Hi

I'm just getting into Flacs and would like to do this properly before wasting time on the wrong system.

I'm using Foobar and/ or 'Tag/ Tag Frontend' to tag some Flac files. How do I know if they are adding the tags as Flac tags (correct), or ID3 tags (possible future compatibility problems)?

Is there any easy way to tell?
I'm looking to do this correctly with as wide a compatibility as future proofing as possible.

And is there any standard way to format them, or link to a page explaining further?



Many thanks

Jeff

Both foobar2000 (right-click file, properties, section "General", "Tag Type") and the output of tag.exe can tell you:


.sundance.

Personally, I've never seen an editor that *can* add ID3 to FLAC files... I've seen tag editing programs that can *read* ID3 from FLAC files, but that's not needed for "official" FLAC support.

There is no thing like Flac tags, Flac uses Vorbis comments. So I'm sure both Foobar and Tag enter tags as Vorbis comments into the Flac files.
For Foobar to write tags into Flac files, you must have metaflac.exe. So you can check (from the command line) metaflac --list File.flac and it will display information regarding the flac file, and you can see if Foobar or Tag really wrote Vorbis comments, as I'm sure they do.

Not true. Foobar can write these tags out of the box.

I hear FLAC tags are not 100% identical to Vorbis comments.... Anyway, "FLAC tags" is a neat way of saying "dialect of Vorbis comments used for FLAC files", so let them be, I say.

Strictly speaking, "FLAC tags" are a superset of Vorbis comments. Stuff like the seektable, cue sheet or pictures are stored in the FLAC metadata blocks, but not in the Vorbis comments (which are limited to text). So while FLAC tags can hold any sort of Vorbis comment, Vorbis comments can't hold everything the FLAC tags can.

I wouldn't call those metadata blocks "FLAC tags", though.

Thanks Sundance.
My version of Foobar (v0.9.5 beta6) doesn't mention 'Tag' in the properties, and the only time it mentions FLAC is as... 'Codec: Flac'

If I tag with 'Tag Frontend', Foobar or 'Tag&Rename' - will these all automatically use Flac Tags as there is no option to select?

I tried the command line thing with 'metaflac --list x.flac' but it just spewed out endless numbers, reading all the audio as well.

I seem to be able to embed album art with Tag&Rename. Is there any reason why I shouldn't add it? - I'm looking for ultra compatibility and long lasting durability.

Many thanks

Jeff

metaflac --list --block-type=VORBIS_COMMENT x.flac

If this shows changes made from your tagging programs, then native FLAC tags are being read/written.

Hi Kjoonlee

Excellent, thanks for that.
Yes my tags all showed up.

Cute cat pic btw

Happy Christmas

Jeff