# TLEN and Song Length
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [March 22, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563 "2013-03-22T01:56:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@w3wilkes](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/w3wilkes)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563/1 "2013-03-22T01:56:53Z")
I have some MP3 files that are VBR encoded with LAME -V 0 -B 320 (I believe this is the highest quality). The song length shown by MP3Tag, Windows Explorer and Squeeze server is correct, but the TLEN tag in the MP3 file shows 0. Where is MP3Tag getting the song length from? I could see these programs easily calculating the song length if these were CBR, but they are VBR.
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563/2 "2013-03-22T07:27:47Z")
I don't think that Mp3tag calculate the value for TLEN. It just show the saved value inside the id3tag.
If you want to change it with Mp3tag you could do it as written here: [Tag LENGTH](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/9051/4)
I share the opinion of Dano: TLEN is not really important.
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### Author:  [@w3wilkes](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/w3wilkes)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563/3 "2013-03-22T14:57:42Z")
Where in a ID3v2.3 tag is the song length saved? There is someplace other than TLEN since a properly ripped song using LAME VBR will show the correct song length without the TLEN tag being present.
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563/4 "2013-03-22T15:40:31Z")
Please have a look here: [Länge von Mp3s wird leicht falsch angezeigt.](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/13243/9)
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### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563/5 "2013-03-22T16:32:30Z")
The exact duration of vbr files can be stored in a special header:
[http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...nd\_LAME\_headers](http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=MP3#VBRI.2C_XING.2C_and_LAME_headers)
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### Author:  [@MrSinatra](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MrSinatra)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2013, 8:37am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563/6 "2013-04-19T08:37:31Z")
I am having a weird issue:
I am using lamedropXPd 3.1 to turn FLACs into mp3s, and it works great. however, the id3's have a field called LENGTH in the extended tags that isn't in the FLACs. it has values like 235643 which are meaningless to me.
what TXXX frame is this, and what do the numbers mean?
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### Author:  [@dano](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/dano)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2013, 9:44am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563/7 "2013-04-19T09:44:02Z")
That's the TLEN frame. It can store the song length in milliseconds.
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### Author:  [@MrSinatra](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/MrSinatra)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563/8 "2013-04-19T18:47:37Z")
thanks! pretty weird though. u would think seconds and frames would be enough.
lamedrop also is a bit off doing so. a file 19min long shows as 19min 3sec in mp3tag, presumably due to that tag. i'll prob do a mass strip of it, (once I figure out how to).
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563/9 "2024-02-25T13:51:09Z")
A post was split to a new topic: [Copy TLEN to Length](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/copy-tlen-to-length/63900)
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2024, 1:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/tlen-and-song-length/14563/10 "2024-03-26T13:52:04Z")
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