Tags in File Formats
Different audio formats store metadata using different systems. This page shows how each tag is stored across the file formats supported by Audio Tags Editor.
Field name reference
| Tag | MP3 (ID3v2) | M4A (iTunes) | FLAC (Vorbis) | OGG (Vorbis) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | TIT2 | ©nam | TITLE | TITLE |
| Artist | TPE1 | ©ART | ARTIST | ARTIST |
| Album | TALB | ©alb | ALBUM | ALBUM |
| Year | TDRC / TYER | ©day | DATE | DATE |
| Genre | TCON | gnre / ©gen | GENRE | GENRE |
| Track Number | TRCK | trkn | TRACKNUMBER | TRACKNUMBER |
| Comments | COMM | ©cmt | COMMENT | COMMENT |
| Subtitle | TIT3 | ©st3 | SUBTITLE | SUBTITLE |
| Release Date | TDRL | ©day | RELEASEDATE | RELEASEDATE |
| Conductor | TPE3 | ©con | CONDUCTOR | CONDUCTOR |
| Lyricist | TEXT | ©lyr | LYRICIST | LYRICIST |
| Label | TPUB | ©lab | LABEL | LABEL |
| ISRC | TSRC | ----:com.apple.iTunes:ISRC | ISRC | ISRC |
| Artist Webpage | WOAR | ©url | CONTACT | CONTACT |
| Is Podcast | PCST | pcst | — | — |
| Podcast ID | TGID | egid | — | — |
| Podcast URL | WFED | purl | — | — |
| Podcast Category | TCAT | catg | — | — |
| Podcast Description | TDES | ldes | — | — |
| Album Art | APIC | covr | METADATA_BLOCK_PICTURE | METADATA_BLOCK_PICTURE |
— indicates the tag is not saved for that format.
Format notes
MP3 — ID3v2
MP3 files use the ID3v2 standard (v2.3 or v2.4). Tags are stored as named frames, each identified by a four-character code. Audio Tags Editor reads and writes both ID3v2.3 and ID3v2.4 frames. Podcast-related frames (PCST, TCAT, TDES, TGID, WFED) are Apple extensions to the ID3 standard and are recognised by iTunes, Apple Podcasts, and compatible players.
M4A — iTunes Metadata
M4A files store metadata in atoms (also called boxes). Standard iTunes atoms use four-character codes (e.g. ©nam, trkn). Podcast-specific atoms (pcst, egid, purl, catg, ldes) are part of the iTunes podcast specification. The ISRC tag is stored in a freeform atom under the iTunes namespace.
FLAC and OGG — Vorbis Comments
FLAC and OGG files use Vorbis Comments, a simple key-value system. Keys are case-insensitive plain text strings. Podcast tags have no established standard in the Vorbis Comments specification, so they are not stored in FLAC or OGG files.