# \[X\] tag pasting from m4a to mp3 adds line breaks to lyrics
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/x-tag-pasting-from-m4a-to-mp3-adds-line-breaks-to-lyrics/7765
**Category:** No Bugs
**Created:** [January 14, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/x-tag-pasting-from-m4a-to-mp3-adds-line-breaks-to-lyrics/7765 "2009-01-14T01:33:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ptha](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ptha)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/x-tag-pasting-from-m4a-to-mp3-adds-line-breaks-to-lyrics/7765/1 "2009-01-14T01:33:10Z")
Mp3tag has been invaluable in allowing me to copy my old m4a tags to newly ripped mp3s.
The problem I am seeing is that the lyrics pasted into the new mp3s seems to have extra line breaks when viewing the lyrics in iTunes.
For example here's a verse of "It's Oh So Quiet" when viewed in iTunes in the original m4a file:
Shhhh Shhhh
It's, oh, so quiet
Shhhh Shhhh
It's, oh, so still
Shhhh Shhhh
You're all alone
Shhh Shhh
And so peaceful until...
After copy and pasting tags using mp3tag into the new mp3 file the lyrics when viewed in iTunes are:
Shhhh Shhhh
It's, oh, so quiet
Shhhh Shhhh
It's, oh, so still
Shhhh Shhhh
You're all alone
Shhh Shhh
And so peaceful until...
Comparing the UNSYNCEDLYRICS tag in Extended Tags in mp3tag for both files
for the m4a file at the end of each line I see 3 square boxes
for the mp3 file at the end of each line I see 4 square boxes
I tried pasting them into this post but the square boxes are just converted to line breaks.
Thanks,
Peter.
---
### Author:  [@ptha](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ptha)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/x-tag-pasting-from-m4a-to-mp3-adds-line-breaks-to-lyrics/7765/2 "2009-01-14T12:52:01Z")
I've taken screenshots of how the UNSYNCEDLYRICS tag in Extended Tags appears for both files after using mp3tag to tag copy and paste from the m4a file to the mp3 file
Here's the screenshot for the m4a file
Here's the screenshot for the mp3 file
Some other information, I used the [iTunes Store file validator](http://code.google.com/p/itsfv/) tool to download and add the lyrics to the m4a file in the first place.
---
### Author:  [@DetlevD](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DetlevD)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/x-tag-pasting-from-m4a-to-mp3-adds-line-breaks-to-lyrics/7765/3 "2009-01-14T13:43:03Z")
Before or after your "copy&paste" maneuvers you may run one action that cleans superflous control characters from the UNSYNCEDLYRICS tag field.
Replace all occurences of "Carriage Return" (ASCII char number 13) and "Line Feed" (ASCII char number 10) and "Form Feed" (ASCII char number 12) characters in sequence with a Carriage Return / Line Feed sequence (13/10) or try alternatively one single LineFeed (10).
Use a Replace action using Regular Expression
or
use a Tag Format action using function $regexp()
Example:
$regexp(%UNSYNCEDLYRICS%,'[\r\n\f]+',$char(13)$char(10))
... or ...
$regexp(%UNSYNCEDLYRICS%,'[\r\n\f]+','\r\n')
DD.20090114.1542.CET
---
### Author:  [@Florian](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Florian)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/x-tag-pasting-from-m4a-to-mp3-adds-line-breaks-to-lyrics/7765/4 "2018-12-28T14:24:46Z")
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