Metatag Mapping
The words metadata/tag/field may be used intermittently on this page to mean the same thing. This page is also far from complete and may never be.
Standard Tags
The following tables just map tags in one format/standard to another. Each format may have limitations, like not being able to handle UTF8 for example, or limitations as to the length of the content of a tag, some might have a non-textual tag like ID3v1 has for the Genre tag. These format limitations may or may not be mentioned on this page, so please keep that in mind.
Primary
These are the core meta-tags and supported/defined in all major tagging standards or file formats one way or another.
| Tag | ID3 v1/v1.1 | FLAC/Vorbis/Ogg | ID3 v2.3 / ID3 v2.4 | APEv2 | Matroska | WMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Album | Album | ALBUM | TALB | Album | TITLE [1] | WM/AlbumTitle |
| Artist | Artist | ARTIST | TPE1 | Artist | ARTIST | Author |
| Comment | Comment | DESCRIPTION | COMM | Comment | COMMENT | Description |
| Date | Year | DATE [2] | TDRC [3] | Year | DATE_RELEASE | WM/Year |
| Genre | Genre [4] | GENRE | TCON | Genre | GENRE | WM/Genre |
| Title | Title | TITLE | TIT2 | Title | TITLE [1] | Title |
| Track [5] | Album track [6] | TRACKNUMBER | TRCK | Track | TRACK | TRACKNUMBER |
Secondary
These meta-tags provide information that a user or software may expect. Not all formats or software may support these tags though.
| Tag | ID3 v1/v1.1 | FLAC/Vorbis/Ogg | ID3 v2.3/v2.4 | APEv2 | Matroska | WMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | n/a | PERFORMER | TCOM | Composer | ? | WM/Composer |
| Copyright | n/a | COPYRIGHT | TCOP | ? | ? | ? |
| Disc | n/a | ? | TPOS | ? | PART_OFFSET | ? |
| Publisher | n/a | ORGANIZATION | TPUB | Publisher | LABEL | WM/Publisher |
Tertiary
These meta-tags while considered standard may have uneven support across various software or formats. They should otherwise be rather well specified though.
| Tag | ID3 v1/v1.1 | FLAC/Vorbis/Ogg | ID3 v2.3/v2.4 | APEv2 | Matroska | WMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| License | n/a | LICENSE | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Performer | n/a | PERFORMER | ? | Artist | ? | ? |
| Total Tracks | n/a | ? | ? | ? | TOTAL_PARTS | TRACKTOTAL |
| Version | n/a | VERSION | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Album Artist | n/a | ? | ? | ? | MIXED_BY | ? |
| Artist Sort | n/a | ? | TSOP | ? | SORT_WITH | ? |
| Contact | n/a | CONTACT | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ISRC | n/a | ISRC | ? | ISRC | ISRC | ? |
| Location | n/a | LOCATION | ? | ? | RECORDING_LOCATION | ? |
| ReplayGain Gain | n/a | REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN | ? | ? | REPLAYGAIN_GAIN [1] | ? |
| ReplayGain Peak | n/a | REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK | ? | ? | REPLAYGAIN_PEAK [1] | ? |
| ReplayGain Album Gain | n/a | REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_GAIN | ? | ? | REPLAYGAIN_GAIN [1] | ? |
| ReplayGain Album Peak | n/a | REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_PEAK | ? | ? | REPLAYGAIN_PEAK [1] | ? |
| Subtitle | n/a | ? | ? | ? | SUBTITLE | ? |
| Remixed By | n/a | ? | TPE4 | ? | REMIXED_BY | ? |
Quaternary
These meta-tags are the more rare ones. They may also be ambiguous on how the content of a tag is to be treated/parsed. Some of these may have been proprietary at some point in the past. While others may be falling into obscurity.
| Tag | ID3 v1/v1.1 | FLAC/Vorbis/Ogg | ID3 v2.3/v2.4 | APEv2 | Matroska | WMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Album Sort | n/a | ? | TSOA | ? | ? | ? |
| Album Artist Sort | n/a | ? | TSO2 | ? | ? | ? |
| BPM | n/a | ? | TBPM | ? | ? | ? |
| Compilation | n/a | ? | TCMP | ? | ? | ? |
| Composer Sort | n/a | ? | TSOC | ? | ? | ? |
| Conductor | n/a | ? | TPE3 | ? | ? | ? |
| Content Group | n/a | ? | TIT1 | ? | ? | ? |
| Encoded By | n/a | ? | TENC | ? | ? | ? |
| Encoding Settings | n/a | ? | TSSE | ? | ? | ? |
| Encoding Time | n/a | ? | TDEN [7] | ? | ? | ? |
| File Owner | n/a | ? | TOWN | ? | ? | ? |
| File Type | n/a | ? | TFLT | ? | ? | ? |
| Initial Key | n/a | ? | TKEY | ? | ? | ? |
| Involved People | n/a | ? | IPLS / TIPL | ? | ? | ? |
| Language | n/a | ? | TLAN | ? | ? | ? |
| Length | n/a | ? | TLEN | ? | ? | ? |
| Lyricist | n/a | ? | TEXT | ? | ? | ? |
| Media Type | n/a | ? | TMED | ? | ? | ? |
| Mood | n/a | ? | TMOO [7] | ? | ? | ? |
| Musician Credits | n/a | ? | TMCL [7] | ? | ? | ? |
| Net Radio Owner | n/a | ? | TRSO | ? | ? | ? |
| Net Radio Station | n/a | ? | TRSN | ? | ? | ? |
| Original Album | n/a | ? | TOAL | ? | ? | ? |
| Original Filename | n/a | ? | TOFN | ? | ? | ? |
| Original Lyricist | n/a | ? | TOLY | ? | ? | ? |
| Podcast | n/a | ? | PCST | ? | ? | ? |
| Podcast Category | n/a | ? | TCAT | ? | ? | ? |
| Podcast Description | n/a | ? | TDES | ? | ? | ? |
| Podcast ID | n/a | ? | TGID | ? | ? | ? |
| Podcast URL | n/a | ? | WFED | ? | ? | ? |
| Rating | n/a | ? | POPM | ? | ? | ? |
| Release Time | n/a | ? | TDRL | ? | ? | ? |
| Set Subtitle | n/a | ? | TSST [7] | ? | ? | ? |
| Tagging Time | n/a | ? | TDTG [7] | ? | ? | ? |
| Lyrics | n/a | ? | USLT | ? | ? | ? |
| URL | n/a | ? | WXXX | ? | ? | ? |
| Author URL | n/a | ? | WOAR | ? | ? | ? |
| Audio File URL | n/a | ? | WOAF | ? | ? | ? |
| Audio Source URL | n/a | ? | WOAS | ? | ? | ? |
| Promotion URL | n/a | ? | WCOM | ? | ? | ? |
| Copyright URL | n/a | ? | WCOP | ? | ? | ? |
| Payment URL | n/a | ? | WPAY | ? | ? | ? |
| Publisher URL | n/a | ? | WPUB | ? | ? | ? |
| Radio URL | n/a | ? | WORS | ? | ? | ? |
| Original Artist | n/a | ? | TOPE | ? | ? | ? |
Non-standard Tags
Proprietary
These meta-tags are used in proprietary software, and is rarely of use outside that particular software.
| Tag | ID3 v1/v1.1 | FLAC/Vorbis/Ogg | ID3 v2.3/v2.4 | APEv2 | Matroska | WMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| fieldname | n/a | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| fieldname | n/a | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Proposed
These meta-tags are suggestions for new standards, some of these may also have previously been experimental or proprietary in nature. While they may be proposed this does not guarantee they will become standard. It just means that someone (and hopefully more than one individual) would like to see it standardized. Any tags listed here should be properly documented someplace and specified in detail.
| Tag | ID3 v1/v1.1 | FLAC/Vorbis/Ogg | ID3 v2.3/v2.4 | APEv2 | Matroska | WMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| fieldname | n/a | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| fieldname | n/a | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Experimental
These meta-tags are experimental in nature and should not be encountered normally, but in case they are they are listed here for completeness sake. These tags may appear and vanish at any time or may have their meaning or use changed at any time.
| Tag | ID3 v1/v1.1 | FLAC/Vorbis/Ogg | ID3 v2.3/v2.4 | APEv2 | Matroska | WMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experimental/Custom | n/a | ? | TXXX | ? | ? | ? |
Additional Information
Notes
- ↑ a b c d e f In Matroska it matters where the tags are used. So a ReplayGain tag for Track and Album are named the same just as an example.
- ↑ ISO 8601 date used/highly advised, see Vorbis Comment and ISO 8601 Wikipedia article for more.
- ↑ The ID3 v2.3 tags TYER & TDAT & TIME & TRDA are replaced by TDRC in ID3 v2.4, see ID3 Wikipedia article for more.
- ↑ The ID3 v1 and v1.1 Genre tag is a number referencing a pre-defined list, this brings it own huge genre mapping issue that is not covered in this Wiki page.
- ↑ Some Track meta tags may have both the current track and total tracks stored, using a / to separate the two values. While others do not.
- ↑ Difference between ID3 v1 and v1.1 is the addition of Album track, see ID3v1 specs for more.
- ↑ a b c d e Some tags are only in ID3 v2.4 and there exists no equivalent in ID3 v2.3.