Library Tools

DJ App Transfer Matrix

Pick a source and a destination to see what survives the move: audio files, playlists, key and BPM, hot cues, beatgrids, ratings, and tags, with an honest note on each.

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Moving from
Moving to
Carries Partial Starts fresh
Audio files

Your tracks move with the library and the files are never modified.

Playlists & crates

Folders and playlists are rebuilt in Rekordbox.

Key & BPM

Analyzed values carry across, or are re-analyzed cleanly and accurately.

Hot cues

Hot and memory cues carry; export to USB to use them on CDJs.

Beatgrids

Beatgrids carry so your tracks stay locked in time.

Star ratings

Star ratings carry into Rekordbox.

Comments & tags

Comments carry; map your tags to My Tag for full filtering.

Using a metadata-aware library tool. A manual drag-and-drop rebuild loses everything except the audio files. Rekordbox has no native importer for other apps, which is why a category of paid converters exists.

Full guide: move from Serato DJ to Rekordbox

How to read the matrix

Carries means the data survives the move with a metadata-aware library tool. Partial means it survives with caveats, usually a format limit on the destination side, like Traktor's eight-hotcue cap or Serato's flat crates. Starts fresh means the source never stored that data at all, so the destination creates it during analysis; nothing is lost because nothing existed.

A manual drag-and-drop rebuild is the worst case in every pair: only the audio files make it, and every playlist, cue, and rating has to be recreated by hand. Each pair links to a full migration guide with the step-by-step path, including the native options where they exist.

Why transfers lose data

Every DJ app stores its library in a proprietary format: Rekordbox and Engine DJ use databases, Traktor uses NML files, Serato uses crate files, and iTunes uses a library XML. None of them read each other's formats, so anything beyond the audio file itself needs translation. That is the whole reason library tools exist: they read the source format, map the DJ layer, and write the destination's format, so moving between apps stops meaning starting over.

Ben Modigell

Hey, it's Ben Modigell 👋

I've been DJing and producing music as "so I so," focusing on downtempo, minimal, dub house, tech house, and techno. My background in digital marketing, web development, and UX design over the past 6 years helps me create DJ tutorials that are clear, practical, and easy to follow.

DJingMusic ProductionTech HouseMinimal HouseDigital MarketingWeb DevelopmentUX Design

Author and Methodology

Maintained by Ben Modigell

Ben is the founder of Vibes and builds DJ library, preparation, BPM, and harmonic-mixing tools for working DJs.

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Evidence: Page output checked against the current tool behavior and internal DJ reference data.

Source: Vibes DJ-tool taxonomy and page logic maintained by Vibes.

How this page is made: Tool pages are built from reusable page logic, internal DJ reference data, and visible on-page calculations. Programmatic reference pages are generated from structured data rather than hand-written one by one.

BPM, key, and genre labels can vary by edit, remaster, detection engine, and DJ software. Use these pages as a practical mixing reference, then verify important tracks in your own library.

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Tag tracks by vibe. See everything at once. Export to any DJ software.

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Vibes DJ Library Organizer Interface

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Audio files always move, but the DJ layer varies: playlists rebuild cleanly with the right tooling, hot cues and beatgrids depend on the destination's format, and app-specific tags often land in comment fields. The matrix above shows the realistic outcome per pair.
Not natively; neither app reads the other's library. With a metadata-aware library tool, hot cues carry across in both directions. Traktor is the main caveat in any pair, since its eight-hotcue limit can truncate extra cues coming in.
Yes, and it is the easiest move on the matrix: Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor, and Engine DJ all read the iTunes library XML natively. Only local DRM-free files carry, and DJ data like cues and grids never existed in iTunes, so the destination analyzes fresh.