How to Add Cover Art to Mp3 Mac My Album Self Release

Album art can be embedded into MP3 files fairly easily using ID3 tags. However, before you start filling up all of your MP3 files with works of art, there are a few things that you should stop to consider starting time.

While MP3 files were not originally intended to shop additional metadata within them, the release of the ID3 tag protocol in 1996 suddenly made this a possibility. However, it wasn't until version 2 of the protocol became available that MP3 files could actually contain embedded album art.

And then, before you start cutting and pasting huge graphics and adding them into your collection of MP3 tracks, what practice y'all need to consider to avoid potential disaster?

ID3 Tags and MP3 Files

A standard MP3 file just contains audio information, with no additional information about the creative person or type of audio contained within information technology. To include such extra data in an MP3 track, tag data is usually added to the commencement or end of the audio file in ID3 format.

ID3 tags allow you lot to store additional information within your MP3 files such every bit the track title, artist name and even album fine art. If you're not familiar with ID3 tags, you may find my previous article on What are ID3 tags in MP3 files? helpful.

Image Types

While the ID3v2 tag standard allows any type of image to be embedded in an MP3 file, it does suggest that either PNG or JPEG formats should exist used when interoperability with playback devices is required. Practically speaking JPEG images have been adopted as the de facto standard in this respect.

The ID3 standard is very flexible with regards to the type and number of images that tin can be embedded in a MP3 single file. The full list of unlike images that tin exist embedded are:

• $00 – Other
• $01 – 32×32 pixels 'file icon' (PNG only)
• $02 – Other file icon
• $03 – Cover (forepart)
• $04 – Cover (back)
• $05 – Leaflet page
• $06 – Media (eastward.g. label side of CD)
• $07 – Lead artist/lead performer/soloist
• $08 – Artist/performer
• $09 – Conductor
• $0A – Band/Orchestra
• $0B – Composer
• $0C – Lyricist/text writer
• $0D – Recording Location
• $0E – During recording
• $0F – During performance
• $10 – Movie/video screen capture
• $11 – A bright coloured fish
• $12 – Illustration
• $13 – Ring/creative person logotype
• $xiv – Publisher/Studio logotype

Quite an exhaustive list, and while a single MP3 file could embed all of the above images, in practice only 1 epitome is ever normally embedded.

File Sizes

Unfortunately, any additional information that you add to an MP3 file will increase its file size and this is of detail importance when adding images due to their potential size, fifty-fifty with compressed images such as JPEGs.

All the same, this does demand to be taken in context. For example, adding an 80kB JPEG image to a single 8MB podcast won't take a pregnant effect; information technology'southward only a 1% increase in file size.

If on the other hand you add an 80kB anthology image to every single track in your MP3 collection, allow's say of 1,000 songs, then you'll need any additional 80MB of storage, which could otherwise concord a further 20 songs or so (another 2 albums).

Current Media Player Support

Windows Media Player embeds album artwork as 200 x 200 pixel images, although will display larger images if they are embedded in the playing file every bit a larger size. iTunes currently displays anthology art equally 200 x 200 pixel images. The film to the right is sized at 200 x 200 pixels past manner of case and is 35kB in file size.

The resolution of the iPod nano and iPod classic screens is 320 x 240 pixels. The iPod touch screen is 480 10 320 pixels, more than than sufficient to display images of 200 10 200 pixels.

The Current Standard

The majority of podcasts that include images embedded inside them prefer an image size of 300 x 300 pixels.

The flick to the right is sized at 300 x 300 pixels and is 62kB in file size past way of example.

JPEG images of these dimensions will vary in file size (dependant on the compression ratio used and image complexity) from effectually 10kB to 80kB or and then. A 300 x 300 pixel epitome is actually over twice the size of a 200 10 200 paradigm, and will consequently lead to approximately double file sizes.

Calculation Your Own Pictures

So if you lot're producing your own podcast and desire to raise it with your own logo, or just want to embellish some of the tracks that yous already have in your MP3 collection with album art, what'south the all-time manner frontward?

It's probably all-time to standardise on JPEG images to ensure that your artwork can be seen on the majority of possible playback devices.

Image sizes are probably best prepare at 300 ten 300 pixels to display in reasonable quality on almost playback systems. However, if you're concerned about the infinite taken up by these images, 200 x 200 pixel images may be the amend pick for you, reducing the prototype file size to about one-half that of a 300 x 300 pixel image. The BBC (a useful technical yardstick I've always found) embed 300 10 300 images in their podcasts.

If your electric current software doesn't allow you to embed or add images to your MP3 files directly, then standalone tag editing software should offer you this functionality. Some useful examples of such are:

• EasyTAG
• Filerename.co.uk
• Jaikoz
• Mp3tag
• TagTuner
• Tag&Rename

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Source: https://www.richardfarrar.com/embedding-album-art-in-mp3-files/

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