Audacity Forum

Is the track title really being embedded in the wave file?

Audacity 1.2.6 > No, metadata is not stored in WAV files

Audacity 1.3.11 > Yes, if you enter metadata for a WAV file then it is written into the WAV header block, but not many applications are able to read it. For best compatibility with other programs, WAV files should not have metadata, though it rarely causes any problems.

It would be a nice feature if I had an mp3 encoder that could read the metadata in the wave header and automatically put it in the mp3 header.

My mixed feelings about this stem from the knowledge that it is easier to write applications that only handle the header which some call canonical on the one hand, but on the other that the wave format is based in the riff format which is designed to be extensible. It's not difficult to write programs that skip over chunks that are not expected or understood by the program.

Still, obviously the point it that we want a way to disable metadata when exporting wave files without disabling the option for mp3 and flac files.

I believe that Metadata support for WAV files was added because of popular demand.

Ctrl+N wrote:It would be a nice feature if I had an mp3 encoder that could read the metadata in the wave header and automatically put it in the mp3 header

Have you tried WinAmp? I don't know if it will do that or not, but it has pretty comprehensive support for metadata.

I mean the mp3 ID tag to be filled with the wave header metadata without user intervention. An encoder like a lame frontend that uses the list data directly. I don't have winamp on this computer and I use 1.2 on the other computer. But I am talking about an encoder, not a player.

WinAmp can convert from WAV to MP3 (and other format conversions). I use it for ripping CDs when I want track data from Gracenote and it writes it directly into the id data and converts to FLAC with one simple button press.