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The Audio Browser is ZZAR’s most powerful feature, letting you explore, play, tag, and replace audio files from Zenless Zone Zero.

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Understanding the Audio Structure

Zenless Zone Zero’s audio is organized hierarchically: 
Game Directory/
└── StreamingAssets/
    └── Audio/
        └── Windows/
            └── Full/
                ├── Char_Female_Player_Jp_SFX.pck    ← Container files
                │   ├── 123456789.bnk                ← Soundbanks
                │   │   ├── 111111111.wem            ← Audio files
                │   │   ├── 222222222.wem
                │   │   └── ...
                │   └── 987654321.wem                ← Standalone WEMs
                └── Music_Battle.pck
  • PCK files: Container archives holding audio data
  • BNK files: Wwise soundbanks (collections of WEM files)
  • WEM files: Individual audio files (Wwise Encoded Media)

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Loading Game Audio

1

Configure Game Directory

Go to Settings and set your game installation path.ZZAR looks for audio in:
<game>/StreamingAssets/Audio/Windows/Full/
2

Open the Audio Browser

Navigate to the Audio Browser tab.ZZAR will automatically:
  • Scan all .pck files
  • Index contained .bnk soundbanks
  • Build a searchable tree view
3

Wait for Indexing

First-time indexing may take 1-2 minutes depending on your system.Progress is shown at the bottom of the window.
ZZAR caches indexed data in:
  • Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\ZZAR\cache\
  • Linux: ~/.local/share/ZZAR/cache/
Subsequent loads are much faster.
The Audio Browser displays a multi-level tree:

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Level 1: PCK Files

📦 Char_Female_Player_Jp_SFX.pck (1,234 files)
Click the arrow to expand and view contents.

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Level 2: Soundbanks (BNK)

📦 Char_Female_Player_Jp_SFX.pck
  📚 123456789.bnk (567 wems)
Soundbanks group related audio (e.g., all sounds for one character).

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Level 3: WEM Files

📦 Char_Female_Player_Jp_SFX.pck
  📚 123456789.bnk
    🔊 111111111.wem - "Player_Jump" (0.5s)
    🔊 222222222.wem - "Player_Land" (0.3s)
Double-click any WEM to play it.
Enable Hide Useless PCKs in settings to filter out PCKs with no playable audio (e.g., engine files).

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Playing Audio

1

Select a WEM File

Click any .wem file in the tree.
2

Click Play

Use the playback controls at the bottom:
  • ▶️ Play: Start playback
  • ⏸️ Pause: Pause playback
  • ⏹️ Stop: Stop and reset
3

Adjust Volume

Use the volume slider to adjust playback level.
ZZAR extracts and converts WEM files to WAV on-the-fly for playback. This may take 1-2 seconds for the first play.

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Searching for Audio

The search feature helps you find specific sounds:

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Search by File ID

123456789
Enter the numeric file ID to jump directly to that WEM.

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Search by Sound Name

Player Jump
Searches tags for “Player Jump” (requires tagged database).

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Search by PCK Name

Char_Female
Finds all PCKs with “Char_Female” in the name.
Search is case-insensitive and supports partial matches.

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Search Results

Search results show:
  • File ID
  • Sound name (if tagged)
  • Parent PCK and BNK
  • Duration
Click any result to navigate to it in the tree.

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Tagging Sounds

Tags are human-readable labels that help you remember what each sound is.
1

Right-Click a WEM File

Or select it and click the Tag Sound button.
2

Enter a Descriptive Tag

Examples:
  • “Player Jump Sound”
  • “Ellen Combat Voice Line 1”
  • “Menu Click SFX”
3

Save the Tag

Tags are stored in:
~/.local/share/ZZAR/sound_database.json
They persist across sessions.

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Downloading the Official Tag Database

The ZZAR community maintains a tagged database with thousands of labeled sounds.
1

Click the Tag Database Button

In the Audio Browser, look for the notification about new tags.
2

Download Tags

Click Download Official Tag Database.This downloads a JSON file from the ZZAR repository.
3

Apply Tags

Click Apply Tags to merge the official database with your local tags.You’ll see a count of newly tagged sounds.
Official tags are community-contributed. If you find unlabeled sounds, consider contributing your tags back to the project.

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Finding Matching Sounds (Audio Fingerprinting)

ZZAR can identify game audio from external files using acoustic fingerprinting.
1

Click 'Find Matching Sound'

Located at the top of the Audio Browser.
2

Select Your Audio File

Choose a .mp3, .wav, or other audio file.This could be:
  • A rip from a game video
  • An extracted WEM file
  • A recording of in-game audio
3

Wait for Analysis

ZZAR:
  1. Generates an acoustic fingerprint of your file
  2. Compares it against all game audio
  3. Returns the closest matches
This can take 1-5 minutes depending on the database size.
4

Review Matches

Results show:
  • Confidence score (0-100%)
  • File ID and sound name
  • Parent PCK/BNK
Click Navigate to jump to the matched sound.
Fingerprinting requires the official fingerprint database. ZZAR will prompt you to download it on first use (~50MB).
Fingerprinting works even if your audio has different volume, slight noise, or small edits. It’s great for identifying sounds from gameplay videos.

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View Filters

Use filters to reduce clutter:

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Hide Useless PCKs

Enables/disables PCKs that contain only metadata or engine sounds (no music/voices).

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Hide Empty BNKs

Hides soundbanks with no playable WEM files.

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Merge WEM View

Flattens the hierarchy to show all WEMs directly under PCKs (skips BNK level).

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Language Tabs

If your game has multiple language packs installed, ZZAR shows tabs for each:
  • English
  • Japanese
  • Chinese
  • Korean
Click a tab to browse audio for that language.
Language tabs are auto-detected from your game’s Audio/Windows/Full/ subfolders.

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Opening Audio Folders

Click Open Folder to open the game’s audio directory in your file manager:
  • Streaming: Original game audio (StreamingAssets/Audio/)
  • Persistent: Modded audio (Persistent/Audio/)
Useful for:
  • Manually backing up original files
  • Inspecting mod outputs
  • Troubleshooting file permissions

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Advanced: Audio Browser Keyboard Shortcuts

ShortcutAction
SpacePlay/Pause selected audio
Ctrl+FFocus search bar
↑↓Navigate tree items
EnterPlay selected audio
EscClear search
Right-click the Audio Browser settings icon to access advanced options like clearing the cache or forcing a re-index.

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Troubleshooting

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”Game audio directory not found”

Go to Settings and ensure your game path is correct. ZZAR expects: 
<game>/ZenlessZoneZero_Data/StreamingAssets/Audio/Windows/Full/

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Tree view is empty

Check that:
  • The game directory is set correctly
  • You have read permissions on the audio folder
  • PCK files exist in StreamingAssets/Audio/Windows/Full/

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Audio playback fails with “Conversion tools not found”

Install FFmpeg and vgmstream from Settings. See Setup & Configuration.

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Search returns no results

If searching by sound name:
  • Download the official tag database
  • Or manually tag sounds using Tag Sound

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”Loading audio…” takes forever

First-time extraction and conversion can be slow. Subsequent plays use the cache and are instant. Clear the cache from Audio Browser settings if files seem stuck.

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