Audio Tags

Audio Tags are a means of embedding extra information into an audio file. These tags are necessary because there is only a certain amount of information that can fit or is appropriate to place into the standard file name of a file (as you see it on your hard drive). The advantage provided by Audio Tags is that you can write lots of extra details about an audio file, and not have to worry about losing that information when sharing or passing the file to others. The information is stored inside the file itself and therefore automatically passed along when copying or moving it.

The following is a list of file formats and tag standards supported:

WAVE - LIST, BWF, CART
MP3 - IDv1, IDv2

In order to provide a simple interface for adding and editing tags in these formats, a simple Audio Tags dialog has been created that encompasses all tag formats into the one standard dialog. The tags have been divided into two areas, Basic Tags and Advanced Tags. More information on the tags is found below.

General Notes:

Not all tag fields apply to all tag formats. The formats which apply to a specified field are specified.
When creating or editing tags for MP3 files, the IDv1 tag will be written by default, even if the intention is to create an IDv2 tag. Many hardware or similar players do not support reading IDv2 tags and therefore this is done to ensure compatibility with the maximum number of tag-reading devices.
When creating or editing tags for MP3 files, the IDv2 tag will only be written if any of the edited tag fields exceed the character limits of IDv1. The limits are 30 characters for Title, Artist, Album and Comment and 4 characters for the Year.
Many fields have character limits applied to them. All limits are specified, please observe them.

Basic Tags

Tag Name:	Supported Standards:	Description:
Title	(IDv1, IDv2, LIST, CART)	Title of the audio file or song. The character limits are 30 for IDv1, unlimited for IDv2 and LIST, and 64 for CART.
Artist	(IDv1, IDv2, CART)	the Artist of the audio file or song. The character limits are 30 for IDv1, unlimited for IDv2 and LIST, and 64 for CART.
Album Artist	(IDv2)	Band/Orchestra/Accompaniment of the album, which is used for additional information about the performers in the recording.
Album	(IDv1, IDv2, LIST)	the Album containing this audio file or song. The character limits are 30 for IDv1, and unlimited for IDv2 and LIST.
Genre	(IDv1, IDv2, LIST)	the defining Genre (music type) for the song.
Category	(CART)	the category name. You may choose from the pre-defined list of categories or write your own. The character limit is 64 for CART.
Classification	(CART)	a general classification key, this can be used for selection or sorting based on language, locale or other similar applications.
Start Date	(CART)	the date that the audio file should become active, specified in format YYYY-MM-DD (in compliance with international standards). An immediate activation date may be written as "1900-01-01".
End Date	(CART)	the date after which the audio file should become inactive, specified in format YYYY-MM-DD (in compliance with international standards). If the audio is to stay active forever, the date "9999-12-31" may be used.
Start Time	(CART)	the time of day that the audio file should become active on the Start Date, specified in 24-hour time format e.g. "12:31:45". An immediate time start may be specified as "00:00:00".
End Time	(CART)	the time of day that the audio file should become inactive on the End Date, specified in 24-hour time format e.g. "12:31:45". For specifying the very end of the day, the time "23:59:59" should be used.
Track Number	(IDv1, IDv2, LIST)	the track number that the audio file or song appeared on the album. This number may range from 1 to 255.
Year	(IDv1, IDv2, LIST)	the year the audio file or song was created. The character limit is 4 for IDv1, IDv2 and LIST.
Out Cue	(CART)	the optional out cue phrase to be displayed when the cut is being played, readable by the user. The character limit is 64 for CART.
Client ID	(CART)	the licent or customer identification or name. The character limit is 64 for CART.
URL	(CART)	the Internet (http or ftp) address referencing or being referenced by the audio file or song. The character limit is 1024 for CART.
Comment / Description	(IDv1, IDv2, LIST, BWF)	a comment about or description of the audio file or song. The character limits are 30 for IDv1, unlimited for IDv2 and LIST, and 256 for BWF.
Lyrics	IDv2	This frame contains the lyrics of the song or a text transcription of other vocal activities. Newline characters are allowed in the text. There is no character limit.
Disc Number	(IDv2, LIST)	The number of the disc within a multi-disc set that this track belongs to. This number may range from 1 to 255.
Composer	(IDv2)	The name of the person or group who wrote/composed the track. There is no character limit.
Date	(IDv2)	The date of production of the track. Format of the date is MMDD.
Rating	(IDv2)	A value between 1 and 5 given to the track to indicate personal preference
Play count	(IDv2)	The number of times the track has been played.
Producer	(IDv2)	The name of the producer of the track. There is no character limit.
Copyright	(IDv2)	Details about the copyright owner of the track. There is no character limit.
Encoder	(IDv2)	The name and details of the software used to encode the track. There is no character limit.
Encoded By	(IDv2)	The name of the person or organisation who encoded the track. There is no character limit.

Advanced Tags

Tag Name:	Supported Standards:	Description:
BWF Originator	(BWF)	the name of the originator or producer of the audio file. The character limit is 32 for BWF.
Originator Ref	(BWF)	a non-ambiguous reference allocated by the originating organization of the audio file. The character limit is 32 for BWF.
Originator Date	(BWF)	the date that the audio file or song was created, specified in format YYYY-MM-DD (in compliance with international standards).
Originator Time	(BWF)	the time that the audio file or song was created, specified in 24-hour time format e.g. "12:31:45"
Time Reference	(BWF)	the timecode of the audio file or song. This is the first sample count since midnight. The number range may go from 0 to 2 to the power of 64.
User Defined Text	(CART)	the use of this string is up to the user. The character limit is 64 for CART.
Level Reference	(CART)	this is a nominated peak value in the song where the volume level was measured as being 0dB on the audio system of the audio creator. This field is here to ensure calibration consistency across different audio setups. As an example, if you wanted to specify the maximum audio level in a 16-bit audio file as being 0dB, you would specify "32768" as the value in this field. The number range may go from -2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647.
Cut ID	(CART)	this is the cut number or unique cut key. The character limit is 64 for CART.
CART Tag Text	(CART)	This is where any other information about the file may be entered. This field does not have a character or line limit, as many entries as desired can be entered.
BWF Coding History	(BWF)	This is a non-editable field which keeps track of the encoding parameters used whenever the audio file is converted.
CART Mark ID	(CART)	These are time marks, which are points in the audio file where you can set special flags for. This information currently does not have a direct connection with the audio file itself, but may be used in other software or by other persons to identify the key points in the file. The Mark ID is a 4 character field to nominate the type of mark, and the Time field is a number of minimum value 0 and maximum value 2 to the power of 32.
BWF UMID	(BWF)	Unique Material Identifier. This field is currently not supported, any information read in from a file will be preserved however.