🎵 MP3 Tag Reader (ID3)
Drop an .mp3 to read its ID3 tags (title, artist, album, genre…) and audio details like bitrate, sample rate and length — all locally.
Drop an MP3 to read its ID3 tags (title, artist, album, year, genre, track and more) and its MPEG audio details — bitrate, sample rate, channel mode and duration — parsed from the file’s ID3v2/ID3v1 and MPEG frame headers. Everything is read in your browser, so the file is never uploaded. It reads tags, it doesn’t change them. 🔒 100% client-side.
How the mp3 tag reader (id3) works
An MP3's metadata lives in ID3 tags. The tool reads the ID3v2 tag at the start of the file (versions 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4) — decoding each text frame in its declared character set, whether Latin-1, UTF-16 or UTF-8 — and falls back to the older 128-byte ID3v1 tag at the end of the file if there's no ID3v2. It resolves numeric genre codes (like "(17)") to their names, notes whether cover art is embedded, and then reads the first MPEG audio frame header to report the MPEG version, layer, bitrate, sample rate and channel mode. If the file has a Xing/Info VBR header it uses the frame count for an exact duration; otherwise it estimates from the constant bitrate.
Useful for checking exactly how a track is tagged before importing it into a library, spotting missing or mojibake (wrongly-encoded) fields, or confirming a file's real bitrate and sample rate. It reads MP3 (MPEG-1/2 Layer III) tags and headers; it doesn't read tags in other formats like FLAC (Vorbis comments) or M4A/AAC (MP4 atoms), which store metadata differently. This is a reader, not an editor — it shows the tags without changing them — and everything is parsed on your device, so the file is never uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
How do I see an MP3's title, artist and album?
Drop the .mp3 in and the tool reads its ID3 tags, listing the title, artist, album, year, genre, track number and any other text frames it finds. Copy them or just check they're correct before importing the file.
What is the difference between ID3v1 and ID3v2?
ID3v1 is an old, fixed 128-byte block at the end of the file with room for only short title/artist/album/year/comment/genre fields. ID3v2 sits at the start, is extensible, supports long Unicode text and cover art, and is what modern software writes. This tool reads both, preferring ID3v2.
Can it tell me an MP3's bitrate and sample rate?
Yes — it parses the first MPEG audio frame header to report the MPEG version, layer, bitrate, sample rate and channel mode, and computes the duration (using the Xing/Info VBR header when present for an exact figure).
Why do some tags show garbled characters elsewhere but not here?
Because ID3 text can be stored in several character encodings (Latin-1, UTF-16, UTF-8) and some players guess wrong. This reader decodes each frame using the encoding byte the tag declares, so accented and non-Latin text shows correctly.
Does it read FLAC, M4A or WAV tags?
No — those use different metadata systems (Vorbis comments, MP4 atoms, RIFF chunks). This tool is specifically for MP3/ID3. For WAV and AIFF, use the WAV/AIFF Inspector instead.
Is my MP3 uploaded?
No — the tags and headers are parsed entirely in your browser and nothing is transmitted, so your music stays on your device. It works offline too.
Related audio tools
From the blog
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FLAC vs MP3 vs WAV: Three Formats, Three Ways to Store Tags
FLAC, MP3 and WAV all hold audio, but each stores its title/artist metadata differently — Vorbis comments, ID3, and RIFF chunks. Here's how each works, how to tell if a FLAC is really hi-res, and how to inspect any of them in your browser.
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ID3 Tags Explained: How MP3 Metadata Actually Works
The title, artist and album shown for an MP3 come from ID3 tags embedded in the file. Here's how ID3v1 and ID3v2 differ, why tags sometimes show garbled text, and how to read any MP3's tags and bitrate in your browser.