MP3 , ID3V2 & Pictures, For newbies and not so... Options

[Megaman]

Lately I've been downloading MP3s with cover art embedded in the ID3V2 tags.From my point of view that's very nice but sometimes (more than I'd wish) I find that the cover pictures are nothing less than BMP files.

Embedding a BMP into an MP3 file is a capital crime.It's like using a Ferrari to transport cows.Not only because of the huge size of the BMPs (usually above 300k) but because when you add a BMP with some taggers , the size of the tag is sometimes bloated way beyond the size of the BMP.For example you have a 4,000kB MP3 and you happily add a 300kB BMP to the ID3V2 tag.The new size of your MP3 might not be 4,300kB as one would think.It might be about 4,900kB , maybe more.
Anyone with an IQ over 20 would add a JPG or a GIF image instead , depending on the type of cover art and the quality desired.Mostly JPG for maximum compression , no one would expect to print a huge poster from a little picture inside a tag , right?.

Lets say you're a tag freak and want a 400x400 pixels , 16 million color image inside your fancy , CD-Quality 128kbps Xing MP3s .If you choose BMP , it'll be nothing less than 470kB.That plus the previously commented bloating factor introduced by some nasty taggers might increase the size of your original MP3 in as much as 1MB or more.That's crazy , it's about 1 minute of audio at the so called internet standard bitrate.

On the other hand if you choose to embed the same image but compressed in the JPG format , I guarantee that it will not be greater than 70kB (usually around 25kB-50kB depending on the complexity of the image) even if you choose high-quality/low compression in your image editor.Plus there is no such bloating factor when adding JPGs with a decent tagger...so you'll add only 70kB in the worst case (again , usually around 25kB-50kB for 400x400 high quality images) to the size of your original MP3.

If you plan to add pictures (and maybe lyrics) to your tunes , I'd recommend Helium2 (http://www.helium2.com) , IMNSHO the best tagger around by far (and much more than just a tagger).

You can also use other software for this , like *cough* MusicMatch Jukebox (since v6.1).


Remember: BMP -> BAD!!!!!

JPG -> Good! (specially for photographic images and ok in most cases)

GIF -> Acceptable (specially for non-photographic images , but beware the size!)


I missed the [sarcastic] tags again.Not to mention my english class...