Wiki: Tag mappings and software compatibility

[arb]

Apple Software (iTunes, Apple Music, Apple TV)

TAG	COLUMN	MP3	AIFF	M4A	MP4
-	Cover art
-	Animated cover art[1]
ALBUM	Album[2] / Podcast[3]
ALBUMSORT	Album[4] / Sort Album[5]
ALBUMARTIST	Album Artist[6]
ALBUMARTISTSORT	Album Artist[7] / Sort Album Artist[8]
ARTIST	Artist[9] / Author[10] / Director[11]
ARTISTSORT	Artist[12] / Sort Artist[13]
BPM	Beats Per Minute[14]
COMMENT	Comments
COMMENT ITUNNORM	MP3 equivalent of ITUNNORM when converted by iTunes, broken
COMMENT ITUNPGAP	MP3 equivalent of ITUNESGAPLESS when converted by iTunes, broken
COMMENT ITUNSMPB	MP3 equivalent of ITUNSMPB when converted by iTunes, broken
COMPILATION	Categorises into Albums and Compilations[15]
COMPOSER	Composer[16]
COMPOSERSORT	Composer[17] / Sort Composer[18]
CONTENTGROUP	Grouping[19] / Work[20]
COPYRIGHT	Get Info ➜ File[21]
DIRECTOR	Not used[22], try ITUNMOVI
DISCNUMBER	Disc No.[23]
DESCRIPTION	Description[24]
ENCODEDBY	Encoded by in Get Info ➜ File[25]
GENRE	Genre[26]
GROUPING	Grouping[27]
ITUNESACCOUNT	E-mail address of owner, likely not used
ITUNESADVISORY	Title 🅴[28] / Title 🅲[29]
ITUNESALBUMID	Enables Show in iTunes Store[30] and Share[31] in right-click / Enables More by and You Might Also Like in mobile apps / Fetches most metadata for an album including animated cover art[32]
ITUNESARTISTID	Enables ⋯ ➜ Go to Artist in playback section[33] / Enables tapping name in playback section[34]/ Fetches artist details if not already found [35]
ITUNESCATALOGID	Enables Show in iTunes Store with right-click
ITUNESCOMPOSERID	Likely not used as no obvious difference in software[36]
ITUNESCOUNTRYID	Country of storefront purchased, likely not used as no obvious difference in software[37]
ITUNESGAPLESS	Denotes a gapless album, disables Crossfade after a song
ITUNESGENREID	Likely not used, try GENRE
ITUNESHDVIDEO	Genre HD icon in overview / Video quality in Get Info ➜ File[38]
ITUNESMEDIATYPE	Categorises into Music[39], Audiobooks, Movies, TV Shows, Music Videos[40] or Home Videos[41], Podcast is not used [42]
ITUNESOWNER	Registered name of owner, likely not used
ITUNESPURCHASEDATE	Date media was purchased, likely not used
ITUNEXTC	Title Rating icon[43]
ITUNMOVI	Movie/episode overview: Studio, Actors, Directors, Producers and Screenwriters[44]
ITUNNORM	Volume normalisation[45]
ITUNSMPB	Gapless playback[46]
MOVEMENTNAME	Movement Name[47] / Name[48]
MOVEMENT	Movement No.[49]
MOVEMENTTOTAL	Movement No.[50]
NARRATOR	Not used[51], for audiobooks try COMPOSER[52] with author as ARTIST/ALBUMARTIST
PODCAST	Categorises into Podcasts[53]
PODCASTCATEGORY	Category[54]
PODCASTDESC	Movie/episode overview / ⓘ symbol in List view of Movies in DESCRIPTION when selected[55]
PODCASTID	ID of episode[56], likely not used[57]
PODCASTKEYWORDS	No longer used by Apple
PODCASTURL	Enables Subscribe Podcast[58] / Enables Copy Podcast URL (RSS feed)[59]
RELEASETIME	Release Date[60]
SHOWMOVEMENT	Hides any TITLE values to show MOVEMENT/WORK fields for classical music in Name and Get Info ➜ Details[61]
STOREDESCRIPTION	Not used as expected, try ITUNESALBUMID [62]
SUBTITLE	Description
TITLE	Name / Podcast[63]
TITLESORT	Title[64] / Sort Title
TOTALDISCS	Disc No.[65]
TOTALTRACKS	Track[66]
TRACK	Track[67]
TVEPISODE	Episode Number / Podcast overview[68]
TVEPISODEID	Episode Code
TVNETWORK	Not used[69], try COPYRIGHT
TVSEASON	Season[70]
TVSHOW	Show
TVSHOWSORT	Show[71] / Sort Show[72]
UNSYNCEDLYRICS	Manually scrollable text on media playback[73]
WORK	Work[74] ] / Release Date[75]
XID	Unique identifier, helps fetch metadata of exact media for iTunes Match/LP
YEAR	Year[76] / Release Date[77]

Notes

• While iTunes is still available, it has been discontinued. Apple has split iTunes functionality into several apps: Apple Music, Apple TV and Apple Devices / Finder integration for syncing. MacOS also has the Podcasts and Books apps; for Windows, iTunes is still necessary for managing and syncing podcasts and audiobooks.

• iTunes has more functionality suited for users with local collections like converting to MP3 and other legacy features; Apple Music and TV is better suited to users with subscriptions to stream media which doesn't allow or does not require metadata to be edited. Apple Devices is then required to sync these two newer libraries; iTunes is an all-in-one solution.

• Get Info in iTunes is renamed to Properties in Apple Music/Apple TV.

• Apple is strongly centred around MP4 and M4A which can contain other codecs like ALAC. Other formats based on MP4 like M4V/M4B can be read by Apple software and Mp3tag, M4R/M4P cannot be read by Mp3tag due to DRM protection.

• MP4 is recognised as a song if there is no video track, only audio; M4A is just the same but as an "official" way of formatting an "Audio MP4".

• Multiple values using \\ as a delimiter has always been broken, i.e. for ARTIST you'll have to choose either artist1/artist2, artist1; artist2 or artist1, artist2 and artist3 to denote multiple artists.

• Play counts, skip counts, ratings, love () and favourite () can only be set in iTunes and are saved to its database, not via any tags.

• WAV can be imported and is playable but reads no metadata from the file. Limited metadata can be input via iTunes into its own database rather than into the file.

• The only way to enable gapless playback in Apple Music is using M4A's with the correct ITUNSMPB tag, ITUNESGAPLESS is optional. Using M4A without the tag has a short click in between tracks. iTunes is slightly better but still not reliable.

• MP3 gapless playback is broken in Apple Music even with appropriate tags: consider using M4A's or an alternative player.

• ReplayGain is not used, instead ITUNNORM is used for M4A/MP4. Investigate $rg2sc()

• iTunes Match may have issues with metadata, some can be altered once matched but some cannot be fetched like animated artwork.

• Artist pages/profile pictures are very buggy and can be retrieved by the synced device during sync, sometimes are retrieved by iTunes, never by Apple Music, always when a file has ITUNESARTISTID, sometimes automatically by ALBUMARTIST/ARTIST where available. Once assigned, the only definitive way to update it is by deleting the app, re-installing and re-syncing.

• Apple Music / Apple TV saves videos as fragmented files to stream together; iTunes saves videos as M4V files.

Troubleshooting

• If metadata doesn't change immediately in iTunes / Apple Music / Apple TV:

  • click Get Info / Properties which refreshes most metadata
  • try clicking another section or restarting the software. The same applies when checking an app in a synced device.

• If metadata doesn't change on a synced mobile device:

  • try removing the file from your library in iTunes / Apple Music / Apple TV to clear it from the database, re-import and re-sync.
    OR
  • remove the file, re-sync to clear it completely from your device, then re-import and re-sync.

• If any issues occur where metadata can't be updated or removed on a synced mobile device whatsoever:

  • double-check all metadata is displaying correctly in iTunes / Apple Music / Apple TV
  • delete the app on the mobile device, re-install and re-sync media
  • always use a new library and disposable test files (i.e. make a copy of a file or folder) when experimenting with tags to stop databases holding old test data when newer data is preferred for actual media.

• If you accidentally set ITUNESMEDIATYPE to Podcast on an M4A and the file becomes hidden:

  • you'll need to edit the Library in XML. You'll lose things like column layout and dates added but keep just about all other data
  • confirm the issue by renaming the problem file's filename, syncing with a device to see a "TITLE was not copied..." message
  • ensure all other songs are found in the library as they won't be re-imported with the next steps
  • go to File -> Library -> Export Library...
  • save the XML file wherever and open in a word / XML editor
  • find the files by <string>TITLE
  • delete the whole section for that file from <key> <dict> down to </dict>
  • save the file once done
  • rename your iTunes Library.itl file by adding an extra character (e.g. iTunes Library1.itl) to stop iTunes from loading it in
  • go to File -> Library -> Import Playlist... (this may take a while depending on the size of your library)
  • if any songs were missing that shouldn't have been, you'll need to rename iTunes Library1.itl back to normal and restart once the songs are
  • sync with a device again to check the message is gone and the files are no longer stuck in the library
  • if you're happy, delete the old iTunes Library1.itl and let the new library file sort out normalisation etc.

References

• Tutorial: Animated Artwork for Local Library on Apple Music/iTunes : r/AppleMusic
• New iTunes related field functionality - Support
• iTunMOVI Tag - Support
• Support for ITUNESALBUMADVISORY field - General Discussion
• Does iTunes still use ITUNNORM tags? - Support
• Do iTunes ID tags do anything anymore? - Support

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1. Apple Music, retrieved with ITUNESALBUMID, doesn't work when using iTunes Match ↩︎

2. iTunes/Apple Music, groups songs with the same ALBUM, shows Unknown Artist if no ARTIST/ALBUMARTIST ↩︎

3. iTunes, Podcasts category, groups episodes with the same ALBUM with a drop-down in Classic List view ↩︎

4. iTunes/Apple Music, adjusts the order file appears in the column, some words like "The" and "A" are ignored at the beginning ↩︎

5. iTunes/Apple Music ↩︎

6. iTunes/Apple Music, groups songs with the same ALBUM and ALBUMARTIST instead of ARTIST ↩︎

7. iTunes/Apple Music, adjusts the order file appears in the column, some words like "The" and "A" are ignored at the beginning ↩︎

8. iTunes/Apple Music ↩︎

9. iTunes/Apple Music, groups songs with the same ALBUM and ARTIST if there's no ALBUMARTIST ↩︎

10. iTunes, Audiobooks category, Podcasts in Get Info ➜ Details ↩︎

11. iTunes/Apple TV, not recommended as this can be saved/read by more software using ITUNMOVI ↩︎

12. iTunes/Apple Music, adjusts the order file appears in the column, some words like "The" and "A" are ignored at the beginning ↩︎

13. iTunes/Apple Music ↩︎

14. Ignores decimal values ↩︎

15. iTunes/Apple Music, groups songs with the same ALBUM instead of ARTIST, shows Various Artists if no ALBUMARTIST ↩︎

16. iTunes/Apple Music ↩︎

17. iTunes/Apple Music, adjusts the order file appears in the column, some words like "The" and "A" are ignored at the beginning ↩︎

18. iTunes/Apple Music ↩︎

19. iTunes/Apple Music, M4A/MP4 only ↩︎

20. iTunes/Apple Music, MP3/AIFF use this instead of WORK ↩︎

21. Not the same as studio in ITUNMOVI but can be made to match ↩︎

22. Can still be used to store the correct value then copied to other tags, used by Actions, Sources or Export for your own personal organisation ↩︎

23. iTunes/Apple Music, MP3 and AIFF save totals as 1/2, read as 1 of 2 ↩︎

24. Shorter version of PODCASTDESC ↩︎

25. Software used/person/company ↩︎

26. User-defined text or pre-defined number by ID3 standard ↩︎

27. MP3/AIFF equivalent of CONTENTGROUP created by Apple, unsure why they didn't just use the same tag ↩︎

28. iTunes/Apple Music, set to 1, only in List view, ITUNEXTC overrides this in iTunes ↩︎

29. iTunes, set to 2, only in List view, ITUNEXTC overrides this ↩︎

30. iTunes/Apple Music ↩︎

31. iTunes/Apple Music ↩︎

32. This tag overrides ITUNESALBUMART when clicking the artist name in playback section to get to a Apple Music artist page ↩︎

33. iTunes/Apple Music, goes to the first value for ARTIST, previous OS versions did not require this tag but you can use any value ↩︎

34. iTunes/Apple Music, goes to Apple Music artist page ↩︎

35. The Artists section in Apple Music will keep the first value saved to the database and is time-consuming to fix. Check Troubleshooting down below for help. ↩︎

36. Can still be used to store the correct value then copied to other tags, used by Actions, Sources or Export for your own personal organisation ↩︎

37. Can still be used to store the correct value then copied to other tags, used by Actions, Sources or Export for your own personal organisation ↩︎

38. 0 for SD, 1 for 720p (HD), 2 for 1080p (HD), 3 for 4K ↩︎

39. 'Normal' or blank value in audio files ↩︎

40. In Music library ↩︎

41. Automatic for blank value in video, in Movies library ↩︎

42. M4A set to Podcast will glitch and become hidden. Check Troubleshooting below for a guide on how to fix ↩︎

43. iTunes/Apple TV, no support for Standard, Score and Reasons despite Apple requiring publishers to set it ↩︎

44. iTunes/Apple TV, XML format but can be stored as a tag rather than external ↩︎

45. Hexadecimal values, has no effect on volume sliders in Get Info ➜ Options, ReplayGain is not read ↩︎

46. Hexadecimal values, this can be stored/read via a header in other software ↩︎

47. iTunes/Apple Music ↩︎

48. iTunes/Apple Music, shows WORK: MOVEMENT. MOVEMENTNAME ↩︎

49. iTunes/Apple Music ↩︎

50. iTunes/Apple Music, all formats show MOVEMENT of MOVEMENTTOTAL ↩︎

51. Can still be used to store the correct value then copied to other tags, used by Actions, Sources or Export for your own personal organisation ↩︎

52. Not ideal but gives the best compatibility with other software ↩︎

53. iTunes, not supported by ITUNESMEDIATYPE ↩︎

54. iTunes ↩︎

55. Longer version of DESCRIPTION ↩︎

56. iTunes, categorises MP3 into Podcasts with any value ↩︎

57. Scheming varies by publisher: some use simple strings, some use gid://, implying this is only really for their own internal use ↩︎

58. iTunes, updates database with current podcast metadata, no changes to files, any non-matching files are placed into Older Episodes ↩︎

59. Groups podcasts together by PODCASTURL otherwise by ALBUM, categorises MP3 into Podcasts with any value ↩︎

60. Shows YYYY-MM-DD as DD/MM/YYYY ↩︎

61. iTunes/Apple Music, groups songs with the same rules as before using ALBUM, ALBUMARTIST and ARTIST ↩︎

62. Technically broken, enables Show in iTunes Store and uses TITLE as a search term ↩︎

63. iTunes, Podcasts category ↩︎

64. Adjusts the order file appears in the column, some words like "The" and "A" are ignored at the beginning ↩︎

65. iTunes/Apple Music, M4A and MP4 shows DISCNUMBER of TOTALDISCS ↩︎

66. iTunes/Apple Music, M4A and MP4 shows TRACK of TOTALTRACKS ↩︎

67. iTunes/Apple Music, MP3 and AIFF save totals as 1/2, read as 1 of 2 ↩︎

68. Shows up as Episode TVEPISODE in Podcast List view ↩︎

69. Can still be used to store the correct value then copied to other tags, used by Actions, Sources or Export for your own personal organisation ↩︎

70. Shows as Season TVSEASON ↩︎

71. iTunes/Apple TV, adjusts the order file appears in the column, some words like "The" and "A" are ignored at the beginning ↩︎

72. iTunes/Apple TV ↩︎

73. iTunes/Apple Music, AIFF WAV and MP3 add a language｜｜ at the start, synced/automatically scrolling lyrics are unavailable ↩︎

74. MP3/AIFF use CONTENTGROUP, unsure why they didn't just use the same tag ↩︎

75. M4A/MP4 only uses YEAR for both columns ↩︎

76. Shows YYYY-MM-DD as YYYY, can't be saved as YYYY-MM-DD in Music library ↩︎

77. M4A/MP4 only uses YEAR for both columns ↩︎