Metadatics Help Guides and reference for audio metadata editing on macOS
Help topics Version History

Version History

Every release of Metadatics, from the initial 1.0 launch onward.

Version 1.6.15 — March 31, 2026

  • Removed the Google Images artwork source — Google had become unreliable due to reCAPTCHA.
  • Online album artwork search now defaults to iTunes and supports region selection via a new dropdown.
  • Added Discogs online artwork search results.
  • Added an album artwork preview window activated by pressing space.
  • Improved the toolbar search — better appearance and more reliable search results.
  • Minimum macOS version is now Big Sur (11).
  • More consistent behavior when editing text fields throughout the app.

Version 1.6.14 — September 4, 2025

  • Minor internal improvements.

Version 1.6.13 — August 21, 2025

  • Fixed an issue where renaming a file could leave Metadatics pointing at a bad file path if the rename failed.
  • Fixed the Movement Name column to show the correct values.
  • Fixed text colors so they remain correct when a row is highlighted.
  • Metadatics no longer writes malformed artwork tags when an image's format can't be determined.
  • Compatibility updates for the latest macOS.

Version 1.6.12 — July 21, 2024

  • Improved detection of OGG Opus files so they are recognized and tagged correctly.

Version 1.6.11 — December 11, 2023

  • Fixed a crash on macOS 10.13 caused by a HexFiend framework deployment-target mismatch.
  • Replaced the title-case library for more accurate capitalization results.

Version 1.6.10 — December 4, 2023

  • Fixed a crash that could occur when the Text Manipulation function processed certain strings containing consecutive spaces.
  • Fixed a bug where the entire main window could become hidden when the app was deactivated (the progress panel's hide-on-deactivate was affecting the whole window).
  • Stopped split-view resize handlers from firing during window restoration, preventing a subtle layout glitch at launch.

Version 1.6.9 — December 10, 2022

  • Rebuilt for the latest macOS.

Version 1.6.8 — July 15, 2022

  • Restored Google Image album artwork search after Google began redirecting to a cookie-consent page. The image helper no longer sends cookies.

Version 1.6.7 — June 21, 2022

  • Now shipped as a universal binary for better performance on Apple Silicon Macs.

Version 1.6.6 — July 12, 2021

  • Fix issue with album artwork search results.

Version 1.6.5 — January 9, 2021

  • Updated for Big Sur and Apple Silicon.
  • Added support for writing tags to OGG Opus files.

Version 1.6.3 — June 23, 2020

  • Fix a possible issue where the wrong global frame size could be written to WAV files.

Version 1.6.2 — February 7, 2020

  • Fix a possible crashing issue introduced in the last update.

Version 1.6.1 — February 5, 2020

  • Fix a possible crashing issue in the Text Manipulation function.
  • Fix an issue with pasting artwork.
  • Fix a possible crashing issue with certain Google image search results.

Version 1.6 — January 12, 2020

  • Add support for dark mode.
  • Add support for iTunes' new Movement/Work tags.
  • Allow "0" to be used in the batch album artwork width or height field to dynamically calculate the size.
  • Performance improvements when adding a large amount of files at once.
  • Updated Google Images album artwork search.
  • Fixed an issue with sorting track numbers after getting tags from MusicBrainz.
  • Fixed a possible data corruption issue when saving after every change is enabled.
  • Fixed a possible crashing issue when the window size launches too small.
  • Several other small bug fixes.

Version 1.5.7 — May 1, 2016

  • Fixed a possible issue when performing certain album artwork searches.

Version 1.5.5.1 — February 16, 2016

  • Trim whitespace around the entered license code and license name (non-App Store only).

Version 1.5.6 — April 25, 2016

  • Updated Google Images Search.

Version 1.5.5 — February 3, 2016

  • Fixed an issue where you would be unable to save files after renaming them.
  • Fixed an issue where text could be cleared from a text cell when opening a function window.
  • Metadatics should now be back in the Open With contextual menu.

Version 1.5.4 — January 30, 2016

  • Added composer and composer sort to MusicBrainz function.
  • Fixed an issue with Google Image Search.
  • Better support for reading AIFF files with multiple ID3 tags.
  • Keeps the selection when exporting album artwork.
  • Added a preference to preserve modification dates.
  • Fixed a possible sandboxing issue when renaming files.
  • Better support for reading invalid RIFF tags.
  • Disc and Track number two-digit padding are now two separate options in the Rename Files and File Name To Tags functions.
  • Fixed a possible crashing issue when trying to navigate to a column that is not editable.
  • Fixed an issue with saving .m4v files.
  • Improvements to the Convert To Title Case function.

Version 1.5.3 — February 28, 2015

  • Added an option to prefer square images when searching for artwork online.
  • Added the ability to customize MP4 tag mappings in the preferences.
  • Copy All Tags now copies artwork as well.
  • Pressing return when editing in the table view now moves you to the next row.
  • Added a Date Created field.
  • When adding artwork, defaults to the folder that contains the selected files.
  • Added a preference to clear the files when adding new files.
  • Fixed an issue where a '2' would occasionally be added when renaming a file.
  • Fixed a possible issue with retrieving artwork from Google.

Version 1.5.2 — January 30, 2015

  • Fixed a problem with resetting the Number Sequence function when encountering new tags.
  • Changes made in a text field are no longer lost when pressing the Add Tag button.
  • Hidden files are now skipped when adding directories.
  • Fixed a possible issue when attempting to edit an album artwork's description.

Version 1.5.1 — December 16, 2014

  • Fixed an issue where a WAV file's size might not be updated correctly.
  • Fixed an issue when batch resizing artwork on files with multiple artworks.
  • Fixed an issue with multi-disc results in the MusicBrainz function.
  • Fixed a possible issue with the Rename Files function.
  • Fixed a problem where tag types that do not really exist in the file might be shown in the info tab.
  • Fixed a possible issue with reading ID3v2 comment frames.

Version 1.5 — November 28, 2014

New Features

  • Add support for DSD/DSF files.
  • Added ability to rename files from the File Name column in the main table view.
  • Added the ability to set the ID3 version for AIFF files.
  • Allow files with .m4v extension.
  • A warning is now given when a file could not be found when attempting to save.

User Interface Updates

  • New icon.
  • Added toolbar icons for all functions as well as keyboard shortcuts.
  • Added a column that shows if a file has artwork or not.
  • Album artwork can be dragged from Metadatics to the Finder.
  • Path to the currently selected file is shown at the bottom.
  • Moved the All Tags add/remove/edit icons to the bottom toolbar.
  • Shows how many selected files have artwork and how many unique artworks are selected.
  • Podcast tag is now a checkbox in the All Tags column.

Function Updates

  • Added a Batch Resize Artworks function.
  • Number Sequence function can set when to increment or reset the sequence.
  • Added Sentence Case to the Text Manipulation function.
  • More information is pulled from the MusicBrainz function.
  • More file information is exported when exporting to a CSV file.
  • Added more file info format specifiers to functions.
  • Batch album artwork function alerts you how many album artwork files were extracted.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where raw data tags were not written to MP4 files.
  • Fixed an issue where unsupported images could be added as artwork.
  • WAV INFO chunks are now forced to the end of the file for better compatibility.
  • Extracting artwork now defaults to the audio file's location.
  • A warning is now given when a file could not be found when attempting to save.

Version 1.4.5 — July 18, 2014

  • Fixed an issue where some files might be misinterpreted as read-only.

Version 1.4.4 — July 6, 2014

  • Fixed a possible crashing issue when clearing files.
  • Fixed an issue where a track might not register as needing to be saved.
  • Fixed an issue where an entered value might be lost when adding album artwork.
  • Fixed a possible issue reading certain FLAC files.
  • Fixed a possible issue with saving Part Of A Compilation to MP4 files.

Version 1.4.3 — February 9, 2014

  • Fixed retrieving album artwork from MusicBrainz.
  • Fixed a possible issue with reading MP4 tags.
  • Fixed a possible issue when using the Title Case function.
  • Fixed an issue where the program may hang when exporting an XML file.
  • Fixed a bug where the file rename function would add unnecessary numbers to the end of the file name if the filename was not changing.
  • Fixed a possible crashing issue when searching for tracks on MusicBrainz.
  • Added the ability to select multiple tracks when arranging in the MusicBrainz results window.

Version 1.4.2 — December 2, 2013

  • Fixed Google Images search.
  • Added support for .alac files.

Version 1.4.1 — November 13, 2013

  • Fixed an issue with reading some Vorbis comments tags.
  • Window can be resized much smaller, fixing a display issue on some devices.
  • Enabled full-screen mode.
  • Improved error handling with read-only files.
  • Improved error handling when using functions.
  • Other minor bug fixes.

Version 1.4 — October 30, 2013

  • Added support for reading and writing WAV INFO Chunks.
  • Added the option to move files in the Rename Files function.
  • Added the ability to extract album artwork to the source file's location.
  • Added a tag mappings window that shows current tag mappings for each tag type.
  • Added options to the Rename Files function to remove illegal NTFS characters and/or illegal SMB characters.
  • Now reads info from Apple Loops.
  • Improved reading of some MP4 tags.
  • Metadatics now appears in the Finder's Open With menu for audio files.
  • Fixed a display issue that sometimes occurred when resizing the window.
  • Fixed an issue where the display would not update after importing metadata from a file.
  • Fixed an issue where forward slashes in tags would be replaced by colons when performing some functions.
  • Fixed an issue where MusicBrainz would crash if the search query contained certain characters.
  • Fixed an issue where you might not have permissions to save a file after performing the Rename Files function.
  • Fixed an issue with pasting artwork copied from Safari.
  • Fixed sorting of fields with numbers to sort in natural numeric order.
  • Other minor bug fixes.

Version 1.3.1 — July 28, 2013

  • Fixed a bug with the MusicBrainz function.
  • Fixed an issue with searching by filename.

Version 1.3 — July 22, 2013

  • Added a Replace Text function to Text Manipulation with regular expression support.
  • Added regular expression support to the File Name To Tags function.
  • Added support for importing and exporting to CSV files.
  • Added the option to keep function windows open after applying.
  • Added a preference to search the containing folder for artwork image files.
  • Added Comments column to the main table view.
  • Added Quick Look support.
  • Added DATE internal key.
  • Added the ability to select more than one tag in the All Tags panel.
  • Added the ability to copy only selected tags in the All Tags panel.
  • Expanded ability to paste tags: paste and replace existing tags, paste and add to existing tags, or paste and replace all tags.
  • Added Search function to the Edit menu.
  • Added Google Images and Discogs to the online album artwork search function.
  • Rename Files function now always generates unique file names, preventing accidentally overwriting files.
  • Return key now creates a new line in the comments field.
  • Added support for previewing when a function changes the album artwork.
  • Improved undo and redo capabilities.
  • Improved handling of certain invalid FLAC files.
  • Fixed an issue with reading and writing M4B audio books.
  • Fixed an issue where the Part of a Compilation check-box would not properly update.
  • Fixed an issue where changing selected files would sometimes not commit changes.
  • Fixed tabbing between fields in the function windows.
  • Added and changed some key commands.

Version 1.2 — March 1, 2013

  • Added support for writing ID3v2.3 tags to MP3s.
  • Added support for selecting string encodings for ID3v2 tags.
  • Added a Sorting tab to the metadata editor.
  • Added the ability to paste album artwork from image data or image URL on the clipboard.
  • Added the ability to resize and convert album artwork.
  • Added Quick Look support to the Online Album Cover Search window.
  • Added an option to skip leading zeros in the File Name To Tags function.
  • Added an option to ignore Roman numerals when changing capitalization.
  • The Album Artwork Panel now displays image data size and image type.
  • Added Revert To Saved in the right-click menu.
  • User is now alerted of invalid files.
  • ID3v2 comment language is now set to English, allowing iTunes to read it.
  • Changed wording on Copy Selected Tags to Copy Selected File's Tags.
  • Improved MusicBrainz title results.
  • Files are now released from Apple's quarantine after being saved.
  • Fixed: spelling mistake in one of the context menus.
  • Fixed: possible issue reading iTunes RATING tags.
  • Fixed: Lyrics panel wouldn't always apply the lyrics to the selected files.
  • Fixed: sorting in the MusicBrainz query window would produce wrong results in the results window.
  • Fixed: album artwork resolution might not always be displayed properly.
  • Fixed: Track Total and Disc Total check-boxes were not connected in the View Options window.
  • Fixed: General tab text boxes were 2px too far to the right.
  • Fixed: Save files dialog now shows the number of files actually being saved.
  • Fixed: tag types in the Info tab are now updated after saving a file.
  • Fixed: Save button is now disabled in preview mode.
  • Fixed: the Adding Files progress bar is now displayed when files are dragged to the icon.

Version 1.1.1 — January 16, 2013

  • Fixed a bug introduced in 1.1 where using the minus button to remove a tag could crash the program.
  • Fixed a possible crashing issue with the title case function.
  • Fixed an issue where a forward slash in metadata would create unwanted folders when renaming files.
  • Fixed an issue where the itunNORM tag was not written to MP4 files properly.
  • BPM is now handled as a string instead of a number, allowing for non-numerical values.
  • Album artwork of unknown type is now read from MP4 atoms.

Version 1.1 — January 8, 2013

  • Added a search bar.
  • Added a function to fix character encodings.
  • Added a View Options window to select which columns to show/hide.
  • Added an Album Artwork menu to the main menu.
  • Added Disc Total and Track Total as optional columns.
  • Added Reveal In Finder to the File menu.
  • Added keyboard shortcuts to switch between the metadata tabs.
  • Added a menu item and keyboard shortcut to remove selected files.
  • Album Artist Sort Order and Composer Sort Order are now recognized in ID3v2 tags.
  • Auto-sizing columns now takes into account the column header title.
  • Toolbar configuration is now saved between launches.
  • Fixed an issue where Album Title was disabled in the Rename Files function window.
  • Fixed an issue where changing Apply To in some function windows did not always update the display.
  • Fixed an issue where changes to a field would be lost if not committed before pressing Save.
  • Fixed an issue where removing a tag with multiple values could not be undone.
  • Fixed a possible crashing issue when removing artworks.
  • Improved handling of corrupt ID3v2 tags.
  • Added high-resolution icons.

Version 1.0 — November 19, 2012

  • Initial release.