# Can't always pad track numbers
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cant-always-pad-track-numbers/12516
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [September 18, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cant-always-pad-track-numbers/12516 "2011-09-18T05:01:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@progprog](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/progprog)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cant-always-pad-track-numbers/12516/1 "2011-09-18T05:01:19Z")
As part of an effort to standardize tags, I want to pad all tracknumbers to two digits (some of my older rips were not tagged this way). Easy enough....most of the time, I simply click on the action that applies the formatting and it's done.
But sometimes, I come across an album where I absolutely _cannot_ seem to change the single-digit numbers. The action doesn't work, manually changing them doesn't work....nothing. I simply can't turn a "1" for example, into a "01" no matter what I do. It seems so random, and it's incredibly frustrating!
Any ideas why this happens? Or more importantly, how to fix it?
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2011, 6:12am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cant-always-pad-track-numbers/12516/2 "2011-09-18T06:12:04Z")
i can of two causes:
- you have mp4 files that do not allow padding
- you have files with ape tags which show first but you write only mp3 tags (which are not shown)
---
### Author:  [@JJ\_Johnson](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/JJ_Johnson)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cant-always-pad-track-numbers/12516/3 "2011-09-18T06:21:34Z")
What type of file and type of tags?
FWIW, I've standardized on exactly the opposite, and treat all tracknumber fields as integers, not strings. Any 01, 02, or 01/13, 02/13 etc. are turned into 1, 2, etc. I've yet to find a single application that needs tracknumbers to be padded in order to sort them correctly. The only place I pad the numbers is in the file name, where it's necessary for the operating system's sorting of file names.
---
### Author:  [@progprog](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/progprog)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cant-always-pad-track-numbers/12516/4 "2011-09-18T22:29:41Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> i can of two causes:
>
> - you have mp4 files that do not allow padding
> - you have files with ape tags which show first but you write only mp3 tags (which are not shown)
> [@JJ Johnson](#):
>
> What type of file and type of tags?
All my files are m4a ALAC, and with most I can format the track numbers just fine. But occasionally, some exhibit this weird issue. I've tried everything I can think of, including removing the tag completely and then adding it back.
And it's just the track tag formatting. For opera titles, I include act and "song" in the title, like this:
I-08 Duett BeMännern, welche Liebe fühlen
If this were one of those albums where I can't pad the track number, it would show as "8" in column view, extended tags, etc. And I can't get that to change. But when I use it as part of the title, it'll take the re-formatting....i.e., this comes out right:
format title: %util%-$num(%track%,2) %title%
```
(%util% is an internal tag I use, in this case for act number)
```
It's not a huge deal, obviously. But it's just so bizarre and I'd really like to know why it happens (and how to fix it).
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cant-always-pad-track-numbers/12516/5 "2026-02-09T12:23:21Z")