Preferences

Output Directory — The directory where encoded files will be written. If you use a custom naming scheme with directories, the base directory of that scheme starts here. See Custom File Naming for more information.

Preserve Input File's Directory Structure — Keeps the directory structure of the files that you add to the queue. For example, if you drop a folder called Music onto the queue and it contains several sub-folders of audio files, MP3 Encoder creates a Music folder in your output directory and re-creates the same folder structure for the output files.

Overwrite Existing Output Files — When checked, output files that already exist are overwritten on encoding. When unchecked, MP3 Encoder generates a unique filename by appending a number series to the end. For example, if My Song.mp3 already exists, it would generate My Song 01.mp3.

Prompt Before Overwriting Existing Output Files — If an output file already exists, you will be prompted before it is overwritten. You are given three choices: overwrite the file, don't overwrite the file, or skip the file completely. Choosing not to overwrite results in a unique filename. You also have the option to apply your choice to all subsequent files in the batch.

Delete Original — When checked, the original file is moved to the Trash once encoding is complete. When you are only updating metadata, the original file is never deleted.

Open Output Directory When Finished — Opens the output directory in a Finder window when the entire queue finishes encoding.

Use Two-Digit Track And Disc Numbers — Forces track number, track total, disc number, and disc total values to use two-digit numbers (for example, 01 instead of 1).

Use A Custom Output File Naming Scheme — Lets you specify a custom output file name and folder structure built from properties of the input file. Use keywords enclosed in brackets to build your structure — they are replaced with the actual information from the input file when it is encoded. Use forward slashes to separate directories. See Custom File Naming for more information.

Write Metadata To Encoded Files — When disabled, no metadata is added to encoded files.

Rename Files When Updating Metadata Only — When updating the metadata of source files, this applies the custom naming scheme to the file.

Fallback To Filename When Title Field Is Empty — When using a custom naming scheme, and the Track Title field is empty, Track Title is replaced with the source file's name.

Write "Encoded By" Information To Files — When enabled, MP3 Encoder writes "Encoded By" metadata to output files.

Write Format String To Comments — Writes a string of your choosing to the comments metadata field of the output file. For example, you could store the encoder settings that were used, or the source file type the MP3 was made from.

MP3 Metadata Types To Write — Selects which tag types are written when saving MP3 files. You can choose ID3v2.3 or ID3v2.4 with various text encodings. ID3v2.4 UTF-8 is the most current standard; some older devices may only support ID3v2.3 Latin 1.

Save Album Artwork To File Named — Saves the album artwork as a file alongside the destination MP3. You can name the file however you like and save it as PNG, JPEG, or TIFF.

Read Album Artwork From File Named — When enabled, MP3 Encoder looks for album artwork in a file whenever the metadata does not already contain any. It searches the same folder that the source file is in. You can use a * wildcard; MP3 Encoder uses the first matching file it finds.

Add Encoded Tracks To iTunes Library — Adds output files to your iTunes library.

Add Encoded Tracks To Playlist Named — Also adds output files to an iTunes playlist. You can type the name of an existing playlist, or use the custom naming scheme format specifiers to create playlists based on track information. See Custom File Naming for more information on format specifiers.

Keep Files In Queue After Encoding — Leaves files in the queue once encoding is complete.

Keep Files In Queue After Updating Metadata — Leaves files in the queue after updating source-file metadata. See Using As A Tag Editor for more information.

Skip Encoding MP3 Source Files — When checked, MP3 Encoder skips over any MP3 files added to the queue.

Maximum Number of Encoders — Sets the maximum number of simultaneous encoding operations. Limited to the number of processor cores your system has. Decreasing this number decreases load on your system, but takes longer to encode a batch.

Show Error Log Immediately When Error Occurs — When checked, the error log window is shown as soon as the first error occurs, instead of at the end of the encode process.