This just cropped up today 20260114. With MP3’s only from Ligonier Ministries, I can remove a tag, but when MP3 Tag adds a tag, it is unable to save the file. I get the message, ‘“Cannot write file “[file path]” Do you want to retry?”’ Worked fine until today. Other MP3’s from other sources have no problem. I’ve tried getting the audio from YouTube instead of the audio podcast download; I’ve also just recorded the raw audio to MP3 from my screen. Something imbedded somehow? I’ve also tried re-encoding the MP3 with Replay Converter, but the problem persists.
Maybe you can start here:
Please also tell us, which Mp3tag version you are currently using.
I had a look at the example file you sent via email, and couldn't spot any issues with the file itself.
Is the file locked by a different tool, for example an audio player?
Or any antivirus tool (including Windows Defender)?
UPDATE: I learned what the culprit was, but I don't know the fix. It was Windows Update. I also don't know why it would only effect MP3's from one source as I described in the earlier version of this post, (that I know about so far). I went to my laptop which had not yet installed the latest Windows Cumulative Update (KB5073724), and I could still add a tag to the Ligonier files and *save* the files with no problem. Then I went ahead and allowed the update to occur. After rebooting, the problem I described earlier started happening on the laptop, the same as on my other two PC's.
Of my three PC's, two are Windows 10, receiving Extended Updates, and one is Windows 11, which received the same update. (I also have 0Patch on all three.)
I’m on the latest version of MP3 Tag. please see my own Reply about Windows Update. Thanks.
I tried the above suggestion about renaming to MP4. Didn’t work. I also tried Saving As with the audio editor, as well as re-encoding with Replay Converter with Copy Metadata turned off. Still didn’t work.
Can you confirm that only MP3s from Ligonier are affected?
(This sounds very strange, and I can't see how it could be possible.)
Could you please try to edit new MP3s from other sources in Mp3tag on devices with KB5073724 applied?
What about MP3 from Ligonier from six months ago or earlier?
If you try to edit the same MP3 from another path (like an USB stick, an external HDD or a network attached storage) do you get the same error message?
With KB5073724 applied, I can confirm that only files from Ligonier are exhibiting this problem. I can open the file with MP3 Tag, remove the cover art and successfully save the file. It’s when I try to replace the cover art, that MP3 Tag says it cannot write to the file.
I get podcasts from multiple other sources every day, and they are working fine in MP3 Tag. I tried with VLC and it didn’t save the cover art either. However, I tried one of the online editors (https://www.onlineconverter.com/), and it *did* save the image. So when working away from the updated Windows, the file can be altered and saved.
I found Puddletag on Linux, and it worked. I gave it a Ligonier file with no cover art, and added an image from my cover art folder, pressed OK, and that was it. So it can be done, away from this latest Windows update and whatever they broke.
You have yet to answer an important question.
Is there a player or library manager open and active while you are trying to edit these music files with mp3tag?
Windows Media Player or whatever iteration they have renamed it in Win11 is notorious for causing issues even if it isn't running. The best suggestion is to disable it in the Windows options if you have a different player option. Almost anything is better.
The file is not open in any other application. This happens on both Windows 10 and 11. In every case it’s just in file explorer. I’ll open it with MP3 Tag and remove the cover art and save the file. Later, after editing, I’ll come back and add cover art back in. That’s when MP3 Tag is unable to write to the file, and only if it came from Ligonier. As I said earlier, this problem does not exist if I add the cover art with Puddletag in Linux or with an online tag editor. This problem only started after the latest Windows update. I hope this is clear.
I’ve thought about contacting Ligonier to see what OS and software they are using to create their MP3 files, but I haven’t done that.
That still did not answer this question. Even if the native Windows Media Player is not active the OS can still be scanning things in the background.
However it certainly sounds like there is more going in here.
The fact you can't even convert these files to another format suggests to me there is something much more going on with the file itself, yet even the dev tested a sample file and found no issues.
Hopefully if it is a Windows update that is at the root of this it gets fixed quickly. I still don't see how files from only one source can be affected though. It does not sound like mp3tag or even VLC are able to fix this.
As far as I know, I never said the files could not be converted to another format, and I *never* opened them in any player. They did get opened in an audio editor which saves them when it’s done and closes. What I did try based on a suggestion, was converting a Ligonier file to another format (MP4) to see if it made any difference, which it did not. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. My best workaround is to take any Ligonier files over to Linux where Paddletag will do the job without incident. My solution for now is to add the album art to the Ligonier MP3 files somewhere that isn’t Windows. I feel like I’m repeating myself. The Windows update simply broke something unique to the Ligonier files. Of course, I don’t know what that is; it’s above my knowledge level. I had files this morning from non-Ligonier sources, and they all worked in MP3 Tag just fine. I had one from Ligonier, and I did it’s album art with an online web editor, which I mentioned earlier.
Just to clarify, as if I haven’t already, I can open the Ligonier file initially just with MP3Tag, (no player, no audio editor, nothing else), and remove the cover art, and save the file. That part works. I can then immediately without doing anything else, reopen the saved Ligonier file with MP3Tag. It will show no cover art because that’s what I just did previously. I can then add cover art, edit the Title, Artist, whatever, and at that point, MP3Tag will say it cannot write to the file, and it started happening the day I first started this topic, immediately after the newest Windows update. That sums up this entire post.
I’m not going to drag this out any further beyond mentioning this morning that after adding the artwork to a file and saving it with Puddletag over on Linux, I brought it back to Windows and at that point, MP3Tag was able to further edit and write to the Ligonier file as it normally does with other files. So my suspicion is there’s something either inadvertently or deliberately embedded in the Ligonier file which Puddletag was able to strip out when it did it’s processing. (If that’s true, it would point back to whatever software Ligonier is using to create their MP3’s.) So when MP3Tag subsequently got it back, it was able to function normally. And for some reason the Windows update caused whatever was embedded in the Ligonier file initially to have a disagreement with MP3Tag. I’m by no means a programmer, I’m just following the trail of clues.
That is all. Signing out.
This would also mean that the issue would show with the file you sent, which it didn't. I was able to add cover art just fine to the file you sent via email.
CHANGELOG: Mp3tag v3.33
[excerpt]
[2026-01-18] FIX: added workaround for issue introduced by Windows Update where increasing the file
size (e.g., when adding cover art) gave an error 380 for files on file systems
backed by cloud storage (e.g., OneDrive or Dropbox). (#70522, #70497, #70490,
#70510, #70516)