# Remove embedded artwork
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-embedded-artwork/11299
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 15, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-embedded-artwork/11299 "2010-12-15T23:44:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JJ\_Johnson](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/JJ_Johnson)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-embedded-artwork/11299/1 "2010-12-15T23:44:38Z")
I need to remove embedded covers from an Mp3 library, but I then want the leftover space removed from the files.
Can Mp3tag be forced to rewrite files after removing covers? If not, my only alternative is to transcode 30,000 tracks from Flac to Mp3 all over again.
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### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2010, 8:43am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-embedded-artwork/11299/2 "2010-12-16T08:43:09Z")
If you remove a cover from a mp3 file all padding that is left is 2 kB.
The size of the cover is not turned into padding.
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### Author:  [@JJ\_Johnson](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/JJ_Johnson)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-embedded-artwork/11299/3 "2010-12-16T19:15:33Z")
Thanks Dano. You're right, the files are reduced in size. I thought that I'd read that the space wasn't recovered. Should have tested it myself before posting.
2 kB seems like a lot of padding. I don't suppose that's adjustable, is it? I only use Mp3s with my portable players, so I want to minimize their size.
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### Author:  [@pone](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/pone)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-embedded-artwork/11299/4 "2010-12-16T22:57:04Z")
> [@JJ Johnson](#):
>
> 2 kB seems like a lot of padding.
2 kB = 0,002 MB
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### Author:  [@JJ\_Johnson](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/JJ_Johnson)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-embedded-artwork/11299/5 "2010-12-16T23:12:23Z")
The default padding added by LAME to ID3v2 tags is just 128 _bytes_.
The thing is... I don't need any padding at all, since the metadata in these files will never be edited. It's all transcoded from the main Flac library.
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### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-embedded-artwork/11299/6 "2010-12-17T06:16:45Z")
> [@pone](#):
>
> 2 kB = 0,002 MB
To be nitpicking ... with 1 KB = 1024 Byte ... exactly ...
2 KB = 0,001953125 MB
DD.20101217.0817.CET
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### Author:  [@flaminio](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/flaminio)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-embedded-artwork/11299/7 "2010-12-18T00:15:33Z")
The allocation unit size of your device is probably significantly larger than 2 kB anyway, so even if it was reduced to 0 is probably would not change the amount of space taken up by the file.
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2026, 12:22pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/remove-embedded-artwork/11299/8 "2026-02-09T12:22:45Z")