# Are there programs that will add an artist, album and song title info to an mp3 file **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2017, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211 "2017-03-15T01:57:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211/1 "2017-03-15T01:57:07Z")
If you get an MP3 file and it just says unknown because it is from a streaming site, is there a site you can put it through that will add the artist, album and song title info? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211/2 "2017-03-15T02:04:45Z")
A quick search for mp3 rename utility throws up many options. [ID3 renamer](https://www.id3renamer.com/) [Advanced Renamer](https://www.advancedrenamer.com/) I can’t really recommend one because I’ve never had need of one. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211/3 "2017-03-15T02:58:57Z")
You should be able to use whatever software you use to listen to mp3s on your computer. In iTunes, right click the song and go to “Get Info”. Fill in whichever fields you want and iTunes will save them to the mp3 file. Most media players on a computer will do this, IME. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211/4 "2017-03-15T03:17:31Z")
I used to use a pretty good batch-processing MP3 renamer. Unfortunately, it was on a computer that no longer boots, so I can’t look up the name. But, agreed, if you just want to edit a few files or even a few albums, your music software should do the trick. The batch stuff was more for large-scale renaming of files and metadata, especially when in the early/mid-2000s you’d likely have a mixture of files from different sources. For example, CDs that were ripped using different programs, files from less-than-legal sources, files that were captured through the analog hole, files that were named in a way to compensate for music manager limitations (WinAmp used to basically require having the track number as 01, 02, etc. appended to the front to play an album in order), adding in metadata fields that didn’t exist in other programs, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211/5 "2017-03-15T03:31:28Z")
MP3Tag > [@](#): > > The universal tag editor and more … > Mp3tag is a powerful and easy-to-use tool to edit metadata of audio files. > > It supports batch tag-editing of ID3v1, ID3v2.3, ID3v2.4, iTunes MP4, WMA, Vorbis Comments and APE Tags for multiple files at once covering a variety of audio formats. > > Furthermore, it supports online database lookups from, e.g., Amazon, discogs, MusicBrainz or freedb, allowing you to automatically gather proper tags and download cover art for your music library. > > You can rename files based on the tag information, replace characters or words in tags and filenames, import/export tag information, create playlists and more. > **[Mp3tag - the universal Tag Editor (ID3v2, MP4, OGG, FLAC, ...)](https://www.mp3tag.de/en/)** > > Mp3tag is a powerful and easy-to-use tool to edit metadata of audio files. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211/6 "2017-03-15T03:48:34Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > MP3Tag > > [Mp3tag - the universal Tag Editor (ID3v2, MP4, OGG, FLAC, ...)](http://www.mp3tag.de/en/) Ah, yes, that’s it. Highly recommended. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211/7 "2017-03-15T04:31:36Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > MP3Tag > > [Mp3tag - the universal Tag Editor (ID3v2, MP4, OGG, FLAC, ...)](http://www.mp3tag.de/en/) I’ve been using that lately. It works like a charm. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211/8 "2017-03-15T14:25:29Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > You should be able to use whatever software you use to listen to mp3s on your computer. The one that came with Windows 7 on my desktop kinda sorta does that. That is, the info is visible if I listen to the MP3s on my desktop. But when I put the MP3s on a thumb drive which I plug into my car stereo, the car’s display says ‘unknown’ for the tracks where I put the info in by hand on my computer. So I’ll be trying MP3Tag. Sounds like it should do the job. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211/9 "2017-03-15T14:32:59Z")
I’ve used MP3Tag and it works great. I assume the OP knows that he’ll have to enter the information by hand (though MP3Tag will help search for album covers and stuff) though his request sounds like he’d like it to be automatic. A program that combined the functionality of Shazam/Soundhound and MP3Tag would be pretty sweet. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-programs-that-will-add-an-artist-album-and-song-title-info-to-an-mp3-file/782211/10 "2017-03-16T02:01:27Z")
Musicbrainz Picard is the only program I know of that will look up the info for you if you don’t know it already. It’s not very accurate though.