# MP3Tag doesn't work reliably on WAV files for me
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [March 8, 2025, 10:15pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764 "2025-03-08T22:15:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@cipher\_nemo](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/cipher_nemo)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2025, 10:15pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/1 "2025-03-08T22:15:29Z")
Apparently MP3Tag doesn't work reliably on WAV files in a batch mode (highlighting/changing multiple at the same time). Or it's just way too picky and how it handles/reads/writes meta tags to them.
MP3Tag: inconsistent, failed 3/4 of the time for me
Adobe Audition: inconsistent, failed 1/2 of the time
XYplorer scripting: failed 100% of the time
GoldWave: worked every single time!
I didn't try Audacity, Lexicon, etc.
Looks like I'll stick with GoldWave, even if it's commercial software. And yes, I've tried all of the tag types and many options (including different ID3 versions), yes I even exported the WAV files multiple times with different editors to generate a entirely new WAV file, and yes I've done troubleshooting documented in various places online including these forums.
It's just kind of sad MP3Tag doesn't do the one thing it's supposed to do well. But feel free to flame me or blame me for doing something wrong even though I wasted time with MP3Tag.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/2 "2025-03-08T22:19:07Z")
Do you simply want to complain or do you want to help to find problems?
If the latter is the case, then please follow
> [@Hints for asking Support Requests](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/hints-for-asking-support-requests/56190):
>
> If you need support using Mp3tag, you can help the community members that are about to support you in finding a solution or workaround to your problem, by following these simple guidelines. Be descriptive, also in what you’ve already tried Please give a short explanation what’s not working as expected or what you’re trying to achieve. It’s best to know any details about the problem at hand and especially, what steps you’ve already tried to solve it by yourself. Helpful information also includ…
---
### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2025, 11:38pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/3 "2025-03-08T23:38:34Z")
> [@cipher\_nemo](#):
>
> Apparently MP3Tag doesn't work reliably on WAV files in a batch mode (highlighting/changing multiple at the same time). Or it's just way too picky and how it handles/reads/writes meta tags to them.
I have been using mp3tag for many years and reliable it tags mp3, FLAC, ALAC, and wav. Here are definitely some player limitations when it comes to handling metadata within wav files. But I have not encountered issues tagging single files or in batches of any size.
> [@cipher\_nemo](#):
>
> just kind of sad MP3Tag doesn't do the one thing it's supposed to do well. But feel free to flame me or blame me for doing something wrong even though I wasted time with MP3Tag.
Strange that this is part of your very first post here. Not sure what you may be asking or perhaps truly simply stating. But it is comments like this that suggest to me that your "finding" is more of an attempt to advertise the other program rather than truly seeking support.
FWIW I did take a look at your recommendation for Goldwave. While it certainly _appears_ to be capable of recording and playing audio files, there wasn't much online about the metadata editing. I don't see the comparable to mp3tag.
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2025, 11:27am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/4 "2025-03-09T11:27:21Z")
> [@cipher\_nemo](#):
>
> GoldWave: worked every single time!
You seem to be advertising this software.
A short check reveals that none of these 3 fields (from total 11 available metadata fields) written in GW v7.01:
1 `ALBUMARTIST`
2 `URL`
3 `ISRC`
will be recognized by Mp3tag.
ExifTool recognize it as binary data only.
GW also writes the TRACK twice, once as `ITRK` and once as binary `1`
As you don't tell us anything about your used **hardware** (are the WAV files stored locally? On a SSD or HDD? On a NAS?), your **software** (OS? Mp3tag version?) or about the **size of your WAV files** and what exactly do you mean with " **failed**", your ranting is mainly advertising for GW.
Current pricing starts at $19 per year (GW returns to evaluation mode after one payed year) or $59 "Lifetime" (license never expires).
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### Author:  [@cipher\_nemo](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/cipher_nemo)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/5 "2025-03-09T16:38:39Z")
> [@LyricsLover](#):
>
> You seem to be advertising this software.
I'm just a user of it. But such a rant from me brings a lot more detailed replies trying to prove me wrong than simply a pleasant request for help online. 😉 Your reply was quite detailed and very helpful.
> [@LyricsLover](#):
>
> A short check reveals that none of these 3 fields (from total 11 available metadata fields) written in GW
> 1 ALBUMARTIST
> 2 URL
> 3 ISRC
> will be recognized by Mp3tag.
You're right. I tested that and it looks like GoldWave fails to save those 3 fields for regular meta data. Good to know if I ever need those fields. Thank you for that find!
> [@LyricsLover](#):
>
> As you don't tell us anything about your used **hardware** (are the WAV files stored locally? On a SSD or HDD? On a NAS?), your **software** (OS? Mp3tag version?) or about the **size of your WAV files** and what exactly do you mean with " **failed**", your ranting is mainly advertising for GW.
- Windows 10 Pro 22H2
- Local SATA3 SSD Raid 0 in a OneDrive synced folder, but I did try in a different folder my local NVMe SSD just in case OneDrive was interfering
- Latest version of MP3Tag
- Various sizes in batch operations: 6KB to 658KB (just sound effects not music)
- By "failed" I mean that for a batch operation MP3Tag failed to write meta data to 66 of my 72 .wav files that are indeed wave files with no existing meta data. And by failed to write, I mean that MP3Tag sees the data, but nothing else including File Explorer, XYplorer, and Adobe Audition. It successfully wrote to 6 of those files. The funny part is MP3Tag stills sees the meta data on those files.
So MP3Tag is failing there for some unusual reason. Adobe Audition had the same issue, but on different fails, and failed less frequently. These wave files were created with ProTools in the late 90s, then taken into Audition recently and edited extensively then saved. The meta data was edited after they were saved by Audition. Thus XYplorer chokes 100% of the time on saving meta data to them, Audition 1/2 the time, MP3Tag 3/4 the time (really 91% with 66/72 failed to write properly), and GoldWave never had an issue with writing the meta data. Audition and MP3Tag failing to properly write meta data defies logic, even more so that some of the files did get their meta data updated while others did not. And the files with meta data afterwards is different when Audition ran its batch operation verses MP3Tag. But it was always the same files in each test afterwards. And yes, [I checked for file locks](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/file-locksmith), tried it after a restart, etc.
Your reference to ExifTool is perfect! I will use the tool the next time I run into meta data issues to see what's happening.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/6 "2025-03-09T17:09:45Z")
> [@cipher\_nemo](#):
>
> And by failed to write, I mean that MP3Tag sees the data, but nothing else including File Explorer, XYplorer, and Adobe Audition
I would say that this indicates much more that the other programs fail to cope with tags in wav files. So the failure is not in MP3tag but in other programs.
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/7 "2025-03-09T17:35:04Z")
> [@cipher\_nemo](#):
>
> The funny part is MP3Tag stills sees the meta data on those files.
Good to see you are back and looking for a solution.
If you are able to open these files from mp3tag and still see the updated tag info, then it must be properly embedded by mp3tag.
For the other programs that cannot "see" this data I would look into those separately. Some have a local database that may need to be refreshed with this new data. Some just don't play nicely with metadata in wav files. Embedded wav metadata is certainly not as well supported as some other audio file formats like FLAC or m4a for example.
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### Author:  [@cipher\_nemo](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/cipher_nemo)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/8 "2025-03-09T17:52:51Z")
> [@MotleyG](#):
>
> The funny part is MP3Tag stills sees the meta data on those files.
> [/quote]For the other programs that cannot "see" this data I would look into those separately. Some have a local database that may need to be refreshed with this new data. Some just don't play nicely with metadata in wav files. Embedded wav metadata is certainly not as well supported as some other audio file formats like FLAC or m4a for example.
Refreshed (F5), and even restarted as I was testing this late at night and picked it up again in the morning. Still no meta data shown for some files. In contrast GoldWave's meta data editing allowed those other programs to see the meta data right away. I even tried copying those files to another location to refresh the modified datetime, but nothing.
I'm done with my project's sound files, so I won't be testing that again with MP3Tag. But in the future I'll use ExifTool to read/write meta data since it's easy to script with that.
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### Author:  [@ryerman](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ryerman)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/9 "2025-03-09T19:18:49Z")
> [@cipher\_nemo](#):
>
> I'm done with my project's sound files, so I won't be testing that again with MP3Tag. But in the future I'll use ExifTool to read/write meta data since it's easy to script with that.
[Exiftool](https://exiftool.org/TagNames/ID3.html) does not write ID3 tags.
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/10 "2025-03-09T19:40:04Z")
> [@ryerman](#):
>
> [Exiftool](https://exiftool.org/TagNames/ID3.html) does not write ID3 tags.
Exactly.
As it can be found in the [Supported File Types table](https://exiftool.org/#supported) from ExifTool:
_ExifTool can **R** ead, **W** rite and/or **C** reate files in the following formats_
_where R³ means "Non-standard format"._
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2025, 8:57am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-doesnt-work-reliably-on-wav-files-for-me/67764/11 "2025-11-23T08:57:59Z")
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