Description |
Structured data chunk containing descriptive metadata about the file to which it is generally pre-pended, virtually always an MP3_FF (MP3 sound file). Referred to by its creators as an "informal standard" for a "container format," ID3v2 permits the identification of title, artist, date, genre, and more. See Notes for more information.
Sub-versions are not separately described at this Web site at this time. The actual specifications are summarized in the Wikipedia article ID3 (consulted February 2007):
- ID3v2.2: ". . . the first public version of ID3v2. . . . used three character frame identifiers rather than four (TT2 for the title instead of TIT2)."
- ID3v2.3: ". . . expanded the frame identifier to four characters, and added a number of frames. A frame could contain multiple values, separated with a / character."
- ID3v2.4: ". . . the latest version of the standard, dated November 1, 2000. Notably, it allows textual data to be encoded in UTF-8, which was a common practice in earlier tags despite the standard. It uses a null byte to separate multiple values, and so / can appear in text data again."
Addenda to the ID3v2.3 and ID3v2.4 standards have been published:
- The ID3 Chapter (CHAP) and Table of Contents (CTOC) establishes a mechanism for podcasts, talking books, and the like that contain multiple tracks, stories, or other distinct audio entries in a single file, compatible with ID3v2.3 and ID3v2.4 tags. (2005)
- The ID3 Accessibility Addendum makes ID3 metadata accessible to the visually impaired via a new Audiotext (ATXT) frame type, compatible with ID3v2.3 and ID3v2.4 tags. The addition of ATXT frames to an ID3 tag will allow compatible players to provide an audible description of the ID3 metadata. (2006)
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