---
name: "rsgain"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "rsgain"
version: "3.6-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/rsgain"
---

# rsgain(1)

ReplayGain 2.0 loudness normalizer

## NAME

**rsgain** - ReplayGain 2.0 loudness normalizer

## SYNOPSIS

rsgain \[OPTIONS\] \<command\> ...

## DESCRIPTION

**rsgain** (really simple gain) is a ReplayGain 2.0 command-line utility.

It applies loudness metadata tags to audio and video files while leaving the audio stream untouched.

A ReplayGain-compatible player will dynamically adjust the volume of your tagged files during playback.

**rsgain** supports writing tags to the following file types:\
\
   \- AIFF (.aiff, .aif, .snd)\
   \- APE (.ape)\
   \- FLAC (.flac)\
   \- MP2 (.mp2)\
   \- MP3 (.mp3)\
   \- MP4 (.m4a)\
   \- Musepack (.mpc)\
   \- Ogg (.ogg, .oga, .spx)\
   \- Opus (.opus)\
   \- TAK (.tak)\
   \- WAV (.wav)\
   \- WavPack (.wv)\
   \- WMA (.wma).

### OPTIONS AND COMMANDS

- **-h**, **--help**

  Show help.

- **-v**, **--version**

  Show version number.

- **easy**

  Easy Mode:\
   Recursively scan a directory with recommended settings.

- **custom**

  Custom Mode:\
   Scan individual files with custom settings.

Run **rsgain easy --help** or **rsgain custom --help** for more information.

## EASY MODE

Usage: rsgain easy \[OPTIONS\] DIRECTORY

Easy Mode recursively scans a directory using the recommended settings for each file type.

Easy Mode assumes that you have your music library organized with each album in its own folder.

### OPTIONS

- **-h**, **--help**

  Show help.

- **-q**, **--quiet**

  Don't print scanning status messages.

- **-S**, **--skip-existing**

  Don't scan files with existing ReplayGain information.

- **-m n**, **--multithread=n**

  Scan files with **n** parallel threads.

- **-p s**, **--preset=s**

  Load scan preset **s**.

- **-O**, **--output**

  Output tab-delimited scan data to CSV file per directory.

- **-O s**, **--output=s**

  Output with sep header (needed for Microsoft Excel compatibility).

- **-O a**, **--output=a**

  Output with files sorted in alphanumeric order.

## CUSTOM MODE

Usage: rsgain custom \[OPTIONS\] FILES...

Custom Mode allows the user to specify the options to scan files with.

The list of files to scan must be listed explicitly after the options.

### OPTIONS

- **-h**, **--help**

  Show help.

- **-a**, **--album**

  Calculate album gain and peak.

- **-S**, **--skip-existing**

  Don't scan files with existing ReplayGain information.

- **-s s**, **--tagmode=s**

  Scan files but don't write ReplayGain tags (default).

- **-s d**, **--tagmode=d**

  Delete ReplayGain tags from files.

- **-s i**, **--tagmode=i**

  Scan and write ReplayGain 2.0 tags to files.

- **-l n**, **--loudness=n**

  Use **n** LUFS as target loudness (-30 ≤ n ≤ -5).

- **-c n**, **--clip-mode=n**

  No clipping protection (default).

- **-c p**, **--clip-mode=p**

  Clipping protection enabled for positive-gain values only.

- **-c a**, **--clip-mode=a**

  Clipping protection always enabled.

- **-m n**, **--max-peak=n**

  Use max peak level **n** dB for clipping protection.

- **-t**, **--true-peak**

  Use true peak for peak calculations.

- **-L**, **--lowercase**

  Write lowercase tags (MP2/MP3/MP4/WMA/WAV/AIFF).\
   This is non-standard but sometimes needed.

- **-I keep**, **--id3v2-version=keep**

  Keep file's existing ID3v2 version, 3 if none exists (default).

- **-I 3**, **--id3v2-version=3**

  Write ID3v2.3 tags to MP2/MP3/WAV/AIFF.

- **-I 4**, **--id3v2-version=4**

  Write ID3v2.4 tags to MP2/MP3/WAV/AIFF.

- **-o d**, **--opus-mode=d**

  Write standard ReplayGain tags, clear header output gain (default).

- **-o r**, **--opus-mode=r**

  Write R128\_\*\_GAIN tags, clear header output gain.

- **-o s**, **--opus-mode=s**

  Same as 'r', plus override target loudness to -23 LUFS.

- **-o t**, **--opus-mode=t**

  Write track gain to header output gain.

- **-o a**, **--opus-mode=a**

  Write album gain to header output gain.

- **-O**, **--output**

  Output tab-delimited scan data to stdout.

- **-O s**, **--output=s**

  Output with sep header (needed for Microsoft Excel compatibility).

- **-O a**, **--output=a**

  Output with files sorted in alphanumeric order.

- **-p**, **--preserve-mtimes**

  Preserve file mtimes.

- **-q**, **--quiet**

  Don't print scanning status messages.

## BUGS

**rsgain** is maintained on GitHub. Please report all bugs to the issue tracker at https://github.com/complexlogic/rsgain/issues.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2023 Hugh McMaster

**rsgain** is released under the BSD-2-Clause licence.