful when taking a break from live mixing or for using Mixxx as media player.

The Auto DJ features in detail:

• Shuffle button: Randomizes the order of tracks in the Auto DJ playlist.

• Add Random button: Adds a random track from track sources (crates) to the Auto DJ queue. If no track sources are configured, the track is added from the library instead.

• Skip track button: Skips the next track in the Auto DJ playlist.

• Fade now button: Triggers the transition to the next track.

• Transition time spin-box: Determines the duration of the transition. A negative value will add a pause between tracks.

• Selection Info label: Displays the duration and number of selected tracks. Press Ctrl + A to get the total duration of the AutoDJ queue.

• Enable Auto DJ button: Toggles the Auto DJ mode on or off.

The Skip track, Add Random and Fade now buttons are only accessible if the Auto DJ mode is enabled. The Search field in the upper left corner is disabled in Auto DJ. By default, Auto DJ removes tracks after playing them but if you want it to play the same tracks over and over again, you can activate the Auto DJ Requeue option in Preferences ‣ Auto DJ ‣ Re-queue tracks after playback.

Auto DJ Crates

It is possible to add random tracks to the bottom of the Auto DJ playlist. The tracks are chosen from a set of crates that you have set as a source for Auto DJ, or from the standard library. Mixxx will normally try to select tracks that haven’t yet been played. You can set a minimum number of tracks that are always available for selection no matter when they were last played in Preferences ‣ Auto DJ ‣ Minimum available tracks in Track Source.

See also

For more information, go to the chapter Using Auto DJ For Automatic Mixing.

4.8. Playlists - Arranging tracks in a set order

Playlists are ordered lists of tracks that allow you to plan your DJ sets. Some DJs construct playlists before they perform live; others prefer to build them on-the-fly.

Playlists are not directly loadable into decks as Mixxx is primarily intended for live, attended performance use. However, you can right-click a playlist to queue it to Auto DJ, so in a sense you can “play” it.

• Create a playlist: Right-click on the Playlists sidebar item and select Create New Playlist. Name the playlist and click OK. The total number of tracks and total duration are displayed next to the name.

• Import playlists: Right-click on the Playlists sidebar item and select Import Playlist. Select one or more playlists and click OK. Mixxx creates an import of these existing external playlists as new Mixxx playlists.

• Add Tracks: Add tracks to a previously created playlist by dragging-and-dropping a selection of tracks from the library or playlists onto the name of a playlist in the sidebar. Alternatively, use the right-click context menu in the library’s track list.

  Hint

  If you have a track selected in the library, all of the visible playlist and crates that it is in are shown in bold.

Right-click on an existing playlist name to access the different features in the context menu:

• Add to Auto DJ: Adds the content of the playlist to the Auto DJ queue for automatic mixing.

• Rename: To rename a playlist, just enter a new playlist name and click OK.

• Duplicate: Sometimes you want to build a playlist based on an existing one. Select the playlist you would like to duplicate, choose Duplicate Playlist, name the new playlist and click OK.

• Remove: Removes an unlocked playlist. Tracks that were in the playlist remain in the library for later use.

• Lock: This icon indicates a locked playlist. If a playlist is locked, you cannot add tracks, rename or delete the playlist. Choose Unlock from the context menu to unlock the playlist.

• Analyze entire playlist: Forces the analysis of the tracks in the playlist in the Analyze view.

• Import playlist: Import tracks from external playlists in various file formats to the selected playlist. For more information, go to iTunes, Traktor, Rhythmbox, Banshee - Using external libraries.

• Export playlist: Export a playlist to various file formats such as m3u, m3u8, pls, txt, or csv. This allows you to use the data in other applications.

• Export Track files: This copies all of the tracks in a playlist into a folder such as an external USB stick. Only files are copied, not Mixxx-specific metadata like waveforms or cover art that is not embedded in the file.

4.9. Crates - Organizing tracks into collections

Crates are unordered collections of tracks, just like DJ cases holding your favorite records.

• Create a crate: Right-click on the Crates sidebar item and select Create New Crate. Name the crate and click OK. The total number of tracks and total duration are displayed next to the name.

• Import crates: Right-click on the Crates sidebar item and select Import Crate. Select one or more playlists and click OK. Mixxx creates an import of these existing external playlists as new Mixxx crates.

• Add Tracks: Add tracks to a previously created crate by dragging-and-dropping a selection of tracks from the library or playlists onto the name of a crate in the sidebar. Alternatively use the context menu in the library’s track list.

Right-click on an existing crate’s name to access the different features in the context menu:

• Rename: To rename a crate, enter the new crate name and click OK.

• Duplicate: Just like playlists you can duplicate an existing crate. Select the crate you would like to duplicate, choose Duplicate Crate, name the new crate and click OK.

• Remove: Removes an unlocked crate. Tracks in the crate are still available in the library for later use.

• Lock: This icon indicates a locked crate. If a crate is locked, you cannot add tracks, rename or delete the crate. Choose Unlock from the context menu to unlock the crate.

• Auto DJ Track Source: Use this crate as a source for random tracks in Auto DJ, see Auto DJ crates .

• Analyze entire crate: Forces the analysis of the crate in the Analyze view.

• Import crate: Import tracks from external playlists in various file formats to the selected crate.

• Export crate: Export a crate to various file formats, such as m3u, m3u8, pls, txt, or csv. This allows you to use the data in other applications.

• Export Track files: This copies all of the tracks in a crate into a folder such as an external USB stick. Only files are copied, not Mixxx-specific metadata like waveforms or cover art that is not embedded in the file.

4.9.1. Crates vs. Playlists

Crates are unordered collections of tracks. Unlike playlists, they cannot contain duplicate entries and do not support arranging tracks within them.

Often DJs group tracks by genre, keep lists of favorite tracks, and/or prepare lists of tracks they want to play at a particular party. In these cases they rarely care about the order since they will choose it at the party based on the dance floor and mood. They certainly don’t want duplicates in these lists. Crates serve these purposes. You can think of them like labels in GMail or Web 2.0 tags for your music.

If however you want to plan out a specific set and practice the transitions, you will want an ordered list of tracks. Playlists serve this purpose.

4.10. Computer - Loading tracks from anywhere on your computer

This mode works like a file manager and allows you to load tracks from anywhere on your computer and connected devices, that are not necessarily already in your Mixxx library.

Click the Computer sidebar item to navigate the computer and find your music. Depending on your operating system, your music will usually be found in the “My Music” or “Music” folder. Drag the files you want to import to the Tracks icon or directly to the Waveform Displays.

Note

Currently you can only drag files (not folders) to the Mixxx library.

Right-click on a folder and choose Add to Library to add the folder as an additional music directory. Mixxx will watch this directory and its subdirectories for new tracks.

See also

For more information, go to Changing music directories.

4.10.1. Quick Links - Bookmark your favorite folders

Using the Quick Links sub-menu you can bookmark folders for direct access. Click the Browse sidebar item and navigate to the folder you would like to bookmark. Right-click and choose Add to Quick Links. The folder is now pinned below the Quick Links. To un-pin that folder, right-click and choose Remove from Quick Links.

4.11. Recordings

In this section of the library you can start and stop recording your session as well as view previous recordings and the dates they were made.

See also

For more information, go to Recording Your Mix.

4.12. History - Keep track of your sessions

The history section automatically keeps a list of tracks you play in your DJ sets. This is handy for remembering what worked in your DJ sets, posting set-lists, or reporting your plays to licensing organizations. Every time you start Mixxx, a new history section is created. If you don’t play any tracks during the session, it will be discarded.

This icon indicates the current session.

Click on the History icon in the sidebar to switch to the History view, then right-click on a session’s name/date to access the different features:

• Add to Auto DJ: Adds the content of the session to the Auto DJ queue for automatic mixing.

• Rename: Rename a session. The default is the calendar date (YYYY-MM-DD).

• Remove: Remove a previous (unlocked) session. (You cannot remove the current session.)

• Lock: Protect a previous session against accidental merge or deletion. An icon indicates a locked session.

• Create new history playlist: Split off the current history session and add a new session without having to restart Mixxx. The current history must contain at least one track for this option to be available.

• Join with previous: Append the selected history session to the end of the previous one.

• Export playlist: Export a session in various file formats. This allows you to use the data in other applications.

4.13. Analyze - Prepare your tracks

This section allows you to analyze your tracks in advance of loading them into a deck. Analyzing tracks requires considerable CPU power and may cause skips in the audio while performing, so it helps to have your tracks analyzed before you play. See Analyze your library for details.

4.14. iTunes, Traktor, Rhythmbox, Banshee - Using external libraries

Supported libraries:

• iTunes (Windows, macOS)

• Traktor (Windows, macOS)

• Rhythmbox (GNU/Linux)

• Banshee (Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux)

The external library views allow you to use music libraries you have created in these third-party applications. You can access music as well as playlists. If available, Mixxx automatically loads the external libraries from their default locations on your hard drive.

Note

Playing a track from an external library will add it to your Mixxx library.

Right-click on the iTunes icon in the Library tree and select Choose Library to load the iTunes Music Library.xml from a different location. Select Use Default Library to reset.

• Right-click on a iTunes/Traktor/Rhythmbox/Banshee playlist and choose Import Playlist to import it into a new Mixxx playlist.

• If you have an iTunes configuration file (*.xml) from a Windows or Mac partition mounted in Linux, you can load it and use your iTunes tracks and playlists as well.

See also

External libraries can be disabled under Preferences ‣ Library.

4.15. Removing tracks from the library

Removing tracks from the Mixxx library will not physically delete them from your drive. However it does delete extra metadata Mixxx might have (such as hotcues and the beatgrids), and removes links to playlists or crates.

1. Click the Library item in the sidebar.

2. Find and select the tracks you want to remove, perform a right-click on them and select Hide from Library from the context menu.

3. Expand the Library item in the sidebar and click on the Hidden tracks sub-item. All tracks that were set to be hidden from the library will appear here.

4. Select the tracks you want to remove, or use the Select All button.

5. To confirm you want to permanently remove these tracks from the library, click Purge.

Hint

If you later decide to add some of the deleted tracks back, import them to the Mixxx library again, see Changing music directories.

4.16. Compatible file formats

Mixxx supports a variety of audio file formats:

Lossless	Lossy
FLAC (flac)	MP3 (mp3)
Wave (wav)	Ogg Vorbis (ogg)
Aiff (aiff, aif)	AAC (aac, m4a, mp4)
	Opus (opus)

Lossless formats preserve every detail of the original recording and are recommended for the best sound quality. The FLAC format compresses the files to take less space on your computer without sacrificing audio quality. WAV and AIFF files are uncompressed and take up much more space.

Lossy formats take up less storage space on your computer than lossless formats at the expense of reducing sound quality. Assuming an average track length of about 4 minutes, a 1 TB hard drive or solid state drive can store about 42000 FLAC files or about 115000 MP3 files at 320 kbps.

There is no benefit to converting lossy file to lossless formats. The detail lost when making the lossy file cannot be recovered.

AAC (M4A) is supported on Windows Vista and macOS 10.8 onwards. The Platform Update Supplement is required for Windows Vista.

On Linux, AAC playback is disabled by default due to licensing restrictions. To enable the playback of AAC files, build Mixxx from source with m4a/AAC files support.

Warning

DRM protected files, such as m4p files purchased in the iTunes Store in 2009 or earlier, are not supported.

Warning

ALAC files use the same container MP4 container format and file extensions (m4a, mp4) as AAC files, but Mixxx cannot play ALAC files. It is recommended to convert ALAC files to FLAC for use in Mixxx. This will not reduce the sound quality of the files.

4.17. Music from audio CDs

Mixxx can not play music directly from audio CDs. Use a CD ripping program to copy the audio from the CD to files on your computer. It is recommended to save the ripped files in the FLAC format. Many different programs are available to rip CDs, but not every program is capable of saving them to FLAC.