# "Cleaning" tags
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [June 2, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396 "2006-06-02T21:19:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@willmcelwain](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/willmcelwain)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/1 "2006-06-02T21:19:36Z")
Hey everybody,
I've been using Mp3tag for a while now, and was wondering if it would be good to "re-tag" all my mp3s again with the latest stable version. It seems like there have been many bugs fixed with the tag libraries, including the addition of UTF support not too long ago. And I was thinking that it might be good to erase the current ID3v1&2 tags and rewrite them all (using the ID3v2.3 UTF-16 option). Is this a good idea? Is it as simple as loading my entire mp3 collection into Mp3tag, "select all" and click the save button? Will running an action to "remove all fields except" (the main ones) do the trick? I currently have the option set to remove ID3v1&2 tags first, so is that all that needs to be done?
Two more questions:
-Is there any way to remove the Lyrics 3v2 tag? I have very few mp3s with those tags, but it'd be nice to remove them anyway, since they're essentially useless.
-What's the name of the field that the album art is stored under? I'd like to keep that field...
Thanks for the help and the awesome program.
-will
---
### Author:  [@milka](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/milka)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/2 "2006-06-03T04:42:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> -What's the name of the field that the album art is stored under? I'd like to keep that field...
%\_covers%
> [@](#):
>
> -Is there any way to remove the Lyrics 3v2 tag? I have very few mp3s with those tags, but it'd be nice to remove them anyway, since they're essentially useless.
You can run an action to "remove fields", or you can select all files and via menu View Tags.., mark UNSYNCEDLYRICS and select remove.
---
### Author:  [@willmcelwain](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/willmcelwain)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2006, 4:46am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/3 "2006-06-03T04:46:51Z")
What about the ID3v2 tag field name, not the Mp3tag scripting name (or are they interchangeable)? I'm writing an action to "remove all fields but...", and it asks me for a list of tag fields separated by semicolons.
---
### Author:  [@milka](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/milka)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/4 "2006-06-03T04:54:50Z")
Read [this](https://docs.mp3tag.de/actions/remove-fields-except).
---
### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2006, 6:29am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/5 "2006-06-03T06:29:33Z")
It's **picture** not %\_covers%
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### Author:  [@SquallLeonhart38](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/SquallLeonhart38)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/6 "2006-06-03T16:47:48Z")
> [@willmcelwain](#):
>
> [...]
> -Is there any way to remove the Lyrics 3v2 tag? I have very few mp3s with those tags, but it'd be nice to remove them anyway, since they're essentially useless.
> [...]
You remove them by removing the ID3v1.
---
### Author:  [@willmcelwain](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/willmcelwain)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/7 "2006-06-04T01:59:08Z")
What about my original question? Will loading up all my mp3s (tagged with various older versions of Mp3tag) and re-saving them clean them up? Florian?
---
### Author:  [@Sebastian\_Mares](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Sebastian_Mares)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2006, 5:33am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/8 "2006-06-04T05:33:22Z")
You can simply select all files and click on the  button.
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### Author:  [@willmcelwain](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/willmcelwain)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/9 "2006-06-04T16:24:07Z")
awesome, thanks.
---
### Author:  [@blackspawn](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/blackspawn)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/10 "2006-12-16T22:50:11Z")
I'm having some problems cleaning my tags, I've tried "removing all fields except", selecting all files and saving but I can't seem to get rid of ID3v1, Lyrics3v2 and APEv2 in certain files (all mp3). Under the "Tag" field I get "ID3v2.4 (ID3v1 Lyrics3v2 ID3v2.4 APEv2)
My settings are (under Tag \> Mpeg):
Read:
- ID3v1
- ID3v2
Write:
- ID3v2 only
- ID3v2.4 UTF-8
Remove
- ID3v1
- ID3v2
- APE
---
### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/11 "2006-12-17T00:24:33Z")
This action is meant for the removal of tag fields and not tag types.
To remove tag types you must use File \> Remove tag [Ctrl+R]
This removes the tag types you have selected in Tags \> Mpeg \> "Remove"
---
### Author:  [@blackspawn](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/blackspawn)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/12 "2006-12-23T17:32:12Z")
Thanks dano, it worked just like you said.
oh and merry xmas!
---
### Author:  [@TakuSkan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/TakuSkan)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/13 "2009-03-08T02:15:51Z")
> [@dano](#):
>
> It's **picture** not %\_covers%
I just had to set up and action that included not stripping this among other tags, and noticed that this tag wasn't listed in the MP3tag [ID3v2 / WMA tag fields help page here.](https://docs.mp3tag.de/mapping)
Is that something that anyone thinks out to be added there?
TS
---
### Author:  [@TakuSkan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/TakuSkan)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/14 "2009-03-08T03:31:11Z")
Also: I haven't been able to find any information on getting MP3tag to report which encoder was used to compress the audio. There's an ENCODEDBY tag that is reported. But that frequently just reports the software that was used to encode the file, like 'Exact Audio Copy' or 'iTunes'.
But dpoweramp and my Gearvolt tagging software reports an ENCODER tag that reports which encoder and version was used to compress the audio, like 'LAME 3.97' or 'LAME 3.92'.
I don't see this in either MP3tag's 'Properties' or 'Extended Tags' reports.
Have I missed something?
Thx
TS
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2009, 8:34am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/15 "2009-03-08T08:34:58Z")
> [@TakuSkan](#):
>
> But dpoweramp and my Gearvolt tagging software reports an ENCODER tag that reports which encoder and version was used to compress the audio, like 'LAME 3.97' or 'LAME 3.92'.
>
> I don't see this in either MP3tag's 'Properties' or 'Extended Tags' reports.
>
> Have I missed something?
No, encoder detection is not supported by Mp3tag.
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2009, 8:37am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/16 "2009-03-08T08:37:03Z")
> [@TakuSkan](#):
>
> I just had to set up and action that included not stripping this among other tags, and noticed that this tag wasn't listed in the MP3tag [ID3v2 / WMA tag fields help page here.](https://docs.mp3tag.de/mapping)
>
> Is that something that anyone thinks out to be added there?
I'll add it to the section which describes the action since it only applies there.
---
### Author:  [@TakuSkan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/TakuSkan)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2009, 11:05am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/17 "2009-03-08T11:05:40Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> No, encoder detection is not supported by Mp3tag.
Okay... Thanks for the feedback. I have those other ways to determine it. I really don't know if this is anything anyone else imight be looking for.
TS
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2009, 11:10am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/18 "2009-03-08T11:10:54Z")
> [@TakuSkan](#):
>
> I really don't know if this is anything anyone else imight be looking for.
It has been requested several times already. But it's very time consuming to implement something like that: there is no standardized format for storing encoder information so everything works by analyzing the files and identify characteristic patterns for specific encoders (or versions of encoders).
It's simply nothing that I find interesting and valuable enough to spent so much time working on it.
---
### Author:  [@TakuSkan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/TakuSkan)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cleaning-tags/3396/19 "2009-03-08T13:08:53Z")
> [@Florian](#):
>
> ..there is no standardized format for storing encoder information so everything works by analyzing the files and identify characteristic patterns for specific encoders (or versions of encoders).
Looking at one MP3 in a hex editor, I noticed there didn't seem to be a defined tag before the LAME entry. From what you say, it makes sense that the process of detecting the encoder isn't a simple task.
> [@](#):
>
> It's simply nothing that I find interesting and valuable enough to spent so much time working on it.
Agreed.