# Synchronize or merge APE & ID3 Tags? **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [July 10, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/synchronize-or-merge-ape-id3-tags/49581 "2020-07-10T22:16:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lotus1922](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/48db29/32.png) [@lotus1922](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/lotus1922)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/synchronize-or-merge-ape-id3-tags/49581/1 "2020-07-10T22:16:14Z")
I'm in a nightmare trying to standardize my music tagging and apparently there's a subset of several thousand mp3 files that have both APE and ID3 tags. I want everything to have Id3 ONLY. The problem with these doubly-tagged files is that the APE tags and the ID3 tags don't always overlap; the APE's have info that the Id3 doesn't have, and the ID3 has info that the APE doesn't. Is there a way to merge the data from both sets of tags and then re-save it all as the one ID3 tag that I want? This flipping back and forth between the read/ write/ remove options dialog, refreshing the view, copy-pasting by hand, etc is maddening with so many files to update... would be nice at the very least to have a split screen view to be able to view both sets of tags simultaneously and compare. I've been slowly chipping away at it over backup copies because I'm so paranoid of messing things up really badly... Many thanks for any help! ---
**Author:** ![poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/poster/32/4881_2.png) [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2020, 6:02am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/synchronize-or-merge-ape-id3-tags/49581/2 "2020-07-11T06:02:02Z")
> [@lotus1922](#): > > he APE's have info that the Id3 doesn't have, and the ID3 has info that the APE doesn't. Are you sure that there are no files with the same APE-tag-fields and ID3-tag-fields but different content. > [@Selective deletion of tags](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/selective-deletion-of-tags/18830/4): > > If you uncheck ID3V1 and ID3V2 and leave only Ape ckecked there will only Ape tags been removed with "Remove Tags"-command. There will be no other tags removed. But it is possible that files don't have the same content in ID3v2-tags and the corresponding Ape-Tags and what you see in MP3Tag are maybe only the contents of Ape-Tags. So it may be necessary to transfer Ape-Tags to ID3v2. The only way to see if your ID3V2-Tags are complete as you want is to set the appropiate Read-setting in F… ---
**Author:** ![SpirosG](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/spirosg/32/8589_2.png) [@SpirosG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/SpirosG)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2020, 1:42pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/synchronize-or-merge-ape-id3-tags/49581/3 "2020-07-11T13:42:39Z")
This is something i was also thinking about because am facing the same problem. One solution would an option to save APE tags as the tag of your selection only if ID3 tag fields are empty. ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/synchronize-or-merge-ape-id3-tags/49581/4 "2020-07-11T13:57:33Z")
> [@SpirosG](#): > > to save APE tags as the tag of your selection only if ID3 tag fields are empty If you use MP3tag all the time I do not think that you will run into any trouble. The problem arises if you use an application that only writes APE tags without updating also ID3Vx tags. Replaygain data apparently likes to be written into APE tags - unless you use a program like foobar that writes this information to ID3V2 tags. ---
**Author:** ![SpirosG](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/spirosg/32/8589_2.png) [@SpirosG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/SpirosG)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/synchronize-or-merge-ape-id3-tags/49581/5 "2020-07-11T14:15:59Z")
Hi @ohrenkino, the problem is that there are tracks coming from DJ pools for example which are actually using APE and ID3 tags and many times they have some fields filled with APE and some others in ID3. If for example you prefer ID3v2.4 like i do (because of traktor's behaviour with ID3v2.3) and you choose to save the tags to convert them to your liking, if APE field is blank and ID3 contains some data APE will overwrite the existing id3 tag because APE is prioritized over the id3 tags ---
**Author:** ![lotus1922](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/48db29/32.png) [@lotus1922](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/lotus1922)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/synchronize-or-merge-ape-id3-tags/49581/6 "2020-07-14T19:10:28Z")
> Are you sure that there are no files with the same APE-tag-fields and ID3-tag-fields but different content. Yes, for example there could be an mp3 that has the artist and song title saved in the APE tags, but the album title, year, and genre saved in the ID3... or vice versa. Or any combination of attributes. Apparently somewhere down the line over the years as I've updated tag info it hasn't always all been saved to the same tag format across all files, and I'm only just now finding out about it. I finally figured out how to copy the APE info, re-save into the ID3, and then strip the APE's, but having the ability to see both sets of tags side by side to compare what's missing from each, and then be able to sync them so that they can either both have the same set of information, or one can be kept with all the info and the other set deleted, would be SUPER helpful and much easier than having to go back and forth checking and unchecking read options to view each set of tags. Not to mention, less margin for accidentally ruining your library! Now I just hope that MusicBee won't mess up all my work when it syncs playlists to my ipod... it seems to like converting semicolon separators (in genres, for example) to double backslashes, which then of course Mp3Tag doesn't show in the main viewing window 😞 ---
**Author:** ![iamyou](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@iamyou](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/iamyou)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 11:46am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/synchronize-or-merge-ape-id3-tags/49581/7 "2020-07-16T11:46:59Z")
maybe you can try this. use MP3Tag to only view APE tags. export that into some file (text? CSV? HTML?) then, use MP3Tag to view ID3 tags. export that into another file (text? CSV? HTML?) compare both the files, using some kind `diff` tool, e.g. WinMerge and see side by side, which tags are missing or needs to cross over to which side. in fact, you could even compare the rows/columns in a Excel spreadsheet too. then, maybe executive the changes you want. save that file, and see if you can re-import that into MP3Tag and over-write the tags according to the filename, etc. ---
**Author:** ![SpirosG](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/spirosg/32/8589_2.png) [@SpirosG](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/SpirosG)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 11:29am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/synchronize-or-merge-ape-id3-tags/49581/8 "2020-07-18T11:29:48Z")
I believe what i suggested before is way simpler than what you suggest, although I'm not sure if this is possible, only @Florian will be able to answer that. What i suggested is an option to save APE tags to ID3v"x" only if ID3vx tag field is empty. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ce7035d426cb755a7916793326d23b465222a407.png) [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/synchronize-or-merge-ape-id3-tags/49581/9 "2026-02-09T12:28:42Z")