# m4a genres not appearing in anything other than MP3TAG **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [June 8, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/m4a-genres-not-appearing-in-anything-other-than-mp3tag/14789 "2013-06-08T18:58:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mark3141](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@mark3141](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mark3141)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/m4a-genres-not-appearing-in-anything-other-than-mp3tag/14789/1 "2013-06-08T18:58:10Z")
Hi, I've used MP3TAG to update about 17000 songs but just realized that the genre does not appear for any of my m4a files. I can see them in MP3TAG, but the category is empty (or something different) in xbmc, media monkey and itunes. Is there an easy fix to this? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/m4a-genres-not-appearing-in-anything-other-than-mp3tag/14789/2 "2013-06-08T19:09:10Z")
If these programs have a database of their own you would have to use the function to update the database. For iTunes you could use the "Information" function on a single track to force the update and see if the genre is actually there. For updating the iTunes db there are a couple of scripts around - or you delete all the tracks from iTunes and reread them. I do not know how to update the database (if there is one) for the other programs. ---
**Author:** ![mark3141](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@mark3141](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/mark3141)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/m4a-genres-not-appearing-in-anything-other-than-mp3tag/14789/3 "2013-06-08T19:30:21Z")
Unfortunately, I've tried that. I've clicked on 'Get Info' for a few songs in iTunes to no avail and have updated the library for other programs. (I know this has been done since other files like flac have been updated.) ---
**Author:** ![scott967](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@scott967](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/scott967)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/m4a-genres-not-appearing-in-anything-other-than-mp3tag/14789/4 "2013-06-28T23:42:17Z")
> [@mark3141](#): > > Hi, > > I've used MP3TAG to update about 17000 songs but just realized that the genre does not appear for any of my m4a files. I can see them in MP3TAG, but the category is empty (or something different) in xbmc, media monkey and itunes. Is there an easy fix to this? I also have this problem. What appears to be happening is this: MP3Tag will read the **©gen** tag (genre) in an AAC-style file (in my case, M4A). But when it writes the genre tag back out to the file, it stores it as **Genre** (I think it should be genre btw) and strips the **©gen** tag out of the file metadata. The problem is other software isn't reading the **Genre** tags and so no genre shows up. It would be helpful if MP3Tag could write the **©gen** tag instead (maybe as an option). I also note in the help page for "Tag field mappings" it suggests that for iTunes it uses "Genre" (which it does for writing) but MP3Tag will write eg **©ART** and **aART** , not "Artist" and "Album Artist" as might be inferred from that page. BTW MP3Tag is a great program and I am trying to use it as a "power" tool to fix my tagging that's how I came to investigate this. scott s. . ---
**Author:** ![koo\_t](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@koo\_t](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/koo_t)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 4:17am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/m4a-genres-not-appearing-in-anything-other-than-mp3tag/14789/5 "2013-06-29T04:17:38Z")
> [@scott967](#): > > I also have this problem. What appears to be happening is this: MP3Tag will read the **©gen** tag (genre) in an AAC-style file (in my case, M4A). But when it writes the genre tag back out to the file, it stores it as **Genre** (I think it should be genre btw) and strips the **©gen** tag out of the file metadata. The problem is other software isn't reading the **Genre** tags and so no genre shows up. It would be helpful if MP3Tag could write the **©gen** tag instead (maybe as an option). I also note in the help page for "Tag field mappings" it suggests that for iTunes it uses "Genre" (which it does for writing) but MP3Tag will write eg **©ART** and **aART** , not "Artist" and "Album Artist" as might be inferred from that page. > > BTW MP3Tag is a great program and I am trying to use it as a "power" tool to fix my tagging that's how I came to investigate this. > > scott s. > . I have same problem for mp4 files, and not just with 'genre' but with 'album' also. These fields show a value within mp3tag, but Vista explorer shows the fields as blank, and my phone's Winamp app thinks they are blank too. An easy fix would be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/dano/32/6_2.png) [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 6:30am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/m4a-genres-not-appearing-in-anything-other-than-mp3tag/14789/6 "2013-06-29T06:30:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Genre comes on 2 atoms - standard genres are on gnre; custom genres are on ©gen; only 1 is permitted at a time. ([Source](http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/mpeg-4files.html)) So it seems other software does not conform to the standard. If you need a fix you can for example add a hyphen behind every genre so it is not a standard genre, like _Rock-_ ---
**Author:** ![scott967](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@scott967](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/scott967)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/m4a-genres-not-appearing-in-anything-other-than-mp3tag/14789/7 "2013-06-29T21:12:47Z")
> [@dano](#): > > ([Source](http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/mpeg-4files.html)) > > So it seems other software does not conform to the standard. > > If you need a fix you can for example add a hyphen behind every genre so it is not a standard genre, like _Rock-_ Thanks. I've been playing around and now I'm not getting repeatable results, so I am going to have to reset and do more comprehensive tests. I should note my test files were created by ffmpeg 1.2. scott s. . ---
**Author:** ![system](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ce7035d426cb755a7916793326d23b465222a407.png) [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/m4a-genres-not-appearing-in-anything-other-than-mp3tag/14789/8 "2026-02-09T12:24:31Z")
Closed on February 9, 2026, 12:24pm UTC