# Saving Japanese chars from tags
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/saving-japanese-chars-from-tags/18554
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [December 27, 2016, 10:45am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/saving-japanese-chars-from-tags/18554 "2016-12-27T10:45:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ivan\_Ravan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Ivan_Ravan)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2016, 10:45am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/saving-japanese-chars-from-tags/18554/1 "2016-12-27T10:45:07Z")
Hello
I have a large collection of wav files I ripped using WMP a long time ago, among which many Japanese songs with japanese chars in their names, artists etc...
When using mp3tag to retrieve tags, everything looks fine. see pic 1
However when I look at properties in WE, the special chars have been replaced by "?". see pic 2
This makes it unusable when I access the files in WMP.
Not sure if it's caused by the "save tags" command or a Windows settings Issue.
Any idea ?
I am using windows 7 and have installed the Japanese language.
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2016, 12:31pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/saving-japanese-chars-from-tags/18554/2 "2016-12-27T12:31:09Z")
> [@IvanRavan](#):
>
> Hello
>
> I have a large collection of wav files I ripped using WMP a long time ago, among which many Japanese songs with japanese chars in their names, artists etc...
> When using mp3tag to retrieve tags, everything looks fine. see
>
> However when I look at properties in WE, the special chars have been replaced by "?". see pic 2
> This makes it unusable when I access the files in WMP.
>
> Not sure if it's caused by the "save tags" command or a Windows settings Issue.
>
> Any idea ?
> I am using windows 7 and have installed the Japanese language.
Check the MP3tag settings: do you write ISO or UTF characters? You should be writing UTF tags.
You could create a column with the value %\_id3v2\_character\_encoding% and see the encoding - here again, the encoding should be UTF.
It may be necessary to even convert the code page ... but this only applies, if you do not see the correct characters in MP3tag.
---
### Author:  [@Ivan\_Ravan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Ivan_Ravan)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2016, 12:46pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/saving-japanese-chars-from-tags/18554/3 "2016-12-27T12:46:45Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> Check the MP3tag settings: do you write ISO or UTF characters? You should be writing UTF tags.
>
> You could create a column with the value %\_id3v2\_character\_encoding% and see the encoding - here again, the encoding should be UTF.
> It may be necessary to even convert the code page ... but this only applies, if you do not see the correct characters in MP3tag.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I am using UTF and can see the correct characters in MP3tag (but not in WE)
The funny thing is that, if I switch to ISO, then I get the same incorrect display in MP3tag.
Could it be that MP3tag writes ISO when saving tags (even though the display is UTF ? )
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2016, 12:54pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/saving-japanese-chars-from-tags/18554/4 "2016-12-27T12:54:19Z")
> [@IvanRavan](#):
>
> ...Could it be that MP3tag writes ISO when saving tags (even though the display is UTF ? )
Why should it?
If these are old files then let them check by some of the basic utilities like Mp3val and Mp3diags and see if other problems prevent a proper display.
---
### Author:  [@Ivan\_Ravan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Ivan_Ravan)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/saving-japanese-chars-from-tags/18554/5 "2016-12-27T14:53:33Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> Why should it?
> If these are old files then let them check by some of the basic utilities like Mp3val and Mp3diags and see if other problems prevent a proper display.
These are wav files, so mp3val will not scan them, I'm afraid
---
### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/saving-japanese-chars-from-tags/18554/6 "2016-12-27T15:17:43Z")
> [@IvanRavan](#):
>
> These are wav files, so mp3val will not scan them, I'm afraid
Yes, of course. You are right.
When I enter one of the German Umlauts (ä) in a WAV file, this letter is displayed on my German system.
I can reproduce the behaviour that you described for other characters like cyrillic: these characters are displayed by Windows as ??? .
So it looks like a Windows problem. As Mp3tag does it right (in my opinion).
BUT: as the German Umlauts are displayed correctly according to the local code page, it could be that you have to set the encoding to the Japanese code page ...
---
### Author:  [@Ivan\_Ravan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Ivan_Ravan)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/saving-japanese-chars-from-tags/18554/7 "2016-12-27T17:14:25Z")
> [@ohrenkino](#):
>
> Yes, of course. You are right.
> When I enter one of the German Umlauts (ä) in a WAV file, this letter is displayed on my German system.
>
> I can reproduce the behaviour that you described for other characters like cyrillic: these characters are displayed by Windows as ??? .
> So it looks like a Windows problem. As Mp3tag does it right (in my opinion).
>
> BUT: as the German Umlauts are displayed correctly according to the local code page, it could be that you have to set the encoding to the Japanese code page ...
Thanks, I'll investigate the windows side of things then.
---
### Author:  [@Ivan\_Ravan](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Ivan_Ravan)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2016, 1:12pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/saving-japanese-chars-from-tags/18554/8 "2016-12-29T13:12:52Z")
> [@IvanRavan](#):
>
> Thanks, I'll investigate the windows side of things then.
Actually, I found out that when one saves the tags in MP3Tag while WMP is running, then the tags will be transmitted correctly in WMP, meaning with the right japanese characters.
(But if you save the tags while WMP is not running, then one gets the ? instead of the japanese chars).
Not sure why this works this way, but anyway...