Music Metadata – How to Set Metadata for Music Files

filesmediamusic

In windows music files have metadata like artist name, album name associated with them. How is this metadata stored. Is it stored in file system like other file attributes or is it part of MP3 data that Windows Explorer extracts using a MP3 reader plugin?

Is it possible to read/change this information in Linux? Is it possible with commandline?

(I know these attributes can be set using Rhythymbox or some music player but I'm curious if these could also be set directly. Like in Windows the windows itself shows you artist information if you right click the file and open properties dialog)

Best Answer

The tags are stored in a data container located within the MP3 audio file. Some software I use:

easytag (GUI)
id3v2 (CLI)
Picard (GUI)
id3tool (CLI)

Also, many music players have tag editing features. The official site for ID3 has the file format specification and a history. As far as right-clicking a file to set a tag, it's almost certainly not a standard feature for any file manager in Linux because of the patent issue. So, you would be trying to find an add-on package for your file manager to gain that functionality.

Related Solutions

MediaTomb – Not showing Cover Art from music folder in the photo collection

You can use custom MediaTomb's Javascript API to do whatever you want with the file layout. I have used it to change filenames displayed and re-organize the directory structure. For instance if you have,

Tv/Mash/Mash-E01-Hawkeye-gets-shot.avi
Tv/Mash/Mash-E02-Hot-lips-gets-shot.avi

You might only want E01-Hawkeye-gets-shot and E02-Hot-lips-gets-shot to be displayed depending on how your media render displays the titles. For sure, you can filter files (not include them) this way as well. Typically these files are in /usr/share/mediatomb/js and are specified in the /etc/mediatomb/config.xml.

Specifically look at 5.1.3. Image Content Handler. You need to change the addImage() function in the import script.

Bash – viewing dll and exe file properties/attributes via the command line

You can use ExifTool. Here is an example of its usage:

$ exiftool somefile.exe
ExifTool Version Number         : 9.27
File Name                       : somefile.exe
Directory                       : .
File Size                       : 4.4 MB
File Modification Date/Time     : 2013:08:09 12:43:10-04:00
File Access Date/Time           : 2013:08:09 12:43:19-04:00
File Inode Change Date/Time     : 2013:08:09 12:43:10-04:00
File Permissions                : rw-------
File Type                       : Win32 EXE
MIME Type                       : application/octet-stream
Machine Type                    : Intel 386 or later, and compatibles
Time Stamp                      : 1992:06:19 18:22:17-04:00
PE Type                         : PE32
Linker Version                  : 2.25
Code Size                       : 37888
Initialized Data Size           : 96256
Uninitialized Data Size         : 0
Entry Point                     : 0x9c40
OS Version                      : 1.0
Image Version                   : 6.0
Subsystem Version               : 4.0
Subsystem                       : Windows GUI
File Version Number             : 3.3.0.0
Product Version Number          : 3.3.0.0
File Flags Mask                 : 0x003f
File Flags                      : (none)
File OS                         : Win32
Object File Type                : Executable application
File Subtype                    : 0
Language Code                   : Neutral
Character Set                   : Unicode
Comments                        : This installation was built with Inno Setup.
Company Name                    : Some company
File Description                : Some company
File Version                    : 3.3
Legal Copyright                 : Copyright(c) 2009-2013 Some company
Product Name                    : Some company somefile
Product Version                 : 3.3

ExifTool supports a number of file types and meta information formats. From the exiftool(1) manpage:

Below is a list of file types and meta information formats currently
supported by ExifTool (r = read, w = write, c = create):

File Types  
------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------  
3FR   r     | EIP   r     | LA    r     | ORF   r/w   | RSRC  r  
3G2   r     | EPS   r/w   | LNK   r     | OTF   r     | RTF   r  
3GP   r     | ERF   r/w   | M2TS  r     | PAC   r     | RW2   r/w  
ACR   r     | EXE   r     | M4A/V r     | PAGES r     | RWL   r/w  
AFM   r     | EXIF  r/w/c | MEF   r/w   | PBM   r/w   | RWZ   r  
AI    r/w   | EXR   r     | MIE   r/w/c | PCD   r     | RM    r  
AIFF  r     | F4A/V r     | MIFF  r     | PDF   r/w   | SO    r  
APE   r     | FFF   r/w   | MKA   r     | PEF   r/w   | SR2   r/w  
ARW   r/w   | FLA   r     | MKS   r     | PFA   r     | SRF   r  
ASF   r     | FLAC  r     | MKV   r     | PFB   r     | SRW   r/w  
AVI   r     | FLV   r     | MNG   r/w   | PFM   r     | SVG   r  
BMP   r     | FPF   r     | MODD  r     | PGF   r     | SWF   r  
BTF   r     | FPX   r     | MOS   r/w   | PGM   r/w   | THM   r/w  
CHM   r     | GIF   r/w   | MOV   r     | PLIST r     | TIFF  r/w  
COS   r     | GZ    r     | MP3   r     | PICT  r     | TTC   r  
CR2   r/w   | HDP   r/w   | MP4   r     | PMP   r     | TTF   r  
CRW   r/w   | HDR   r     | MPC   r     | PNG   r/w   | VRD   r/w/c  
CS1   r/w   | HTML  r     | MPG   r     | PPM   r/w   | VSD   r  
DCM   r     | ICC   r/w/c | MPO   r/w   | PPT   r     | WAV   r  
DCP   r/w   | IDML  r     | MQV   r     | PPTX  r     | WDP   r/w  
DCR   r     | IIQ   r/w   | MRW   r/w   | PS    r/w   | WEBP  r  
DFONT r     | IND   r/w   | MXF   r     | PSB   r/w   | WEBM  r  
DIVX  r     | INX   r     | NEF   r/w   | PSD   r/w   | WMA   r  
DJVU  r     | ITC   r     | NRW   r/w   | PSP   r     | WMV   r  
DLL   r     | J2C   r     | NUMBERS r   | QTIF  r     | WV    r  
DNG   r/w   | JNG   r/w   | ODP   r     | RA    r     | X3F   r/w  
DOC   r     | JP2   r/w   | ODS   r     | RAF   r/w   | XCF   r  
DOCX  r     | JPEG  r/w   | ODT   r     | RAM   r     | XLS   r  
DV    r     | K25   r     | OFR   r     | RAR   r     | XLSX  r  
DVB   r     | KDC   r     | OGG   r     | RAW   r/w   | XMP   r/w/c  
DYLIB r     | KEY   r     | OGV   r     | RIFF  r     | ZIP   r  

Meta Information  
----------------------+----------------------+---------------------  
EXIF           r/w/c  |  CIFF           r/w  |  Ricoh RMETA    r  
GPS            r/w/c  |  AFCP           r/w  |  Picture Info   r  
IPTC           r/w/c  |  Kodak Meta     r/w  |  Adobe APP14    r  
XMP            r/w/c  |  FotoStation    r/w  |  MPF            r  
MakerNotes     r/w/c  |  PhotoMechanic  r/w  |  Stim           r  
Photoshop IRB  r/w/c  |  JPEG 2000      r    |  APE            r  
ICC Profile    r/w/c  |  DICOM          r    |  Vorbis         r  
MIE            r/w/c  |  Flash          r    |  SPIFF          r  
JFIF           r/w/c  |  FlashPix       r    |  DjVu           r  
Ducky APP12    r/w/c  |  QuickTime      r    |  M2TS           r  
PDF            r/w/c  |  Matroska       r    |  PE/COFF        r  
PNG            r/w/c  |  GeoTIFF        r    |  AVCHD          r  
Canon VRD      r/w/c  |  PrintIM        r    |  ZIP            r  
Nikon Capture  r/w/c  |  ID3            r    |  (and more)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MediaTomb – Not showing Cover Art from music folder in the photo collection

Bash – viewing dll and exe file properties/attributes via the command line

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