The "Title"-Tag in MKV-Files gets bugged out if changed in v3.29.
VLC will never show a "Title"-Tag written with v3.29 and will instead show the filename with its extension. Previous Mp3Tag versions will fix it. I tested this with versions 3.21b and 3.28.
I can confirm this behaviour in Mp3tag v3.29:
As you can see from the screenshots, the content of Mp3tag TITLE is shown as Album in VLC. The Mp3tag ALBUMARTIST is shown as Künstler/Artist in VLC.
The other way around I was not able to save metadata from VLC into a mkv with the current VLC-version v3.0.21... ![]()
Update 06.04.2025: Found a 4 years old, open issue #24800 at VLC.
Isn't this documented in the release notes and in the new version of the field-mappings?
Example for Album:
Yes, I've modified some of the mappings for Matroska video MKV with Mp3tag v3.29. This was motivated by various reports regarding compatibility with Windows Explorer, where some fields were not displayed for MKV files. Here are the details:
I have to think about on how to proceed further. One easy way I can think of is to revert the change regarding TITLE and have it mapped to T=30 TITLE in Matroska. ALBUM would be T=50 TITLE in Matroska.
But this would revert parts of the consolidation process we went through over the past month. Also, there would be new inconsistencies regarding artist and subtitle target types.
What do you think? /cc @RobertM
Thanks for keeping me in the loop with this.
I was trying out a program called MKV Tag Editor.
There's a trial version available, but other than that it's not free.
In my opinion it's not nearly as good as Mp3tag.
But it does have a configurable option to change the default target for MKV from level 50 to level 30.
Under the help section of MKV Tag Editor supporting webpage it says:
- The default target when editing audio files (MKA) is 30 (song/track), in case of video files (MKV, MK3D) the default target is 50 (episode/movie). Some software treats the target 30 as the base level, eg. a movie's title as target 30 TITLE tag. This seems out of specs [ie. compared to Matroska specification], but if you wish just change the "edit target" combobox to target 30 before editing a movie file's tags if needed.
It looks to me as if VLC is an example of software that's not following the Matroska specification.
I don't know if it would be a good idea to consider the idea of changing Mp3tag's functionality to similarly allow user configuration of an MKV "edit target" level in order to keep everyone happy.
Personally, I think it'd be a bit dubious to choose to deviate from the Matroska specification in such way simply because some other software makes the same mistake.
very strange that vlc has such a mistake, considering its a video player. but thanks for getting to this problem so fast. I really didn't expect that.
But just to be shure. It is by design that the album name gets put into the titel field in the update?
I also see that coming back to 3.28 causes not only
album and titel to merge but Album-Interpret and interpret too. For some reason the CD-Number gets a "\\1".
It was very fine software, until someone wanted to make it bette...
Reverting to 3.28
@Mr.Robot
I don't think that such a very first post on a forum as a new user is going to help.
Maybe you can explain in more detail what exactly is not working for you with Mp3tag v3.29?
Agreed. Has someone raised this issue over at VLC? I also think it would make more sense to align with the specification instead of one other program.
Making the target level configurable like MKV Tag Editor does could be a workaround to appease those who do wish to go against the spec.
yeah, that's true. i hope they fix this. i think the windows built in video player displayes the name correctly, so it is probably really just vlc's issue. I only posted here because before the update it was diplaying the title correctly and after it not. And to be fair i didn't read the release notes. i would have never guessed that until 3.28 it was technically an issue that got fixed instead of the other way around.
I found this similar VLC-issue:
Maybe you/someone should create a new issue at VLC for the current problem if you don't want to wait another 7 years. ![]()
Many thanks for your feedback!
I've just released Mp3tag v3.29a which introduces an option for video-specific mappings for Matroska video via Options → Tags → Advanced.
This is to increase compatibility with apps that, e.g., only read TITLE with target type T=30.
@BlackFirePhenex, if you disable this option, Mp3tag should write TITLE as in v3.28 so that VLC and any other app that requires the track-level target-types can read and display the title.
Thanks!
I will try it out later.
I just tried it on my Mini PC.
Kurzgesagt: It works like you said:
@BlackFirePhenex, if you disable this option, Mp3tag should write
TITLEas in v3.28 so that VLC and any other app that requires the track-level target-types can read and display the title.
With Use recommended mapping for Matroska Video* disabled, VLC shows the correct Tags. With it enabled, VLC doesn´t.
*can be found in File → Options → Tags → Advanced
Thanks for confirming, glad it works for you!
Thanks for the Update in the first place. Not to mention the program itself. Until the Update to 3.29 i never had an issue with it, as far as i remember. This is probably my second most liked program i ever used. Right after VLC (it's just to versatile).
Your Program does what it should, more and practically perfect. It also looks pretty nice and not like it's stuck in Windows XP like VLC.
On foobar2000, we have the same problem in 3.29 (wine crossover)
It's "corrected" without the option "Use recommended mapping for Matroska Video" with 3.29b, thanks a lot!
Does this mean I have to rename all my .mkv audio files to .mka? And that the habit of using mkv for audio only is a mistake?
Thank you for your excellent software!
(Completely unrelated topic : Perhaps, don't forget to share the source code in your will; it would be so sad to hear of your passing, let alone the abandonment of all your valuable work on mp3tag!; Ghisler did it with his brother.)
I don't think so. with "Use recommended mapping for Matroska Video" enbaled it does work as intended for me (in VLC). So i guess you can keep it on mkv?
edit:
I converted a .mp3-file to a mkv file and now the Cover-Image is stuck to its pre-conversion version. but other than that there are no issues.





