Wav file doesn't show 'Artistname'

[Norb]

Hi, I have thousands of mp3 files on my Android phone (Samsung A52) that work fine with Poweramp. Now I want to turn most of these into wav files (which I have on a NAS). This works almost fine, except for 1 problem: the artist name in the wav file is not seen, so all wav files appear as 'unknown artist', which is not useful with searches etc. I've tested other players (sorry ;-) ) but it's the same there. So I guess it's up to Android. To be clear, this is not the case with MP3s. Please your comment!

[dvhttn]

24 minutes ago, Norb said:

 So I guess it's up to Android.
To be clear, this is not the case with MP3s.

 

To be honest I'd be looking at how you converted the files as a first step!

[andrewilley]

Yes, sounds like your converter software is not copying the correct tag data to your WAV files. They are not part of the official WAV spec anyway, which is very basic - although some people have bolted tags onto it.

However, converting lossy MP3 files to uncompressed WAV format makes no sense whatsoever, why are you trying to do it at all? I could understand re-ripping high quality source material directly to WAV (although I'd suggest using FLAC not WAV) but any information lost by the compression process to make the MP3s in the first place won't be restored just by making the file 10 times bigger as a WAV. 

Andre

[MotleyG]

2 hours ago, Norb said:

Hi, I have thousands of mp3 files on my Android phone (Samsung A52) that work fine with Poweramp. Now I want to turn most of these into wav files (which I have on a NAS). This works almost fine, except for 1 problem: the artist name in the wav file is not seen, so all wav files appear as 'unknown artist', which is not useful with searches etc. I've tested other players (sorry 😉 ) but it's the same there. So I guess it's up to Android. To be clear, this is not the case with MP3s. Please your comment!

The .wav format doesn’t have the same level of support for metadata tagging as most other formats. If you want lossless, use FLAC or ALAC. They will show all you need.

[Norb]

@dvhttn

Thanks for your replays!
Years ago I ripped my CD collection to wav using Windows Media Player. The CDs have been sold.
On my W10 PC I see the artist name, as well as on my old streaming device (Logitech Squeezebox)

[Norb]

@andrewilley Just to be clear, I'm (obviously) not going from mp3 to wav.
The mp3s are converted from wav files on my NAS. 

Years ago I ripped my CD collection to wav using Windows Media Player. The CDs have been sold.
On my W10 PC I see the artist name, as well as on my old streaming device (Logitech Squeezebox)

[maxmp]

@Norb please share one of such tracks (preferable via Poweramp, long pressing any track / Send / Gmail / gpmaxmpz@gmail.com

Thanks!

[Norb]

@maxmp  Unfortunately this is not possible due to the file size. Can it be done via Wetransfer??

[andrewilley]

You can upload to any file sharing site (temporarily) if you like. Dropbox, etc.

Andre

[Norb]

@maxmp I’ve send you 2 files by Wetransfer.

 

please your comment?

[Norb]

@maxmp Do you already know more about the files/artist name??

Thank you in advance!

[andrewilley]

As I said earlier, if you'd like to share a couple of sample files via a file sharing site, I could have a look at them too in the meantime (obviously I don't have access to Max's email). Tagging was kind of bolted on to WAV ad hoc, it was never part of the original spec, but still it does usually work.

To be honest though, years-old WAV files ripped via a long-obsolete version of WMP are really not ideal for playing on a phone - or indeed playing on anything much at all these days, it is more of an editing format. I would strongly suggest you at the very least batch-convert them to lossless FLACs, where the Vorbis tagging format is more robust.

Andre

[maxmp]

@Norb sorry for the delay, will check those files asap.

[Norb]

@andrewilley Hi Andre, I don't have the original CDs anymore, so I have to make do with these.
Playback is also excellent, it is purely about being able to sort and manage all those wav files. Can you give me an email address and I'll send you some files via Wetransfer?

[andrewilley]

@Norb Just DM me the link.

Quality-wise, there is no difference between WAV and FLAC. FLAC is a completely lossless compression system. However FLACs are significantly smaller, and unlike WAVs they support a versatile and fully specified tagging system (Vorbis).

There are batch systems that can convert folders and subfolders easily - something like foobar2000 on a computer can do it in a few clicks, and then just leave it to get on with it. It will try to copy over any tag data that does recognise too.

Give it a try on one folder which contains files that are causing you problems and see how it works out. For foobar2000:

• Drag a folder onto its icon.
• All discovered audio content will be selected (or you can manually choose files) so right-click and choose Convert > ...
• Set the 'Output' Format to FLAC (default options should be fine).
• The 'Other' link can be used to tell it what metadata/etc you also want copied. You can also specify destination details if you don't want to use the same folder(s) as the source files.
• Press Convert.

It will remember all your choices as [Last Used], making it even easier to repeat the process next time.

Andre