# Feature Suggestion: Tools/Options/Tags/FLAC
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-suggestion-tools-options-tags-flac/7581
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [December 7, 2008, 8:31am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-suggestion-tools-options-tags-flac/7581 "2008-12-07T08:31:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Moonbase](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Moonbase)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2008, 8:31am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-suggestion-tools-options-tags-flac/7581/1 "2008-12-07T08:31:48Z")
FLAC files [_can_ have ID3 tags](http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__tagging). Though it is recommended only to use FLAC type tags (like Vorbis Comment), some people use those.
I think it would be good to introduce an additional section in _Tools/Options/Tags_ to handle FLAC files separately: So one could more easily specify which kind of tags should be read/written/removed.
(Just got a FLAC file that was ID3v2 tagged, added ReplayGain using _metaflac_ and found I could suddenly only see the FLAC tags generated by _metaflac_. So I had no chance to specify something like »read both FLAC+ID3v2, write FLAC, remove everything except FLAC«.)
This would be especially neat since I currently use Mp3tag and a batch Export to replay-gain my whole collection (which replay-gains album-oriented, auto-distinguishing between MP3, OGG, and FLAC). It would be great if I could go through all FLAC files before and re-tag those to FLAC tags only that might be mis-tagged using ID3v2.
---
### Author:  [@JJ\_Johnson](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/JJ_Johnson)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2008, 9:13am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-suggestion-tools-options-tags-flac/7581/2 "2008-12-15T09:13:14Z")
> [@Moonbase](#):
>
> FLAC files [_can_ have ID3 tags](http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__tagging). Though it is recommended only to use FLAC type tags (like Vorbis Comment), some people use those.
>
> I think it would be good to introduce an additional section in _Tools/Options/Tags_ to handle FLAC files separately: So one could more easily specify which kind of tags should be read/written/removed.
I agree. This has been an issue with Mp3tag for quite some time. The current method of deleting all tags and then pasting them back in can be very dangerous when work with large numbers of files.
> [@](#):
>
> (Just got a FLAC file that was ID3v2 tagged, added ReplayGain using _metaflac_ and found I could suddenly only see the FLAC tags generated by _metaflac_. So I had no chance to specify something like »read both FLAC+ID3v2, write FLAC, remove everything except FLAC«.)
>
> This would be especially neat since I currently use Mp3tag and a batch Export to replay-gain my whole collection (which replay-gains album-oriented, auto-distinguishing between MP3, OGG, and FLAC). It would be great if I could go through all FLAC files before and re-tag those to FLAC tags only that might be mis-tagged using ID3v2.
Anytime someone gives me any Flac files the very _first_ thing I do is re-encode them in Flac. It's extremely fast and it accomplishes several things:
1. It makes sure that the files are encoded in the latest version of Flac.
2. It makes sure that all my files are encoded at the same compression level.
and
1. It removes any ID3 tags.
---
### Author:  [@Moonbase](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Moonbase)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2008, 10:16am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-suggestion-tools-options-tags-flac/7581/3 "2008-12-16T10:16:10Z")
> [@JJ Johnson](#):
>
> Anytime someone gives me any Flac files the very _first_ thing I do is re-encode them in Flac.
Sounds a good idea, also to keep up with the latest encoder one uses.
**EDIT:** Just did a quick test (Windows, using _flac 1.2.1_):
```
flac --force --no-keep-foreign-metadata --verify sample.flac
```
still returns **ERROR: input file sample.flac has an ID3v2 tag** (which Mp3tag verifys).
Any ideas?
---
### Author:  [@eronex](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/eronex)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2008, 10:47am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-suggestion-tools-options-tags-flac/7581/4 "2008-12-25T10:47:01Z")
> [@Moonbase](#):
>
> Sounds a good idea, also to keep up with the latest encoder one uses.
>
> **EDIT:** Just did a quick test (Windows, using _flac 1.2.1_):
>
> ```
> flac --force --no-keep-foreign-metadata --verify sample.flac
>
> ```
>
> still returns **ERROR: input file sample.flac has an ID3v2 tag** (which Mp3tag verifys).
>
> Any ideas?
Yes, I have IDEA! 🙂 Delete this all fuc\_ing ID3v2 tags from **\*.flac** 😃
```
find -iname '*.flac' -print0 | xargs -0 mid3v2 -d I do that under Debian GNU/Linux.
```
---
### Author:  [@Moonbase](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Moonbase)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2023, 10:47am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-suggestion-tools-options-tags-flac/7581/5 "2023-03-06T10:47:36Z")
Coming back 15 years later, this is still helpful. I use "-D" now, because it removes ID3v1 and ID3v2:
```auto
find -iname '*.flac' -print0 | xargs -0 mid3v2 -D
```
Now things like reencoding work fine:
```auto
flac *.flac --force
```
---
### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2023, 11:07am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-suggestion-tools-options-tags-flac/7581/6 "2023-03-06T11:07:49Z")
Do I understand it correct:
The commandline part of the mutagen-tool
`mid3v2 -d`
with a lowercase `-d` removes any ID3 **v2** tags (and does the same as `--delete-v2`)
The commandline part
`mid3v2 -D`
with an uppercase `-D` removes **all** ID3 tags (and does the same as `--delete-all`)
The uppercase -D is a shortcut for both
`mid3v2 -d`
`mid3v2 -s`
while `-s` removes any ID3 **v1** tag (and does the same as `--delete-v1`)
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/feature-suggestion-tools-options-tags-flac/7581/7 "2023-03-06T18:04:35Z")
I would like to add that MP3tag not only removes V1 & V2 tags from flac files and writes only vorbis comments as tags, it also has an improved function to show flac files with ID3 tags
[2021-08-24] NEW: added reporting of existing ID3v1 tags in `%_tag%` for FLAC files. ([#13156](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/13156))
i would like to add that even though
> [@Moonbase](#):
>
> FLAC files [_can_ have ID3 tags](http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__tagging).
MP3tag considers such constructions to be invalid and removes them, when instructed to do so.