Tags and editing of metadata

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Which tag fields are supported by Mp3tag?

You can edit all tag fields that are listed at Tag Field Mappings and add your own fields, which are then treated as user-defined fields.

To edit tags that are not listed in Mp3tag's Tag Panel (the input panel on the left), you can use View > :mt_tag: Extended Tags... or Alt+T. If you want to have a specific field available on the Tag Panel, you can add it via Options > Tag Panel.

You can also add additional file list columns for extended tag fields
via View > Customize Columns... and edit the tag fields directly in the file list. Customizing the file list columns gives a brief introduction to the available fields.

Again, you can find a list of all standard tag-field names and their mappings to other tag formats and applications at Tag Field Mappings.

Which tag types are supported by Mp3tag?

This depends on the file type. Here is a small overview:

AAC - Advanced Audio Coding
Read: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

AIF / AIFC / AIFF - Audio Interchange File Format
Read: ID3v2
Write: ID3v2
Remove: ID3v2

APE - Monkey's Audio
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

DSF - Direct Stream Digital
Read: ID3v2
Write: ID3v2
Remove: ID3v2

FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec
Read: Vorbis Comments
Write: Vorbis Comments
Remove: Vorbis Comments

MKA/MKV - Matroska
Read: Matroska tags (incl. chapters and cover-art attachments)
Write: Matroska tags (no support for adding cover art)
Remove: Matroska tags

MP3 - MPEG Audio Layer 3
Read: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

MP4 - MPEG-4
Read: MP4/iTunes Metadata
Write: MP4/iTunes Metadata
Remove: MP4/iTunes Metadata

MPC - Musepack
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

OFR - OptimFROG
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

OFS - OptimFROG DualStream
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

OGG - Ogg Vorbis
Read: Vorbis Comments
Write: Vorbis Comments
Remove: Vorbis Comments

SPX - Speex
Read: Vorbis Comments
Write: Vorbis Comments
Remove: Vorbis Comments

TAK - Tom's Audio Kompressor
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

TTA - The True Audio
Read: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

WAV - Waveform Audio File Format
Read: RIFF Info, ID3v2
Write: RIFF Info, ID3v2
Remove: RIFF Info, ID3v2

WMA - Windows Media Audio
Read: WMA Tag
Write: WMA Tag
Remove: WMA Tag

WV - WavPack
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

How to edit single tag fields?

In order to do this, select the audio files you want to change the tag field in.

Now edit the text in the field you want to change from the Tag Panel and select < keep > in the remaining input fields. File > :mt_save: Save tag or Ctrl+S updates all fields, except the ones where < keep > was selected.

How to remove single tag fields?

Select all files you want to edit and set the input fields you want to remove to < blank >. All other fields should read < keep > so that they remain unchanged.

File > :mt_save: Save tag or Ctrl+S strips all fields with the property < blank > from the tag.

For extended tag fields, use the extended tag dialog at View > :mt_tag: Extended Tags... or Alt+T.

How to copy whole tags to other files?

Select the files you want the tags to be copied from and press Ctrl+C. This will copy the files' tag to the clipboard.

By pressing Ctrl+V, Mp3tag then copies the tags from the clipboard to the target files. Using this sequence, you can simply copy tags from one format (e.g., FLAC) to another format (e.g., MP3).

Why does it take so long to write ID3v2 tags?

The ID3v2 tag is placed at the beginning of an audio file. If there isn't any ID3v2 tag in a file, there is also no space reserved for it. That is why a new temporary file needs to be created which will store the tag. Then, the audio data from the old file needs to be appended to the newly created one. This procedure will stress the hard disk, resulting in a long operating time. If you want to edit an existing ID3v2 tag, the editing procedure will take less.
Deleting an ID3v2 tag will also take long, as the audio data from the tagged file needs to be copied to a new file.

If you don't mind the ID3v1 30 characters limitations of the Artist, Album, etc. fields, you can use the ID3v1 tag type instead. This is placed at the end of the file and with its 128 bytes size it is very quickly written.

Mp3tag also supports the APEv2 tag for MP3 files, which can be written, edited and read quickly. Its only disadvantage is that the only player capabile of dealing with it is foobar2000.

How to edit tags or file names of multiple files?

In order to edit a filename, please press the F2 key in the file view. After editing the file's name, press the Return key to jump to the next file.

For editing the tags, you can easily use the input fields of the Tag Panel. You change a title for example and then press the keys Ctrl+S to save the tag (or :mt_save: File > Save tag). After that Ctrl+N jumps to the next file.

If you don't want to manually save after each change you can enable the Save tags when using arrow-keys/single mouse click option under Options > Tags. It saves you from explicitly clicking the save icon or pressing the key combination to write the changes to the files.

How to transfer tag information from one tag format to the other?

Options > Tags > Mpeg defines how Mp3tag deals with tags from MP3 files and Options > Tags > Ape, Mpc, ... is responsible for all other supported formats (Monkey's Audio, FLAC...).

If you want to transfer APEv2 tags to ID3v2 and ID3v1 tags for example, you select the reading of APEv2 tags and the writing of ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags. After applying the settings by pressing the OK button, select the files which should be re-tagged, press Ctrl+X and then Ctrl+V. If you don't want to remove the APEv2 tag format after the transfer, press Ctrl+C instead of Ctrl+X or simply select the tag formats to write from the Mp3tag options, select the the files and click on :mt_save:.

How to select multiple files?

In order to select a block of files, click the first file of the block, hold the Shift key pressed and select the last file of the block. If you don't want to select a block, but individual files, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the desired files.

In order to select multiple file blocks

  1. Select the first file of the first block.
  2. Hold the Shift key pressed, select the last file of the first block and then release the Shift key.
  3. Then hold the Ctrl key pressed and select the first file of the second block.
  4. After that hold both the Ctrl and the Shift keys pressed and select the last file of the second block.

By repeating the last two actions, you can select as many blocks as you want.