# Auto number track not always matching WIN 11 File Explorer
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [August 1, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458 "2024-08-01T14:21:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ArthurKotb](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ArthurKotb)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/1 "2024-08-01T14:21:41Z")
I have an "album" I created with hundreds of songs. I do this so I can use a random play. In MP3Tag I see the numbers sequentially, no repeats. When I look at the folder in WIN11 File Explorer I see duplicate tracks and the track number doesn't always match the one in File Explorer. It doesn't seem to affect playback but it's odd that the track numbers displayed don't always match.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 2:26pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/2 "2024-08-01T14:26:49Z")
It's a WIndows Explorer problem, not an MP3tag problem:
> [@Padding Track Num, Scrambled.](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/padding-track-num-scrambled/11740/3):
>
> Maybe. Hmm, few days ago there was a rather similar request like yours now. Looking at your pictures all looks fine with focus to the filenames. When looking at the property sheet of a file resp. at the property column titled "#" there are the quirks. For me ... it looks like ... if numbers with one leading zero will be interpreted as "octal numbers". So that the octal number "010" will be displayed as decimal "8" or octal number "011" will be displayed as decimal "9". I have no definite …
Workaround: do not use 3-digit-numbers with leading zeros as Windows Explorer interprets these as octal (and not decimal) values
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/3 "2024-08-01T14:35:29Z")
Microsoft know this since - at least - 13 years and "Windows 7"
[https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/mp3-tags-specifically-the-tags-are-not-correct/625737c9-8497-443b-a2a7-3d7b02e513e2](https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/mp3-tags-specifically-the-tags-are-not-correct/625737c9-8497-443b-a2a7-3d7b02e513e2)
and Microsoft was not able to fix it since then, including "Windows 11".
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### Author:  [@ArthurKotb](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ArthurKotb)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/4 "2024-08-01T16:44:39Z")
Wow, that old, huh? Well, good to know. It does seem weird that you see different track numbers depending on which tool you use to access them. They must be writing to 2 different places in the metadata.
Thanks for the quick response.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/5 "2024-08-01T16:48:47Z")
> [@ArthurKotb](#):
>
> They must be writing to 2 different places in the metadata.
Nope.
It is how the Windows Explorer interprets the data in the field TRACK - and then it sorts the files accordingly.
you see in the linked thread how a decimal and an octal number would lead to the same displayed number.
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### Author:  [@ArthurKotb](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ArthurKotb)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/6 "2024-08-01T17:36:11Z")
-In File Explorer it says track 8
-In Groove/New Media Player it says track 8
-In VLC it says track 10
-Opening the file in Notepad, at the top, after the title is track 10
"TPE1 ÿþV e n t u r e s TPE2 ÿþV a r i o u s TSSE ÿþL a v f 5 8 . 2 9 . 1 0 0 TIT2 # ÿþW a l k , D o n ' t R u n **TRCK 010** TYER 1960 TXXX ' ÿþm a j o r \_ b r a n d ÿþi s o m TXXX"
So both entries are there somewhere. The first line of the song data must have been placed by MP3Tag. I can't find the Windows data but it could be encrypted, hex, octal or something else.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 5:38pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/7 "2024-08-01T17:38:48Z")
File Explorer and Groove Music are both original Microsoft applications that use both the same faulty code base.
As the other programs interpret the track value correctly, you see the same as in MP3tag.
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### Author:  [@ArthurKotb](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ArthurKotb)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 5:42pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/8 "2024-08-01T17:42:27Z")
Most of the track numbers are correct. In this "album" I created there are 593 songs. The track numbers for WIN and MP3 both run to 593, but the WIN numbers have some duplicates
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/9 "2024-08-01T17:44:52Z")
> [@ArthurKotb](#):
>
> but the WIN numbers have some duplicates
Yes - this is due to the leading zeros in 3-digit numbers.
If you remove the leading zeros in the field track, windows and the decent applications will show the same numbers.
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### Author:  [@ArthurKotb](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ArthurKotb)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/10 "2024-08-01T18:00:11Z")
Well that fixes my problem! Thank you very much 😀 The song I've been working with now shows the same number track that MP3Tag has shown all along.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/auto-number-track-not-always-matching-win-11-file-explorer/65458/11 "2024-08-31T18:00:47Z")
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