What’s your djay Database file size and startup performance?
Hey fellow djay users,
I’m curious to hear about your experiences with the djay music database size and how it impacts performance, especially at startup.
Here’s my current situation:
I have around 4,500 tracks in My Collection.
My djay database file is already at ~860 MB (and growing).
Startup time is currently around 30 seconds, which feels quite long.
Every time I re-add the main source folder (I use iTunes as a music hub), the database grows significantly — around 80 MB added each time, even though most of these tracks are already in there. It’s just a refresh and update.
Just to know; the database doesn’t store audio, just metadata like BPM, key, grids, cue points, loops, playlist structure, etc.
This growth and performance hit seem a bit excessive for just metadata.
Is this normal for others too?
How big is your djay database?
How many tracks are in your collection?
Any tips to reduce bloat or improve startup speed?
Has anyone managed to “clean up” or optimize the djay database?
Would love to compare notes and maybe get some clarity if this is expected behavior or something that needs a workaround. Thanks in advance!
Wow, that size is huge. I’m at 3,200 tracks (only local files), and my media library size is 148 MB — which is big, but by comparison, looks reasonable. I’ll gladly follow this discussion — maybe I’ll learn something from the optimization tips. Sadly, I don’t know any methods myself so far.
160,000 mp4 tracks in library (external drive)
Djay media library file is 170MB
Previously about a year back it shot to about 600MP and i had crash issues at launch (macbook pro 2019, i7 with 16gig RAM. At times it would take long time to launch.
On my ipad M1 djay would fail to launch.
I talked to a guy called MixMaster G from ATGR, https://www.atgr.nl/. He developed an experimental app called “fix djay collection"
Thanks @Armigo for this helpful tip.
Coincidentally, I’m already familiar with the ATGR tools; especially because I initially had to convert my library from Traktor to djay, for which I used DJCU.
As a result, I’m also aware of the ‘fix djay collection’ script, and I’ve run it once before. However, it didn’t quite do the trick for me in the end. From what I understand, it’s mainly intended to address database startup issues on iOS devices.
When launching the ‘fix djay collection’ app, you also get the following disclaimer:
This script attempts to fix start-up issues of djay Pro on iOS devices by modifying the djay Pro collection database.
The script is considered experimental.
Use it at your own risk.
If you don’t have startup issues with djay Pro,
then don’t use this script!
This script is not meant to be a
‘database size shrinker’
You didn’t mention anything about 22.000 tracks and this size of database file.
Could u be more specific?
22,000 tracks and a database fiile of approx 200mb size seems very reasonable.
But,alas, you didn’t mention anything of that kind in the very start
Just to clarify — I’m being very specific here. I’m not referring to the speed of opening the iTunes (or any other) tab within djay. As I prefer working with playlists directly imported in the ‘My Collection’ section, which is why I’m focusing only on the performance within that part of djay.
So, again, these are the exact numbers:
I have around 4,500 tracks in My Collection.
My djay database file is already around 860 MB (and growing).
Hope this clears things up!
From what I’ve seen in other replies, this seems quite a bit higher than what most people are working with.
Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and input!
It became increasingly clear that my djay database size (860 MB) was way out of proportion for the 4,500 tracks I had in My Collection — even accounting for the fact that I prefer having the tracks in ‘My Collection’ part rather than the iTunes tab.
After getting some more information from support, I was finally able to shrink the database from ~860 MB down to just 135 MB!
What was the issue?
Apparently, a large number of metadata changes (e.g., new tracks, cue points, grids, track history, playlist edits) were sitting in a sync queue for iCloud. Since I had iCloud sync disabled, those changes were just piling up and bloating the database.
The fix:
I re-enabled iCloud sync, and over the course of a day, the queued changes were uploaded.
Gradually, the database started shrinking on its own.
This may not apply to everyone, but it’s definitely a heads-up for those who:
Prefer using My Collection heavily
Have iCloud sync turned off
Are experiencing database bloat or long startup times
Takeaway:
If you’re seeing unusual database size growth and have iCloud sync disabled, try turning it back on temporarily — it might resolve the issue.
Hope this helps others who run into the same thing.
