An audio contents recognition method includes receiving an audio signal; obtaining audio fingerprints (AFPs) based on a spectral shape of the received audio signal; generating hash codes for the obtained audio fingerprints; transmitting a matching query between the generated hash codes and hash codes stored in a database; and receiving a contents recognition result of the audio signal in response to the transmitting, wherein the generating of the hash codes includes: determining a frame interval delta_F of an audio fingerprint to generate the hash codes among the obtained audio fingerprints.