Name: CDCrush, Highy compress cd-image games
Author: John Dimi, johndimi@outlook.com twitter: @jondmt
Project Page and Sources: https://github.com/johndimi/cdcrush.net
Language: C# dotNET 4.5, VS2017 Licence: MIT
Version: 1.2.3 Platform: Windows

To get the latest version check the releases page here on github. Available for windows only.

Cdcrush is a tool that can highly compress CD based games ( playstation 1, Pc-engine, etc ) for storage / sharing purposes.

How it is done:

• The program separates the tracks of the cd image and compress them separately.
• For data tracks it will use ecm tools to remove Error Correction/Detection Codes (ECC/EDC) data from the sectors. ( redundant data )
• For audio tracks, it will use an encoder of your choice. You can select a lossy encoder like (opus or vorbis) to produce a decent quality audio file with a much smaller filesize compared to the uncompressed PCM audio original.
• OR you can choose to encode audio with FLAC which is lossless.
• Finally it compresses everything into a single archive using the FreeArc archiver.

Then it can restore the crushed CD image back to it's original form, a .bin/.cue image that is ready to be used however you like.

NOTE: Archives with the audio tracks encoded with FLAC, will be restored to a 1:1 copy, byte for byte, of the original source CD

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• cdcrush is only compatible with .cue/.bin type CD images
• Supports dragging and dropping of files into the main window.
• When selecting an output folder you will be asked to save a dummy file, that file will not ever be written and the program will select the folder of that file.
• [!] The progress bar is a bit clunky, if it gets stuck just wait a bit. It's working.
• You can download the release without FFmpeg if you already have it, just be sure to set it up in the settings tab.

You can now convert a .cue/.bin CD, into another .cue/.bin combo with encoded audio tracks called from the cue file
This is really useful if you want to play a CD in an emulator that supports loading .cue files with encoded audio. (e.g. mednafen supports libvorbis and FLAC audio)

To convert a CD, go to the compress a cd screen and tick theconvert to .CUE/encoded Audio checkbox, then hit the button. The new files are going to be generated under a subfolder to avoid overwriting the source .cue/.bin files

• Select an input file ( .cue ). You can drop it in the window or click the [...] button to select one
• Optionally set an output folder, the final .arc file will be created there, auto-named after the CD title
• Optionally set a cover image by dropping a .png file in the window, or by clicking on the image placeholder
• Choose an audio codec and bitrate to encode the audio tracks with (if any)
• You can choose a compression level. The default is 4 and it's very solid. You can try experimenting, but WARNING don't go above 6 since you'll need HUGE amounts of RAM to encode and decode (also it will take forever)
• You can optionally change the CD Title, in case the automatic name is wrong
• Leave the Convert to .Cue/Encoded audio checkbox UNTICKED
• Press the CRUSH button
• Wait for the operation to end

• Select a previously crushed archive ( .arc ) to be restored. You can drop it in the window or click the [...] button to select one
• Optionally set an output folder, the (.cue/.bin) files will be created there, auto-named after the CD title
• Check the Create subfolder checkbox to create a subfolder named after the CD title and put the cd image there
• Check the Single bin/cue to force restoring the CD back into a single bin file, even if the original source was a multi file bin/cue image
• Press the RESTORE button
• Wait for the operation to end

Temp Folder : You can set a custom temporary folder for the various background processes like FFmpeg. Useful if you have a RAMDRIVE.
NOTE : Make sure the temp folder can hold up to 1.2GB of data !

FFmpeg Path : Point to the location of ffmpeg.exe , it is needed for encoding/decoding the audio tracks. If you have FFmpeg set on the system/user PATH, it will be checked once you clear the custom path.

Max Concurrent Tasks: How many tracks to process at the same time. (For when compressing or restoring with ffmpeg and ecm tools)

• Added ability to select the compression level of the final archive from 1-9
• Function to convert a .cue/.bin to a .cue with encoded audio files. This can be really useful as some emulators support this .cue format.
• Re-added ogg vorbis support and now user can choose between (flac, opus, vorbis). This is for when creating cue/encoded audio, some emulators might only support ogg vorbis (like mednafen)

• Replaced the vorbis audio codec with the opus codec. It seems to be a better encoder and even supports lower bitrates (like 32k)

• Added FLAC support. Audio tracks can be encoded and then restored to an exact copy of their original source, to the last byte. Now the full CD can be preserved byte for byte.

• First dotNet release, continuing the project from the NPM cdcrush 1.12 release
• Calculate and display the MD5 of the first data track, useful to quickly identify the validity of the CD
• Ability to add an image cover to a CD archive. The image will then be displayed when restoring a CD.
• MultiThreaded. Background FFmpeg and ECM operations can execute in parallel. (Custom amount of threads in the options tab)
• Temporary files will be deleted upon user program exit.

Q : Why?
A : I wanted to save space on my hard drive and I think it's a decent way to store cd images, better than just compressing with 7zip or Rar. Also It was a good programming practice.

Q : Does it support games from SegaCD, Jaguar, 3DO, X, Y?
A : Theoretically it should support all valid .cue/.bin files, try it out.

Q : I am worried about the audio quality.
A : The OGG vorbis (new OPUS) codec is decent and it can produce very good results even at 96kbps. Also, implementing a FLAC codec is coming at a later version. flac is ready to go

Q: Is storing the entire CD with FLAC really lossless? I am worried about byte integrity.
A: YES, to the last byte. The filesize and checksums of the restored tracks are the same as the original ones. (data&audio). You can check for yourself by calculating the checksums of restored files vs original source. ALSO Checksum reports are coming at a later version.

Q : Why there are two versions of the program?
A : FFmpeg.exe is a small beast ( around 36 megabytes) and in some cases users already have it on their pc. So I am publishing a version with and a version without it.

This project is a continuation of cdcrush npm. You can check it out if you want, but note that the NPM version is old and NOT RECOMMENDED TO USE until I update it.

Feel free to provide feedback and contact me on social media and email. Donations are always welcome! 😄

Thanks for checking this out,
John.