# File xxx couldn't be open to write
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-xxx-couldnt-be-open-to-write/41327
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [April 4, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-xxx-couldnt-be-open-to-write/41327 "2018-04-04T14:09:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sbroeer](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/sbroeer)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-xxx-couldnt-be-open-to-write/41327/1 "2018-04-04T14:09:14Z")
Hello,
I have a problem with some of my new digitized files. All files are created in [Audacity](https://www.audacityteam.org/) and saved as m4a file.
With some of these files I have the problem, that mp3tag could not open this files to write. I do a search here at the community and found some article about this problem, but no one matched my problem exactly.
The permission and access rights on the filesystem are correct, Also it is possible to playback the files from mp3tag or another application. All files are stored on a local harddrive. I make some screenshots where you can see an example file and my folder structure in windows.
Hope you have an idea what the problem is.
Thanks in advance,
Stephan
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### Author:  [@sbroeer](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/sbroeer)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-xxx-couldnt-be-open-to-write/41327/2 "2018-04-04T14:10:32Z")
As new user I only could attach two files at once, so here are the other files.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-xxx-couldnt-be-open-to-write/41327/3 "2018-04-04T15:23:36Z")
Apparently M4A files are troublesome. See here:
> [@Write error on m4a and a feature request](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/write-error-on-m4a-and-a-feature-request/16466):
>
> Hello, All my files are writable, can be deleted and have no permission issues, nor are they locked. Tagging is working fine for all files except mp4 (m4a). Every time I try and tag one of these I get fail to open for writing error. There isn't anything wrong with the files, other than being m4a, all other formats are fine. Any idea? Also, I've just clicked close by mistake thinking it was my browser after doing a preview and it's now going to take another hour or so to go through all my song…
and here:
> [@cant read m4a file / cant open file for writing](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/cant-read-m4a-file-cant-open-file-for-writing/10451):
>
> I had (i think id3v1) tags in my files, i then used itunes to download cover art and embed it using scripts. the cover art worked in itunes and nokia music player, but not on my 5800 symbian 60v5 So i tried to use mp3tag to see if i could fix the tags. a couple of problems: cant read the tag on m4a file cant open file for writing when i try to edit tags I've already fixed it using mediamonkey, which could read the tags, and saving it with mm fixed the problem I'm posting here in case it i…
and here:
> [@Concerns....](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/concerns/14022/3):
>
> I can show you extended info in both. IN MP3Tag In Tag&Rename
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### Author:  [@sbroeer](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/sbroeer)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2018, 10:19am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-xxx-couldnt-be-open-to-write/41327/4 "2018-04-07T10:19:12Z")
Hello,
I think I've found where my problem is.
It seems to be an issue with the export as .m4a file from the program Audacitiy. All this files have the tag format "MP4" instead of "ID3v2". And sometimes the information in this files are broken. So I have decided to record these files again and spend not more time to solve this issue.
Thanks for your help,
Stephan
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### Author:  [@Zerow](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Zerow)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2018, 10:44am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-xxx-couldnt-be-open-to-write/41327/5 "2018-04-08T10:44:48Z")
[I am little late, but...]
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> Apparently M4A files are troublesome. See here:
> [...]
> and here:
> [...]
> and here:
> [...]
And here:
> [@APE files problem](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/ape-files-problem/17672/12):
>
> Well Mr. zerow, I've tried out this M4A format and it seems to behave in Mp3tag similar as APE- you have to stop the file before changing a tag value in it. Which of course will make you loose a ton of time and completely disrupt my workflow; I mean your workflow But I've also tried out the WMA format in 9.2 lossless version. And it seems to works exatly [in terms of playing and metadata retaining] the same way as MP3 and FLAC. And also making an "encoding test loop" FLAC \> WAV \> WMA \> WAV res…
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/file-xxx-couldnt-be-open-to-write/41327/6 "2026-02-09T12:27:21Z")