ID3 Editor

What are ID3 tags?

When play a song in any program or portable player, you've probably noticed information that displays with that track:

  • song title,
  • track number,
  • album title,
  • artist name, and
  • picture of the album.

All of this information displays no matter what the file name is.

This is called metadata. It's attached to the file through ID3 tags.

There are several versions of ID3, each offering an additional set of tags or ways to contain information. Older ID3 versions (1.x) couldn't hold many characters in a single tag. But newer versions hold a lot more information in each tag and offer more tags.

Why are ID3 tags important?

If it wasn't for your ID3 tags, then someone who downloads “podcast001.mp3” would never see important information:

  • the name of the episode,
  • chronological order of the episode,
  • the podcast it belongs to,
  • what the episode is about, or
  • the podcast cover art (what displays when an individual episode is played).

Some of this is auto-generated by iTunes when it downloads your file from your RSS feed. But it's always best to manually tag every file so you can be the most compatible.

Software to edit ID3 tags

Popular media players like iTunes, Windows Media Player, and VideoLan Client (VLC) Player can edit ID3. But they don't do it very well. Each uses their own version and this means some information may not show up for your listeners. You can sometimes convert the tag version in these media players, but they won't write in that right version by default.

The following software works great across all platforms and uses the more compatible ID3 version 2.3.

ID3 tagging for Windows

ID3 tagging for OS X

ID3 tagging for Linux

Thanks to “Curbuntu” for sharing these.

What to enter in which ID3 tags

Don't be overwhelmed by the number of fields you can fill out. Only a few are the most important (some may not even be included in your tagging application).

  • Track: your episode number. This will help sort episodes chronologically if a player doesn't read the published or modified dates.
  • Title: your episode number and title, just like your blog post. For example, “AYJW027: Courageous (2011).”
  • Artist: the name(s) of the episode host(s) or name of your network.
  • Album: the title of your podcast (remember, this is your whole show, not just an individual episode).
  • Year: the year of release.
  • Genre: pick what is most appropriate or “Podcast.”
  • Comment: a short summary of your episode. This could be the same as your WordPress excerpt, or simply the web address to your shownotes.
  • Copyright: your copyright information. I recommend writing it like, “© 2011 D.Joseph Design”—note that “by” is not necessary, and the symbol should aways precede the year. Not all tagging programs have this.
  • URL: your shownotes web address. Not all tagging programs have this.
  • Cover / picture / album art: your podcast cover art. If you don't have any, hire me to design it for you!

If you have the option to copy the data from the above version 2.3 tags to the version 1 tags, do it. In ID3 Editor, this is as easy as pressing a little button. Other programs will do this automatically.

iTunes overwrites some tags

You may notice that you edit your tags in a certain way, but iTunes changes them to something else. That's because iTunes will differ to the RSS feed for some information.

Overriding this is easy, and sometimes optimal for customizing exactly what you want shown.

  1. Use Blurry PowerPress Podcasting plugin.
  2. In WordPress admin, go to PowerPress > Basic Settings.
  3. Under “Podcast Entry Box,” checkmark the additional fields that you may want to change with each episode.
    • Keywords
    • Subtitle
    • Summary
    • Author
  4. Click “Save Changes.”

Again, iTunes will automatically pull these from your feed if you don't manually change the data.

Changing the iTunes episode summary

The most important of these, and maybe the only field you need to care about, is the summary field. By default, this will be the entire contents of your blog post or your excerpt, depending on how you publish your RSS feed (Settings > Reading > “For each article in a feed, show”).

If you use WordPress's “More” functionality to display “excerpts” instead of writing separate excerpts. Then iTunes would still grab the entire blog post.

Overriding this by enabling the Summary field would let you write a more optimal summary for iTunes, iPod, and iPhone listeners.

  • Bullet-point list of topics
  • Short or memorable links to off-site content
  • Feedback information

Get podcasting and Audacity tips by email

I have a super-crazy, off-the-wall tip for significantly increasing your audience (I octupled mine!). Sign up for my free email newsletter for podcasting tips and Audacity tips to hear it. If you sign up after October 5, then ask me for the email.

From the same sign-up form, you can also receive email from our other podcasts.

Need personalized podcasting help?

I no longer offer one-on-one consulting outside of Podcasters' Society, but request a consultant here and I'll connect you with someone I trust to help you launch or improve your podcast.

Ask your questions or share your feedback

  • Comment on the shownotes
  • Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
  • Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Connect with me

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship and may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

About the Author
As an award-winning podcaster, Daniel J. Lewis gives you the guts and teaches you the tools to launch and improve your own podcasts for sharing your passions and finding success. Daniel creates resources for podcasters, such as the SEO for Podcasters and Zoom H6 for Podcasters courses, the Social Subscribe & Follow Icons plugin for WordPress, the My Podcast Reviews global-review aggregator, and the Podcasters' Society membership for podcasters. As a recognized authority and influencer in the podcasting industry, Daniel speaks on podcasting and hosts his own podcast about how to podcast. Daniel's other podcasts, a clean-comedy podcast, and the #1 unofficial podcast for ABC's hit drama Once Upon a Time, have also been nominated for multiple awards. Daniel and his son live near Cincinnati.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

44 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
trackback

[…] a different program like MP3Tag (free for Windows) or ID3 Editor ($15 for Windows and OS X) for tagging your audio files.2. Audacity can’t make good podcast MP3sLAME is the best MP3 encoder! But it’s the best […]

Wallys Modcast
Wallys Modcast
12 years ago

Ok ok ok, So i finished with everything, Got my tagged mp3 onto a media host put the link into blog. Player on blog post works. got feed burner working and my feed validated. When i sumbit to itunes i get the error there is no episodes in this feed… Now what?

Wallys Modcast
Wallys Modcast
12 years ago

So how do I post directly to a media file? And still have it create a player on the post? sry

Wallys Modcast
Wallys Modcast
12 years ago

Although the blubrry plugin, Or any plugin does not work with a .wordpress site….

Wallys Modcast
Wallys Modcast
12 years ago
Reply to  Wallys Modcast

Soundcloud allows you to share directly with WordPress so I tried that as well as putting the direct link into my post. Both make a player in the post. Both didn't work. Looks like I will have to wait till I can get a self hosted wordpress so I can use that blubrry plugin. Thanks again for all the help Daniel!

Wallys Modcast
Wallys Modcast
12 years ago

Yeah, I did try the resync. Dosent work like in Itunes when you go advanced-subscribe to podcast and enter the feed url. then it shows my podcast but can not play. I see the description and episode # but no album art or ability to play. This is Itunes way of checking to make sure your feed is valid to submit…. Other than that i have followed everything you have said to do from converting to mp3 and adding tags.

Wallys Modcast
Wallys Modcast
12 years ago

OK ill give it a go. Sorry for the trouble.

Wallys Modcast
Wallys Modcast
12 years ago
Reply to  Wallys Modcast

Ok i figured it out. The link has to be to a .mp3 not just to a url where you can listen. I get it now <—-Noob Thanks daniel, Kepp up the great work. I owe my (now submitted) podcast to you!

Brian M. Collyer
12 years ago

Good post, Great looking site – Thanks
Brian

Brenda Talbot
Brenda Talbot
12 years ago

Thanks for the helpful info, Daniel. Wonder if you can shed light on this problem. Our website has an RSS feed generated by a PHP template, with the iTunes podcast metadata added by FeedBurner. The podcast works great, except the individual episodes don’t show any artwork, just the generic podcast icon. The custom artwork for the podcast as a whole appears in the iTunes Store, and that’s what I’d like to see also with the individual episodes. I don’t want to have to tag each episode by hand, though, since it’s the same artwork for every episode. Any ideas?

Brenda Talbot
Brenda Talbot
12 years ago

Thanks for the quick reply.

trackback

[…] This image shows once you’ve downloaded the podcast episode and will display on media players.Learn more about adding ID3 tags to podcast episodes.Questioning Stitcher’s terms of useGlen Steinson from Stewardship Weekly said thanks for […]

trackback

[…] software.Zune podcast directory actually pulls data from the iTunes tags first. So make sure you properly add ID3 tags!If you need to change anything about your podcast (like the overall cover art) in the Zune podcast […]

Melissa Shanhun
11 years ago

Just wanted to let you know, ID3 Tag It (http://www.id3-tagit.de) can copy and paste tags and is a free option for those on Windows 🙂

Larry Aldrich
11 years ago

Thanks for the ID3 lesson. But how in the world do you type the “proper” copyright symbol in ID3 Editor? [ALT]+0169 and [CTRL]+[ALT]+C do not work, they both give the keyboard error “Ding” sound.

Larry Aldrich
11 years ago
Reply to  Larry Aldrich

Nevermind… [ALT]+0169 does work when you use the number keypad instead of the number row below the function keys.

trackback

[…] Don’t add ID3 tags, because you would tag your MP3 later. […]

obisgirl
10 years ago

I did a quick google search for Mac and found http://kid3.sourceforge.net/ it’s open source 🙂

Operation Cobra Cast
Operation Cobra Cast
10 years ago

Hey, Daniel!

I’ve updated our images, but since we normally post as enhanced .m4a files, I’m still having trouble getting our artwork to show up in iTunes when using the .mp3 format (which we’re using for the summer).

I tried the iTunes option of adding the artwork as well as http://mp3tag.de. And, while it added the artwork to the file on my drive, the artwork isn’t showing up in iTunes. Does it take a while to update or am I still doing something wrong?

Would love your input if you have suggestions. Thanks!

– Rebecca

Operation Cobra Cast
Operation Cobra Cast
10 years ago

The weird thing is that I have already have my 144×144 and 1400×1400 images updated.

I use Feedburner and and have this 144×144 image in the Feed Image Burner tab: comment image

And, I have my 1400×1400 comment image) in the SmartCast podcast image location.

Operation Cobra Cast
Operation Cobra Cast
10 years ago

Your video was so helpful and easy that I got confused when it didn’t work 🙂 I figured it might be a time-related thing. I’ll keep an eye on it.

Thanks for taking a look!

trackback

[…] 3. Use all the potential that already exists for embedding data in the podcast RSS feed.  Yes, there really is quite a lot of meta you can cram into that feed. […]

Gus
Gus
9 years ago

I recommend always setting Genre to “Podcast”. Some devices will not recognise the file as a podcast without doing this, and may not organise the podcasts correctly (treating the files as music).

trackback

[…] people add ID3 tags in iTunes, some in GarageBand, and some podcasters use other software like ID3 Editor ($15) or MP3 […]

trackback

[…] use MP3 Tag (free) to add ID3 tags and my podcast art (I use the same art for every episode). Some people do this in iTunes, […]

trackback

[…] The Audacity To Podcast blog shows the best way to do it. […]

trackback

[…] Tag your file using a tool such as ID3 Editor (Thanks To Audacity for sharing these here) […]

trackback

[…] ID3 tags Episode 52 of The Audacity To Podcast explains this quite […]

trackback

[…] If you’re not sure how you should fill out the metadata template, Daniel J. Lewis at The Audacity to Podcast has some suggestions: […]

trackback

[…] you can look up some tutorials on YouTube. When you’re done editing your audio file, tag your mp3 file and create your cover […]

trackback

[…] If you’re not sure how you should fill out the metadata template, Daniel J. Lewis at The Audacity to Podcast has some suggestions: […]

trackback

[…] ID3 tags tell iTunes and other services what your recording is. This is also where you embed artwork in the audio file. I use MP3tag (free). […]

trackback

[…] Se non sei sicuro di come compilare il modello di metadati, Daniel J. Lewis di The Audacity to Podcast ha alcuni suggerimenti : […]

44
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x
50%
5/5

Enter your name and email address below to learn “7 Ways to Get More Podcast Reviews” FREE!

Almost there!

50%

See what Apple Podcasts and other popular podcast apps search with the Podcast SEO Cheat Sheet!

This form collects information we will use to send you podcasting-related updates with tips, offers, and news. We will not share or sell your personal information. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Almost there!

50%

Before you go! Don’t miss this FREE checklist, “20 things you should do before recording every podcast episode”!

This form collects information we will use to send you podcasting-related updates with tips, offers, and news. We will not share or sell your personal information. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Almost there!