Hi All! Since updating to iOS 26.4, my albums (all of which are Matched from rips) have updated to full screen artwork when available. The issue is that when these artworks are supposed to animate, they remain static. Previously, I wrote off animated artwork because it never seemed to work for anything I imported whereas it did for purchases. But now, since I am seeing full screen art, I figured I’d revisit the topic. I am tagging everything correctly. Anyone have any insight on animated artwork with matched files?
See e.g. here:
Right, just revisiting because some things have changed on the iOS side.
It would still be a player feature for which it would have to be investigated if the function depends on tags or is something internal that is not available for all files.
The best way would be to compare the tag data of a file that shows the artwork and one that does not.
Understood. It seems like there’s “confirmed working” posts on Reddit and this forum, so I’m curious.
If it's for Apple Music, all it needs is an ITUNESALBUMID tag of the exact album in your music files. This'll automatically grab extra details like copyright etc. and also an animated artwork to play back in the app if available, just like any purchased music.
The animated version is completely different from whatever artwork you have embedded in your music files, won't be stored in the file itself and only works for Apple Music apps (as far as I know).
There's several web sources for grabbing iTunes/Apple Music tags you can check out:
Also, check your device's settings regarding animated artwork, especially if it plays back over Wi-Fi/mobile data.
Thanks @arb . All of that is correct on my end. It simply doesn’t work. That’s why I’m at a standstill. All other metadata pulls in correctly.
I just remembered the most crucial detail, sorry. It doesn't work for MP3's, only for M4A's (AAC or ALAC). 
If it's MP3's you're using, try converting a file to M4A with your tags including ITUNESALBUMID, load it into the app and see how it goes. It's then your call whether it's worth updating your library to M4A's or concede to Apple's debatable choices.
If it is M4A's you're using, I'm not sure what other help can be offered on our side except check previous discussions for any other potential info.
Thanks, I’m already using ALAC and AAC…I feel like maybe some metadata gets stripped in the matching process…? Even the copyright shows if I do Get Info on the local file after tagging, so I feel that the ITUNESALBUMID field is being correctly populated…
I think some tags just get overridden by Apple's metadata, not necessarily overwritten or removed. You could verify that with a COPYRIGHT tag set in Mp3tag with nonsense data and see what Get Info says then. Also double-check on Mp3tag again once Apple's metadata's been applied for any stripped metadata but that hasn't happened to me (yet).
The only other thing I can think of is maybe the album itself doesn't actually have animated artwork available...? Double-check on Apple Music's streaming version of the album and on any other devices if the artwork actually starts playing.
If you link us what album, we could check on our devices for comparison (I only have an iPhone in terms of Apple hardware but still relevant).
Sure- here’s one album:
If I add this album to my library from a search (even though I already have it and there’s only one version present in Apple Music) nothing changes. I don’t get a duplicate or anything. It still plays with static art. Only if I search it and play it from “Apple Music” instead of “Library” do I get animation. Another point to note is that this specifically was one of the albums that was showing fullscreen but static art; I then removed the album to retag and reimport/rematch and since doing so it’s back to just a standard artwork thumbnail, no longer fullscreen.
I just found a particular Reddit post... apologies, think I've just regurgitated information. 
I'll link it for anyone else wanting to try animated artwork or are having the same issues in case it doesn't get completely solved here:
Tutorial: Animated Artwork for Local Library on Apple Music/iTunes : r/AppleMusic
Sadly, I've just tried it on an M4A file with no other metadata but a filename and ITUNESALBUMID, uploaded via iTunes on Windows and it's worked with no issues on my iPhone. Maybe it's the fact they're matched rather than local files that's messing with things?
The link @ohrenkino supplied up top does show more topics with a bunch of other users having similar issues with iTunes Match, it leads to this by @mplacy :
Apple Music/iTunes has gotten stupidly bad for only scanning certain metadata into its database on first import, then ignoring any changes unless it can be input via the software itself. A complete “refresh” could do it.
Thanks for testing, and I commented on that Reddit post as well LOL
So, you’re not using the Match functionality to go from the file on your computer being tagged to your device? What specific steps are you taking once you have the properly tagged file to when you see the animation playing on your iPhone?
Yeah, figured I’d still run through what’s been tried/not tried yet so 
Nope, just grabbed an M4A not currently in my Library, put into MP3tag, stripped of all metadata, chucked in ITUNESALBUMID, imported into my Library, uploaded to the iPhone and works. That solution I linked was from a user using iTunes Match so that realistically shouldn’t be an issue.
I’d say it’s still worthwhile testing as a proof of concept with an M4A not already present (preferably just a copy of one), imported, matched etc. and see what happens as that could start isolating the issue away from tagging/importing/matching.
If that works, delete that album from your Library and re-import so it’s forced to read everything again.
Got it. Yeah, I’m really stumped on this and have been for years across multiple iOS builds. I understand that mp3tag can’t import the actual video file for artwork, but my thinking was that leaving the artwork blank when importing to Apple Music would do the trick… I re-imported that Pixies album after fully deleting it from my Library multiple times last night with no difference. I can try to find a new album to add my library with animated art but I don’t have high hopes. My workflow also has me delete the local file from my Mac after Matching so it plays back in lossless or Higher. Again, I can’t imagine that this matters and in my mind should only increase the likelihood of getting animation since it’s just pulling a stream from Apple’s servers, but no dice.
Do I understand you correctly that you upload the music files to iTunes Match, not direct to device?
That is correct. I import the files into macOS Apple Music, Match, then delete the local files following that process. This obviously makes the tracks available across iOS and tvOS (animated art does work on tvOS for these albums).
But not with animated artwork? What is the iCloud status for those?
That’s right, available on all devices, Matched (I even confirm it’s pointing to the correct Apple Music tracks after matching by right-clicking each individual track in my library, then “Show in Apple Music” ((I’ve been doing this for too long LOL)), but nothing animated on iOS but animated on tvOS.
Ok, so matched files don’t do animated artwork. I always use local files on device, and they get the animated artwork, but probably not worth the space saving if that is what you want. I am curios if you get lyrics?
Anyways iTunes match should download with the metadata from the Apple original matched audio files, not what you have uploaded (they should only be there to facilitate matching), so this is not any mp3tag-related.