Serato stores hot cues inside the audio file itself (ID3 tags) AND in the Serato database. If only the database moved, the cues look gone.
You moved your Serato library to a new machine — copied the `_Serato_` folder and the music files — and the hot cues are missing in places. Or you transferred to Rekordbox via XML and most cues vanished. The reason is that Serato stores cue data in two places: ID3 tags embedded in each audio file AND in the Serato database. If a transfer touched only one of those, half the data is gone. And cross-app transfers via XML are notoriously lossy on cue points because XML's cue spec is the lowest common denominator.
Supported today
Rekordbox · Serato DJ · VirtualDJ (incl. Favorite Folders) on Windows 10+ and macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel).
Cue point loss happens because most tools see only half the picture: the database OR the file tags, the source format OR the destination format. MLD reads both sides on the source and writes both sides on the destination, in their native formats. For Serato → Rekordbox specifically, MLD writes directly into Rekordbox's encrypted master.db using its native cue format — no XML round-trip, no lowest-common-denominator translation.
Usually no — they're still embedded in the audio file's ID3 tags even if the Serato database lost them. MLD reads the tags and re-syncs the database. Whatever's in the tags can be restored.
XML's cue spec doesn't carry all the data Serato or Rekordbox use internally. Hot cues with custom colors, loop cues with names, and beatgrid offsets often don't survive the XML round-trip. MLD's native cross-app writes preserve what each destination format supports.
Same answer — MLD reads both the Serato database and the embedded tag data and writes the destination format natively. Beatgrid edits and loop cues survive where the destination supports them.
Yes. Database and tag format is identical between Lite and Pro.
Re-add your music folders to Serato and it will rebuild the database from the ID3 tag data embedded in each file. MLD can speed this up by importing the cues from tags into a fresh Serato library in one pass.
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