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panadanian
Participant
December 20, 2019
Answered

Losing ID3 tag data in batch file operations

  • December 20, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 1181 views

There is probably a simple answer to this somewhere but apparently I've been the chosen one unable to find it.

 

Is there is any way to perform batch file operations on lossless files without losing the ID3 data of the original files in Audition? Of course I am keeping the "keep metadata" option checked. I am willing to use something other than flac but for whatever reason I can't seem to get the complete metadata to carry over after performing a loundness matching/batch effect process. When I read the results in any tag editor either the results are incomplete or missing entirely. At this point I'd be willing to use anything lossless to lossless capable of 2ch hi-res as long as it keeps the metadata during the described operations. Thanks for your help and I'm sorry if this is answered elsewhere.

Correct answer SteveG_AudioMasters_

I'm afraid you can't do anything like that at all. Audition only deals internally with wav files. Anything else that comes along gets decoded to a wav, and if you want to save it in your original format it gets re-encoded. With anything lossy, like MP3 files you will lose quality - it's inevitable. There are moves afoot in other places to enable metadata to be handled rather better in wav files, but I have no idea when or even if this is going to reach Audition, I'm afraid.

2 replies

J
jim24249601o6hb
Participant
February 16, 2023

the program is unacceptable. They didn't even think to put support in tags. all my FLAC music lost the tags, lyrics and covers. programmers are brainless ???

    SteveG_AudioMasters_
    Community Expert
    SteveG_AudioMasters_Community Expert
    Community Expert
    February 17, 2023

    If you read and understood the implication of my previous reply, you'd realise why this is. Audition, as an audio-only  editor, is clearly not the app for you. That doesn't make it 'unacceptable' though - just inappropriate.

    C
    cipher_nemo
    Participant
    January 25, 2025

    Steve, while I appreciate your perspective, I completely disagree. Audition not being able to preserve metadata is ridiculous in 2025. Even a simple ffmpeg command can convery and keep it. For example (assuming 16-bit flac file):

     

    ffmpeg -i myAudioFile.flac myAudioFile.wav

     

    Audition clearly has an option for metadata and it's not working the way your everday user expects. Worse, Adobe doesn't even offer another solution (unless you'd like to correct me on that), so its users are left going to a competitor.

      SteveG_AudioMasters_
      Community Expert
      SteveG_AudioMasters_Community ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      December 20, 2019

      I'm afraid you can't do anything like that at all. Audition only deals internally with wav files. Anything else that comes along gets decoded to a wav, and if you want to save it in your original format it gets re-encoded. With anything lossy, like MP3 files you will lose quality - it's inevitable. There are moves afoot in other places to enable metadata to be handled rather better in wav files, but I have no idea when or even if this is going to reach Audition, I'm afraid.

      P
      panadanianAuthor
      Participant
      December 22, 2019

      Well that's certainly disapointing. Thanks for your answer though.

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