AUD · Audio tools

Audio Tag Editor

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Settings are written to the URL as you change them. Nothing differs from the defaults yet.

Write metadata without touching the audio

Load a track, edit its fields, and save. The encoded audio is copied straight from the old file into the new one, so a 320 kbps MP3 comes out as the same 320 kbps MP3 with different tags attached. Nothing is decoded, which is also why saving takes about as long as reading the file.

The button counts the changes. Fields you do not touch are not written, they are carried through from the source.

What each container calls a tag

Metadata is not one standard, it is five, and which one applies is decided by the container the file is in.

  • MP3 and ADTS use ID3v2 frames written at the head of the file, with TIT2 for title, TPE1 for artist, and so on.
  • M4A uses atoms inside the MP4 meta box, the scheme iTunes established.
  • FLAC and Ogg use Vorbis comments, plain KEY=value text pairs.
  • WAV uses chunks in a RIFF INFO list, which is the most limited of the five and the reason WAV files often lose their tags in transit.

The fields on this page are the common set, mapped onto whichever scheme the file uses. Anything a container holds that this form does not model, including replay gain and library identifiers, is preserved on the way through.

Cover art

One image is stored inside the file, tagged as front cover. Add one, replace one, or remove it entirely.

The size to aim for is 600 to 1000 pixels square in JPEG. That is enough for a phone lock screen and a desktop player, and small enough that the file does not grow noticeably. Artwork is duplicated in every copy of the track, which is why a 5 MB PNG is a poor choice even though it works.

Track and disc numbers

Both come in pairs: the position and the total. Players use them to sort an album, and a missing total is why a compilation sometimes plays in file name order instead. Leave a number at 0 to clear it.

Reading before writing

To inspect a file’s metadata, codec, and bitrate without changing anything, the metadata viewer reports all of it and copies the values out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Title, artist, album, album artist, genre, date, track and disc numbers, comment, lyrics, and embedded cover art. It reads and writes MP3, M4A, FLAC, Ogg, Opus, and WAV.

No. The encoded audio packets are copied into a new file with the new metadata around them, so the sound is bit for bit what it was.

It depends on the container. MP3 uses ID3v2 frames at the head of the file, M4A uses atoms inside the MP4 metadata box, FLAC and Ogg use Vorbis comments, and WAV uses chunks in its RIFF INFO list.

They are carried over. Only the fields you change are written differently, so replay gain values, MusicBrainz identifiers, and anything else the file held stay where they were.

JPEG and PNG are what players expect. Keep it under a megabyte or so: the image is stored inside the audio file, and a 5 MB cover makes every copy of that track 5 MB heavier.

Players cache metadata in their own library database and do not re-read a file they think they know. Remove the track from the library and add the new file, rather than overwriting in place and waiting.

No. This writes an audio container, so a video would lose its picture. Pull the audio out first with the video extractor.

Because the tag itself is loose. Some files carry a full date, most carry a year. Type a year on its own or a full YYYY-MM-DD date, and it is written as a date the container understands.

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