# Reducing amount of artists in file
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [October 11, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374 "2023-10-11T13:41:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Pompey1952](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Pompey1952)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/1 "2023-10-11T13:41:00Z")
Having been unable to load some CD's into MP3Tag i have realised it is because the file length is too long.
When I try to edit it in Windows 10 it won't edit either. This is especially so in the case of classical music when the world and its mother seem to be added to the track.
An example of the file name-
1-23 - Haydn Symphony No. 94 in G Major, Hob.I94 Surprise - II. Andante - Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan & Joseph Haydn.
MP3Tag puts the artist tag as "Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan & Joseph Haydn"
MP3Tag puts the title tag as "Haydn: Symphony No. 94 in G Major, Hob. I:94 "Surprise" - II. Andante"
This is where (for me it becomes difficult).
I don't need the composer in twice and I need to reduce the numbers of "extras" as singers etc.
Is there a way of sensibly reducing the artist field so that 1 artist remains? - preferably not manually 1 by 1!!!
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### Author:  [@MotleyG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MotleyG)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 2:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/2 "2023-10-11T14:01:26Z")
If you cannot load these files into mp3tag, I don't know how it can be used to adjust the filenames. However Windows typically already limits the filename lengths, so I am not sure how this is happening on your system.
What program was used to create these files in the first place? Can you adjust the filenaming convention in that program to ensure no filenames are created that are not valid within the Windows environment?
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/3 "2023-10-11T14:05:22Z")
AFAIK MP3tag supports long filenames.
How do you load the files?
Try to do it with the function to open a folder from within MP3tag.
Once you got the files in MP3tag you can use any means in respect to fields, scripting and string constants to rename the files.
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### Author:  [@Pompey1952](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Pompey1952)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/4 "2023-10-11T15:08:52Z")
When I have problems loading into MP3Tag I can edit it in a Windows 10 app called Beyond Compare
It does allow limited renaming but is not as sophisticated as MP3Tag.
I have tried loading from within MP3Tag and some files load but not all of them.
The files come from my CDs and the app I use rips with connection to MusicBrains and Discogs so MP3Tag picks the names up from there while working on the files.
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### Author:  [@Pompey1952](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Pompey1952)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/5 "2023-10-11T15:10:23Z")
That’s what I do. Not all tracks load for me.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 3:12pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/6 "2023-10-11T15:12:25Z")
This is what the changelog says:
[2018-06-29] NEW: added support for long filesystem paths (\> 260 characters). ([#42047](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/42047))
dating back to MP3tag 2.89.
Which version do you run?
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/7 "2023-10-11T15:13:58Z")
Sometimes MP3tag does not load files that cause problems when loading due to internal format glitches ... Have you checked the files for consistency?
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 3:18pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/8 "2023-10-11T15:18:13Z")
> [@Pompey1952](#):
>
> I have tried loading from within MP3Tag and some files load but not all of them.
Could you please copy & paste one of this complete path and filennames from your Windows File Explorer in your answer here in this forum?
Something like (181 characters long):
`K:\W\Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart\_CW\Complete Mozart Edition (disc 10) (Volume 1ː Symphonies)\2000\02 - Symphony No. 34 in C major, K. 338ː II. Andante di molto più tosto allegretto.mp3`
or
`K:\J\Joseph Haydn\Haydn Edition (disc 29) (Symphonies Nos. 93 - 95)\2008\08 - Symphony No. 94 in G major, Hob. Iː94 ''Surprise''ː IV. Finale. Allegro molto.mp3`
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### Author:  [@Pompey1952](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Pompey1952)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 3:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/9 "2023-10-11T15:50:30Z")
If I manually shorten the same file using my beyond compare app they load ok
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/10 "2023-10-11T15:56:50Z")
I just renamed a file to the first ecample:
... and I can load it again and again ...
and also this one:
D you find the files locally or on a NAS?
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 4:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/11 "2023-10-11T16:39:14Z")
[https://www.howtogeek.com/266621/how-to-make-windows-10-accept-file-paths-over-260-characters/](https://www.howtogeek.com/266621/how-to-make-windows-10-accept-file-paths-over-260-characters/)
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### Author:  [@Pompey1952](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Pompey1952)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/12 "2023-10-11T17:31:11Z")
The latest version I have is v3.22b
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/13 "2023-10-11T17:34:37Z")
See here for the currently latest version:
> [@Mp3tag Development Build Status](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/mp3tag-development-build-status/455):
>
> Date: 2023-12-22 Version: 3.23c Status: Beta Download: 32-bit [mp3tagv323csetup.exe](https://download.mp3tag.de/mp3tagv323csetup.exe) 64-bit [mp3tagv323c-x64-setup.exe](https://download.mp3tag.de/mp3tagv323c-x64-setup.exe) (additional [notes](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/notes-on-the-64-bit-version-of-mp3tag/57250)) 3.23c (2023-12-22) FIX: cover preview control at Extended Tags and Tag Sources was not square on all systems. ([#63076](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/63076)) FIX: File List was not refreshed with performed changes after an error occurred when renaming via converter Filename - Filename with a format string that did not match all selected files. ([#63159](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/63159)) FIX: focus on File List w…
Yet, I do not think that this really makes a difference. 3.22b is good enough.
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### Author:  [@Pompey1952](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Pompey1952)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/14 "2023-10-11T17:40:22Z")
I copied your text onto a copy of an existing mp3 file and loaded the file from within MP3Tag
It did load. So that advances things. Thank you.
However I am still looking for a solution to use scripting to reduce the amount of naming
I have thousands of CDs and at my age would never do it manually.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/15 "2023-10-11T19:11:20Z")
Could you supply a complete filename with all the path information so that others could try it?
You did not answer the question whether the file resides locally or somewhere in the network.
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### Author:  [@Pompey1952](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Pompey1952)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2023, 11:31pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/16 "2023-10-11T23:31:07Z")
As can hopefully be seen the files reside on my "K" or music drive on my computer.
I have used a different sample from the one I gave earlier to speed up my reply as I won't have access to my computer for the next 14 days due to other commitments.
These files show multiple artists in the music though.
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2023, 5:08am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/17 "2023-10-12T05:08:18Z")
You made it really difficult for us that we had to type in the whole path.
But even "k:\dbpoweramp de cluttered\various artists\various artists - classic fm the no. 1 classical collection the nation's 50 favourite works cd1\1-04 - emperor piano concerto II. - stephen kovacevich, london snymphony orchestra, sir colin davis" has less than 254 characters (about 240) - which would be well inside the magic number.
obviously, these files loaded - but the more interesting file name would have been one of a file that does not load.
And please: next time issue it (also) as plain text and not (only) as a picture.
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### Author:  [@Pompey1952](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Pompey1952)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2023, 7:18am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/18 "2023-10-12T07:18:22Z")
Sorry about that but I had to do it in a hurry. Hence the different example.
I will not be able to update this entry for two more weeks as I don’t have my computer with me.
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2023, 7:22am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/19 "2023-10-12T07:22:17Z")
Summary:
You have 2 problems:
a) File names with more than 256 characters that cannot be loaded into Mp3tag
b) Your tags ARTIST and TITLE contains both the same (redudant) COMPOSER
Please let us start with your first problem in two weeks, when you are back and can access your computer and give us a real example for a NOT loading complete filename.
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### Author:  [@Pompey1952](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Pompey1952)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2023, 9:22pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374/20 "2023-10-30T21:22:08Z")
Hi back again after a longer than expected break and a lot of work to sort out as a result of Storm Babet at my parents place in Edinburgh taking some of the roof off,
I think I have now resolved the long names loading issue into MP3Tag as suggested by LyricsLover by loading from within MP3Tag itself.
My concern now is reducing tags files that have the composer at each end of the title. The main problem is that I don't use the composer field in my file make up.
Just Album Number-Track Number - Title - Artist
[Next page](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/reducing-amount-of-artists-in-file/62374.md?page=2)