# \[F\] Old Mac ('\\r') line-endings are written to UNSYNCEDLYRICS in .m4a files
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/f-old-mac-r-line-endings-are-written-to-unsyncedlyrics-in-m4a-files/17559
**Category:** Fixed Bugs
**Tags:** bug-fixed
**Created:** [January 16, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/f-old-mac-r-line-endings-are-written-to-unsyncedlyrics-in-m4a-files/17559 "2016-01-16T21:51:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@\_anon](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/_anon)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/f-old-mac-r-line-endings-are-written-to-unsyncedlyrics-in-m4a-files/17559/1 "2016-01-16T21:51:44Z")
Windows 7, Mp3tag 2.73.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Add UNSYNCEDLYRICS to Tag Panel (multiline tag).
2. Open any .m4a file.
3. Write multiple lines of any lyrics. (I've actually copied the lyrics from a file with proper Windows line-endings.)
4. Open the same file in foobar2000, check in Properties, and see that all lines are displayed as a single one.
5. Opening the file in a hex-editor shows that line-endings are written as a single '\r' (0D), instead of a proper "\r\n" (0D 0A).
The same lyrics written to a .flac file (with a mapping UNSYNCEDLYRICS -\> LYRICS for VorbisComment) are saved properly.
It turns out that iTunes also writes Lyrics with '\r' line-endings, but I didn't find any information confirming that it's a standardized way to store multiline tags in an .m4a. Most Windows software cannot handle such multiline text. Since Mp3tag is mainly for Windows, it would make a lot more sense to use line-endings native to that platform, especially because other platforms handle Windows line-endings well.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/f-old-mac-r-line-endings-are-written-to-unsyncedlyrics-in-m4a-files/17559/2 "2016-01-20T17:47:25Z")
Although I find your description accurate and the issue reproduceable, I am still not sure that this is a bug:
The ID3-standard ([http://id3.org/id3v2.3.0](http://id3.org/id3v2.3.0)) tells us in section
"4.9. Unsychronised lyrics/text transcription
This frame contains the lyrics of the song or a text transcription of other vocal activities. The head includes an encoding descriptor and a content descriptor. The body consists of the actual text. The 'Content descriptor' is a terminated string. If no descriptor is entered, 'Content descriptor' is $00 (00) only. Newline characters are allowed in the text. There may be more than one 'Unsynchronised lyrics/text transcription' frame in each tag, but only one with the same language and content descriptor. "
Please note that it says "Newline character" - not "carriage return + newline characters".
In this respect, I would say that the found behaviour is up to standard.
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### Author:  [@\_anon](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/_anon)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2016, 11:23am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/f-old-mac-r-line-endings-are-written-to-unsyncedlyrics-in-m4a-files/17559/3 "2016-01-21T11:23:06Z")
MP4 has nothing to do with ID3. ID3 is a separate standard for metadata, which is used by and large with MP3 only. MP4 uses its own tags, lyrics is stored in @lyr atom for example. I haven't found any standards regarding the structure of @lyr, and I don't think they matter:
1. m4a files I've encountered contained any kind of newlines (win, nix, mac).
2. Windows CR+LF works well everywhere. Other variants don't work on Windows.
Representation of “newline character” depends on the platform. Windows standard is to use carriage return + _line feed_. Currently Mp3tag writes MP4 files using lonely _carriage return_ as a newline character, which is old Mac standard.
P.S. I checked MP3 files, which do use ID3. In MP3, newlines are stored as CR+LF, as it supposed to be.
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2016, 10:59am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/f-old-mac-r-line-endings-are-written-to-unsyncedlyrics-in-m4a-files/17559/4 "2016-02-13T10:59:20Z")
I've changed this with Mp3tag v2.74.
Thanks!
Florian
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### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/f-old-mac-r-line-endings-are-written-to-unsyncedlyrics-in-m4a-files/17559/5 "2018-12-28T14:08:34Z")
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