An optical recording and reproducing apparatus uses a laser to form one or more spots on an information recording medium preformatted with wobbling guide grooves, and detects tracking error. If the differential push-pull method of detecting tracking error is used, a center spot is flanked by satellite spots distant by an odd multiple of half the repeating period of tile wobble. If the three-beam method is used, the distance is an odd multiple of one-fourth the repeating period of the wobble. If the push-pull method is used, a split photodetector generates a pair of electrical signals. The sum and difference of these signals are filtered, then synchronously detected, and the result is combined with the difference signal to generate a corrected tracking error signal.