Basic Tags
The following tags are supported and are written in the standard format that can be read by other software. The information is populated from MusicBrainz data for most releases, without any special Picard settings. Note that some of the information such as ‘lyrics’ is not contained within the MusicBrainz database, and will not be provided automatically.
All of these are also available as variables for use in Picard Scripts (for tagging, for file renaming and in several other more minor settings) by wrapping them between percent ‘%’ symbols (e.g. %title%).
Some tags provide the MusicBrainz Identifier (MBID) of the entity. The MBID is a 32-character identifier assigned to an entity (e.g.: artist, album, track or work) to uniquely identify the entity. For more information about MBIDs, please see the MusicBrainz Identifier page in the MusicBrainz documentation.
Note
Tags will not be created and will not be available as variables if there was no value retrieved for the tag from the MusicBrainz database.
Note
Some of these tags are only supported for certain file types or tag formats. Please see the Picard Tag Mapping section for details.
Tags Provided from MusicBrainz Data
These tags will be provided based on the information from the MusicBrainz database and will be populated automatically by Picard if the information is available.
album
The title of the release.
albumartist
The artists primarily credited on the release, separated by the specified join phrases. These could be either “standardized” or “as credited” depending on whether the “Use standardized artist names” metadata option is enabled.
albumartistsort
The release artists sort names, separated by the specified join phrases. (e.g.: “Beatles, The”)
artist
The track artist names, separated by the specified join phrases. These could be either “standardized” or “as credited” depending on whether the “Use standardized artist names” metadata option is enabled.
artists
A multi-value tag containing the track artist names. These could be either “standardized” or “as credited” depending on whether the “Use standardized artist names” metadata option is enabled. (since Picard 1.3)
artistsort
The track artists sort names, separated by the specified join phrases.
asin
The Amazon Standard Identification Number - the number identifying the item on Amazon.
barcode
The barcode assigned to the release.
catalognumber
A multi-value tag contining the numbers assigned to the release by the labels, which can often be found on the spine or near the barcode. There may be more than one, especially when multiple labels are involved.
comment
The disambiguation comment entered to help distinguish one release from another (e.g.: Deluxe version with 2 bonus tracks). This is not populated by stock Picard. It may be used and populated by certain plugins. Picard stores this information in the _releasecomment variable.
compilation
1 for Various Artist albums, otherwise empty. (since Picard 1.3, compatible with iTunes)1 if multiple track artists (including featured artists), otherwise 0. (Picard 1.2 or previous)
date
The date that the release (album) was issued, in the format YYYY-MM-DD.
discnumber
The number of the disc in the release that contains this track.
discsubtitle
The media title given to a specific disc in the release.
isrc
The International Standard Recording Code - an international standard code for uniquely identifying sound recordings and music video recordings. See Wikipedia for more information. (since Picard 0.12)
label
A multi-value tag containing the names of the labels associated with the release.
media
The media on which the release was distributed (e.g.: CD). See the Release Format page on the MusicBrainz website for more information.
musicbrainz_albumartistid
A multi-value tag containing the MBIDs for the release artists.
musicbrainz_albumid
The MBID for the release.
musicbrainz_artistid
A multi-value tag containing the MBIDs for the track artists.
musicbrainz_discid
The Disc ID is the code number which MusicBrainz uses to link a physical CD to a release listing. This is based on the table of contents (TOC) information read from the disc. This tag contains the Disc ID if the album information was retrieved using . (since Picard 0.12)
musicbrainz_originalalbumid
The MBID for the original release. This is only available if the release has been merged with another release.
musicbrainz_originalartistid
A multi-value tag containing the MBIDs for the track artists of the original recording. This is only available if the recording has been merged with another recording.
musicbrainz_recordingid
The MBID for the recording.
musicbrainz_releasegroupid
The MBID for the release group.
musicbrainz_trackid
The MBID for the track.
originaldate
The original release date in the format YYYY-MM-DD. By default this is set to the earliest release in the release group. This can provide, for example, the release date of the vinyl version of what you have on CD. (Included as standard from Picard 0.15, and using the Original Release Date plugin if you are still using a non-NGS version earlier than Picard 0.15)
Note
This is the same information provided in the
_releasegroup_firstreleasedatevariable, and is consistent across all tracks in the release. If you prefer to have this tag populated with the date of the earliest recording of the track in the database, which will likely be different for each track in the release, this can be achieved by enabling a one-line tagging script as$set(originaldate,%_recording_firstreleasedate%). Be aware that setting this can cause a release to be scattered across multiple directories if you use%originaldate%as part of the path portion of your file naming script.Note
If you are storing tags in MP3 files as ID3v2.3 then the original date can only be stored as a year.
originalyear
The year of the original release date in the format YYYY. By default this is set to the earliest release in the release group. This can provide, for example, the release year of the vinyl version of what you have on CD.
releasecountry
The two-character code for the country in which the release was issued. If more than one release country was specified, this tag will contain the first one in the list.
releasestatus
An indicator of the “official” status of the release. Possible values include official, promotional, bootleg, and pseudo-release.
releasetype
A multi-value tag containing the types of release assigned to the release group. See also _primaryreleasetype and _secondaryreleasetype.
script
The script used to write the release’s track list. The possible values are taken from the ISO 15924 standard. (since Picard 0.10)
title
The title of the track.
totaldiscs
The total number of discs in this release.
totaltracks
The total number of tracks on this disc.
tracknumber
The number of the track on the disc.
website
The official website for the artist.
Tags Not Provided from MusicBrainz Data
These tags are not able to be populated by stock Picard, however they may be used and populated by certain plugins or scripts.
acoustid_fingerprint
The Acoustic Fingerprint for the track. The fingerprint is based on the audio information found in a file, and is calculated using the Chromaprint software.
acoustid_id
The AcoustID associated with the track. The AcoustID is the identifier assigned to an audio file based on its acoustic fingerprint. Multiple fingerprints may be assigned the same AcoustID if the fingerprints are similar enough. See the section on Understanding Acoustic Fingerprinting and AcoustIDs for more information.
albumsort
The sort name of the title of the release.
bpm
The number of beats per minute of the track.
copyright
The copyright message for the copyright holder of the original sound, beginning with a year and a space character.
encodedby
The person or organization that encoded the track.
encodersettings
The settings used when encoding the track.
key
The key of the music.
lyrics
The lyrics for the track.
musicip_fingerprint
The MusicIP Fingerprint for the track.
musicip_puid
The MusicIP PUIDs associated with the track.
originalalbum
The release title of the earliest release in the release group intended for the title of the original recording.
originalartist
The track artist of the earliest release in the release group intended for the performers of the original recording.
originalfilename
The original name of the audio file.
releasedate
Explicit tag for the release date (since Picard 2.9). This tag exists for specific use in scripts and plugins, but is not filled by default. In most cases it is recommended to use the
datetag instead for compatibility with existing software.
showmovement
The work and movement of the track.
subtitle
This is used for information directly related to the contents title.
titlesort
The sort name of the track title.
iTunes-Specific Tags
These tags are only available in iTunes files and are not able to be populated by stock Picard, however they may be used and populated by certain plugins or scripts.
gapless
Indicates whether or not there are gaps between the recordings on the release.
podcast
Indicates whether or not the recording is a podcast.
podcasturl
The associated url if the recording is a podcast.
show
The name of the show if the recording is associated with a television program.
showsort
The sort name of the show if the recording is associated with a television program.