Use ID3 tags for your podcast with ffmpeg

If you are a podcaster or you regularly edit and publish a podcast, you may know that ID3 tags provide metadata for any MP3 file. Some of the podcast portals expect to extract data from your ID3 tags. Now there are some apps available, that help you with setting ID3 tags, but I regular found it tedious to use one extra app to manage them.

Using ffmpeg to set tags

Fortunately, with ffmpeg you have a free and easy solution, because it can not only transform your audio, but set and remove your ID3 tags as well. On mac you can install ffmpeg using homebrew. Then you write ID3 tags like this:

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -metadata title="My Podcast Episode" -c copy output.mp3

Please note, that ffmpeg always creates a new file (which turns out to be convenient, if you use it excessively). There are a lot of tags you can use, you can even insert the cover of the podcast episode into the MP3 file:

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -i cover.jpg \
  -metadata title="Episode Title" \
  -metadata artist="Podcast Name" \
  -map 0:0 -map 1:0 \
  -c:a copy -c:v copy \
  -id3v2_version 3 \
  -metadata:s:v title="Album cover" \
  -metadata:s:v comment="Cover (front)" \
  output.mp3

You can remove the tags with:

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -map_metadata -1 -c copy output.mp3

Tag your podcast episode

If you want to tag your episode, there is a lot of metadata you can use. Here is my complete podcast episode example:

ffmpeg -i raw_episode.mp3 -i podcast_cover.jpg \
  -metadata title="EP001: Getting Started with Audio" \
  -metadata artist="Audio Masters Podcast" \
  -metadata album="Season 1: Basics" \
  -metadata albumartist="Audio Masters Network" \
  -metadata date="2024-08-02" \
  -metadata genre="Education" \
  -metadata track="1" \
  -metadata comment="Audio editing and processing" \
  -metadata description="A beginner's guide to audio production" \
  -map 0:0 -map 1:0 \
  -c:a copy -c:v copy \
  -id3v2_version 3 \
  EP001_final.mp3

Have fun! May it help you :)