As for most digital photo formats, it is also possible for most audio formats to store some additional data on the binary file. This data contains information on the artist, the album, the genre, the encoding itself, and some more information.
The ID3 tag is the metadata format for MP3. ID3 stands for Identify an MP3. Before it was introduced, the only chance of storing metadata was in the filename, which tended to get very long. The ID3v1tag is capable of storing this information:
Offset |
Length |
Description |
---|---|---|
0 |
3 |
"TAG" Identifier |
3 |
30 |
Song title |
33 |
30 |
Artist |
63 |
30 |
Album |
93 |
4 |
A four-digit year |
97 |
30 |
Comment |
127 |
1 |
Genre |
There have been some revisions in the format. Nowadays, ID3v2 tags are commonly used. The ID3v2 tag is a complete rewrite of the original ID3 tag implementation. The format is capable of storing icons of the cover art, supports character encoding, and the stored information is not limited to a few characters...