How do I get my Serato crates into Rekordbox?
Serato DJ Pro has no Export to Rekordbox button, and Rekordbox cannot read Serato crates directly. The reliable bridge is the playlist file: export each crate as an M3U8 playlist, import those playlists into Rekordbox, and let Rekordbox analyze the audio. Your tracks and crate organization come across cleanly. What does not come across through a playlist are cue points, loops and beatgrids, which live in Serato-specific tags and need a dedicated converter if you want them preserved. Clean your library before you export, because every duplicate and dead file you carry over becomes a duplicate or dead file in Rekordbox too.
Move your Serato crates into Rekordbox
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Decide what needs to come acrossIf you just need your music and crate structure on CDJs, playlists are enough. If you need cue points, loops and beatgrids preserved exactly, plan on a dedicated library converter for that step.
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Clean your Serato library firstRemove duplicates and fix missing files before exporting. Anything broken in Serato imports broken into Rekordbox, and it is far easier to clean one library than two.
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Export each crate as an M3U8 playlistSerato cannot export playlists natively, so use a library tool that reads Serato crates and writes M3U8 files. Crate Cleaner exports any crate or Smart Crate to M3U8 or a Rekordbox-compatible playlist in one click.
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Import the playlists into RekordboxIn Rekordbox, right-click Playlists in the tree and choose Import Playlist, then select your M3U8 files. Each playlist becomes a Rekordbox playlist pointing at the same audio files.
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Let Rekordbox analyze the tracksSelect the imported tracks and run analysis so Rekordbox generates its own beatgrids, waveforms and key data. This is required even if the tracks were analyzed in Serato.
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Verify before you playSpot-check that every playlist resolved its files, that track counts match your Serato crates, and that grids look right on a few tracks from each playlist. Do this before a gig, not at one.
Why there is no direct Serato to Rekordbox export
Serato and Rekordbox store libraries in completely different formats. Serato keeps its database and crates in the _Serato_ folder, while Rekordbox uses its own internal database. Neither app reads the other's format, and neither vendor has much incentive to build a one-click migration to a competitor. So the transfer always happens through one of two bridges: a playlist file both apps understand, or a third-party converter that rewrites one database into the other.
What transfers and what does not
Knowing this up front saves a lot of disappointment:
- Audio files: transfer perfectly. Both apps point at the same files on disk, nothing is copied or converted.
- Crate structure: transfers via M3U8 playlists. One crate becomes one playlist.
- Basic metadata (artist, title, album, genre, BPM and key written to file tags): transfers, because it lives in the audio files themselves.
- Cue points and loops: do not transfer via playlists. Serato stores them in proprietary tags Rekordbox ignores. A dedicated converter is required.
- Beatgrids: do not transfer. Rekordbox builds its own grids during analysis, so tracks with tricky tempo need a manual check.
- Play history and smart crates: do not transfer. Smart crates export as their current contents, a static playlist.
The M3U8 method in detail
An M3U8 file is just a text list of file paths, which is exactly why it works as a bridge: there is nothing Serato-specific in it. The catch is that Serato DJ Pro cannot write playlist files on its own, so you need a tool that reads your crates and writes the playlists for you.
Crate Cleaner does this natively on macOS. It reads your real Serato library, shows every crate and Smart Crate, and exports any of them as an M3U8 playlist or a Rekordbox-compatible playlist file. Because it also finds duplicates and repairs broken file links first, the library you hand to Rekordbox is already clean. There is a free trial with no card required.
Two path rules to keep imports painless:
- Import on the same machine the paths were written on, or keep the music at the same location on both machines. A playlist full of paths that do not exist on the new machine imports as missing tracks.
- Keep music on one drive where possible. Playlists that span three drives need all three connected when Rekordbox imports them.
If you need cues and loops preserved
Cue points are the one thing the playlist bridge cannot carry. If your set relies on saved cues and loops, use a dedicated library converter that reads Serato's cue tags and writes Rekordbox's format. Convert once, verify a sample of tracks carefully, and treat the converted library as the new source of truth in Rekordbox rather than converting back and forth repeatedly, which degrades data on every pass.
Worth knowing: some converters shift cue positions slightly on certain MP3s because the two apps calculate frame offsets differently. Always check a few busy tracks, with cues near the start of the song, before trusting a full conversion.
Keeping Serato and Rekordbox in parallel
Plenty of DJs keep Serato for club setups and Rekordbox for CDJ gigs. That works fine with two habits: keep all music in one folder structure both apps point at, and pick one app as the place where metadata gets edited so the other only ever reads. Re-export playlists after big crate changes rather than trying to mirror every small edit.
FAQ
Can Serato export directly to Rekordbox? No. Serato DJ Pro has no Rekordbox export and Rekordbox cannot read Serato crates. You bridge with M3U8 playlists or use a third-party library converter.
Will my cue points transfer? Not via playlists. Cues, loops and beatgrids are stored in Serato-specific tags that Rekordbox ignores. A dedicated converter is required for those.
Do I have to re-analyze everything in Rekordbox? Yes. Rekordbox needs to build its own waveforms, grids and key data. Analysis runs in the background, so start it well before you need the library.
Will exporting change my Serato library? No. Writing an M3U8 playlist is read-only as far as Serato is concerned. Your crates and database are untouched.
My imported playlists show missing tracks. Why? The file paths in the playlist do not exist on the machine doing the import. Import on the same machine, or move the music to the same path first, then re-import.
Ready to clean your library?
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