mp3rgain

Lossless MP3 volume adjustment - a modern mp3gain replacement written in Rust

mp3rgain adjusts MP3 volume without re-encoding by modifying the global_gain field in each frame's side information. This preserves audio quality while achieving permanent volume changes.

Features

🎵 Lossless: No re-encoding, preserves original audio quality
⚡ Fast: Direct binary manipulation, no audio decoding required
🔄 Reversible: All changes can be undone
📦 Zero dependencies: Single static binary (no ffmpeg, no mp3gain)
🦀 Pure Rust: Memory-safe, cross-platform

Installation

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install M-Igashi/tap/mp3rgain

From source

cargo install mp3rgain

Download binary

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases.

Usage

Apply gain adjustment

# Apply +2 steps (+3.0 dB)
mp3rgain apply -g 2 song.mp3

# Apply +4.5 dB (rounds to nearest step)
mp3rgain apply -d 4.5 song.mp3

# Reduce volume by 3 steps (-4.5 dB)
mp3rgain apply -g -3 *.mp3

Show file information

mp3rgain info song.mp3

Output:

song.mp3
  Format:      MPEG1 Layer III, Joint Stereo
  Frames:      5765
  Gain range:  89 - 217 (avg: 168.2)
  Headroom:    38 steps (+57.0 dB)

Undo previous adjustment

# Undo a +2 step adjustment
mp3rgain undo -g 2 song.mp3

Technical Details

Gain Steps

Each gain step equals 1.5 dB (fixed by MP3 specification). The global_gain field is 8 bits, allowing values 0-255.

Steps	dB Change
+1	+1.5 dB
+2	+3.0 dB
+4	+6.0 dB
-2	-3.0 dB

How It Works

MP3 files contain a global_gain field in each frame's side information that controls playback volume. mp3rgain directly modifies these values without touching the audio data, making the adjustment completely lossless and reversible.

Compatibility

MPEG1 Layer III (MP3)
MPEG2 Layer III
MPEG2.5 Layer III
Mono, Stereo, Joint Stereo, Dual Channel
ID3v2 tags (preserved)
VBR and CBR files

Why mp3rgain?

The original mp3gain has been unmaintained since ~2015. mp3rgain is a modern replacement that:

Is actively maintained
Has no external dependencies
Is written in memory-safe Rust
Provides a clean, modern CLI
Includes a library API for integration

Library Usage

use mp3rgain::{apply_gain, apply_gain_db, analyze};
use std::path::Path;

// Apply +2 gain steps (+3.0 dB)
let frames = apply_gain(Path::new("song.mp3"), 2)?;
println!("Modified {} frames", frames);

// Analyze file
let info = analyze(Path::new("song.mp3"))?;
println!("Headroom: {} steps", info.headroom_steps);

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

mp3rgain 0.2.0