Traktor to Rekordbox (and Back): What Converts, What Breaks, and How to Keep Your Cues

Why this move is harder than it looks

Traktor and Rekordbox both store the same basic things: tracks, playlists, BPM, key, beatgrids and cues. The trouble is in the details. Traktor gives each cue a type, writes keys in Open Key, and keeps everything in one file, collection.nml. Rekordbox splits cues into hot cues and memory cues, shows keys as Classic or Alphanumeric, and keeps its library in its own database.

Neither app offers an official bridge to the other. The Rekordbox 7 manual (version 7.2.18) lists three library sources: rekordbox xml, iTunes and Devices. There is no Traktor importer. The Traktor Pro 4 manual does not describe reading a Rekordbox XML either: the only XML it mentions is the legacy iTunes library file. So whichever direction you are going, a CDJ booth or Traktor's stems and effects, you need a converter in the middle.

This guide covers what maps cleanly, what needs care, and the step-by-step Lexicon route in both directions. If you are coming from Serato instead, see our Serato to Rekordbox guide. If you are still choosing a home for your library, read Serato vs Rekordbox vs Engine DJ vs Traktor in 2026.

What converts cleanly, and what needs care

According to the Lexicon manual, a conversion carries over track info (rating, comments, play count, key and more), track locations, cue points, loops and active loops, beatgrid markers, playlists, smart playlists and streaming tracks. Lexicon supports Traktor Pro 3 and 4 (not Traktor DJ) and syncs to Rekordbox 5, 6 and 7.

The parts that need your attention:

• Traktor cue types. Traktor's Cue Type menu (Advanced Panel, CUE page) has five types: Cue, Fade-In, Fade-Out, Load and Loop. Rekordbox only knows hot cues and memory cues, and Lexicon itself works with one list of cues (plus loops). Normal cues and loops are the safe part. Load cues (the point a track jumps to when loaded) and Fade-In/Fade-Out cues (Traktor's automated mixing markers) have no matching type in Rekordbox, so do not expect that behaviour to survive.
• Grid markers are not cues. In Traktor, Grid Markers live on the GRID page and the manual stresses they are independent from cue points. Lexicon converts them as beatgrid markers, and multiple markers (tempo changes) are supported.
• Hot cue count. Traktor has 8 hotcues per track. Rekordbox can hold up to 16, but the Lexicon manual notes Rekordbox only imports a maximum of 8 through XML. Going Traktor to Rekordbox, 8 fits either way.
• Cue colours. Traktor does not have coloured cue points, so cue colours you set in Rekordbox or Lexicon are not visible in Traktor. With the Rekordbox XML method, memory cue colours are also lost because the XML does not store them; hot cue colours do work, and the Direct method has no such limit.
• Remix Sets. Only Traktor has them, and Lexicon does not support them, so they are lost in conversion.
• The MP3 offset. In a small share of MP3s, Traktor, Rekordbox, Serato and VirtualDJ disagree about the start of the file by 26 or 50 milliseconds, which shifts every cue and grid. Lexicon's Beatgrid shift correction scans and adjusts this on every import and sync. It catches most tracks, not all, so spot-check a few MP3s afterwards.

Keys: Open Key, Camelot and Rekordbox's display

Traktor's own key notation is Open Key (for example 11d or 12m, where d is major and m is minor). You pick it in Traktor under Preferences > Analyze Options > Displayed in Traktor. Rekordbox shows keys as Classic (key names) or Alphanumeric (such as 1A), set under Preferences > View > Display Type > Key display format.

Open Key is not Camelot with different letters: the numbers are shifted too. C major is 1d in Open Key and 8B in Camelot; A minor is 1m and 8A. Mixing both notations in one library is how you end up with a "compatible" mix that clashes.

In Lexicon, the Convert keys option on the Sync page decides what gets written: Original keys, Open Key, Open Key with leading zero, Musical key or Custom key. Two things to know:

• Lexicon cannot convert to Camelot because of licensing restrictions. If you want one consistent notation in Rekordbox, choose Open Key or Musical key. If you really want your own labels, set Key format to Custom keys in the Lexicon settings, click Edit Custom Keys, and sync with Custom key.
• Open Key with leading zero writes 01m, 02m ... 10m so key columns sort correctly. Without it you get 1m, 10m, 11m, 12m, 2m.

More detail in the key conversion manual page and our Camelot wheel explainer.

Traktor to Rekordbox, step by step

Before you start: back up collection.nml. Traktor keeps your whole collection in this file in its root folder, by default:

• Windows: C:\Users\YourName\Documents\Native Instruments\Traktor x.x.x\collection.nml
• macOS: /Users/YourName/Documents/Native Instruments/Traktor x.x.x/collection.nml

Close Traktor and copy that file somewhere safe. Traktor also makes its own backup every time you close it after a change, in Backup/Collection inside the same folder (NI support).

Import Traktor into Lexicon:

1. Close Traktor.
2. In Lexicon, go to the Sync page and click Import tracks & playlists.
3. Select Traktor Pro. Lexicon should find your NML file automatically. If it does not, point it to collection.nml (or export one in Traktor by right-clicking Track Collection and choosing Export the Collection).
4. Leave the other settings at their defaults and click Start importing.

Note: with Merge off, the import replaces your current Lexicon library. Merge (and importing only some playlists) is available on the Essential and Ultimate plans.

Sync Lexicon to Rekordbox:

1. Close Rekordbox completely, including the tray icon. Lexicon will not sync while it runs.
2. In Rekordbox, turn off auto analysis first so it does not overwrite your converted beatgrids.
3. On the Lexicon Sync page, choose Rekordbox 6/7 (the Direct method: faster, and no XML limits). Rekordbox 5 can only use the XML method.
4. Set Cue Destination. Your Traktor cues have never been in Rekordbox, so Default sends them all to hot cues. To also get them as memory cues (handy for the CDJ needle search and players with few pads), choose All to hot and memory cue.
5. Set Convert keys as described above, then click the sync button.
6. Open Rekordbox. To add waveforms without touching your grids, analyse with only Phrase selected.

Check it on a CDJ. Export a USB from Rekordbox, or let Lexicon write one directly with Sync to Pioneer USB (it supports both OneLibrary and the older DeviceLibrary, and can fix many E-8305 file problems on the USB copy). Load five or six tracks you know well, including MP3s, and check the first hot cue lands on the downbeat, loops are the right length, and the grid sits on the beat when you beat-jump. Lexicon's manual is clear: always carry a Rekordbox-made USB as a backup. For home prep, DIRECT2CDJ connects Lexicon to a networked CDJ so cues you set on the player show up in Lexicon immediately.

To undo: Rekordbox is untouched until you sync, and Lexicon backs up your DJ app database before it syncs (see backups in the manual). Keep in mind a Full Sync removes anything from Rekordbox that is not in Lexicon, so import first if Rekordbox already has tracks you care about. Your Traktor side is safe either way: restore your copied collection.nml if needed.

Rekordbox to Traktor (and keeping both)

Going the other way is the same two steps in reverse (full guide):

1. Close Rekordbox. On the Lexicon Sync page, click Import tracks & playlists and choose Rekordbox.
2. Under Hot or memory cues, choose Both so memory cues are not left behind. A memory cue at the exact same position as a hot cue is dropped unless you enable Keep duplicate cues. More on that split in Hot Cues vs Memory Cues.
3. Close Traktor, choose Traktor on the Sync page and click Sync to Traktor. Lexicon writes straight into collection.nml, no XML step.
4. Open Traktor.

Lexicon backs up collection.nml before each sync, in a Lexicon folder inside your Traktor folder (first sync each day, kept for a week). To restore from any backup in Traktor: right-click Track Collection, choose Import another Collection, pick the file, then run Check Consistency.

If you keep using both apps, watch one trap. Traktor has no memory cues, so importing from Traktor after Rekordbox replaces the Rekordbox cues in Lexicon, memory cues included. To pull only some fields from Traktor, use Merge with Import specific fields only and uncheck Cue Points. And remember that Lexicon replaces a track's cues in the target app on sync, so if you set new cues in Rekordbox, import from Rekordbox (with Merge) before you sync back.