Metadata Editing
Read and write metadata across every major industry-standard format from one place.
Video: Tagging Audio Files in ShadowTag — a hands-on tagging walkthrough, including UCS auto-detection and Paste Attributes.
Supported Formats
ShadowTag reads and writes the following metadata standards:
| Format | Used in | File types |
|---|---|---|
| Tags | DAWs, music players, streaming | All (ID3v2 for MP3/WAV/AIFF; RIFF INFO for WAV; Vorbis Comments for FLAC/OGG; MP4 atoms for M4A; Matroska tags for MKV/MKA/WebM) |
| BEXT | Broadcast audio, post-production | WAV (binary chunk); FLAC (APPLICATION metadata block) |
| iXML | Field recording, film & TV production | WAV (binary chunk); FLAC (APPLICATION metadata block) |
| XMP | Adobe ecosystem, DAM systems | WAV, AIFF, MP3, M4A (embedded) |
| UCS | Sound effects libraries, sync licensing | ID3 TXXX tags; iXML <USER> fields |
Large WAV files written in the RF64 and BW64 extensions are read and tagged like any other WAV, so recordings past the 4 GB limit of the original format are handled normally.
CAF, Wave64, AU, MPEG-TS and MXF files play normally but can't store tags. Their Tags and UCS tabs show what the file holds without accepting edits, and a line at the top of the panel says why. Finder tags and colors still apply to them.
The Metadata Panel
Select one or more files to view and edit their metadata in the Metadata panel on the right. When multiple files are selected, fields show a shared value if all files agree, or appear blank if values differ. Editing a blank field while multiple files are selected writes the same value to all selected files.
Tag, BEXT, iXML, and UCS fields can also be displayed as columns in the file list — use View > Organize Columns to choose which fields appear.
Toggle the Metadata panel with ⌘3.
Tabs
The Metadata panel is organized into tabs. View > Metadata Section (⌥⌘1–⌥⌘7) jumps to one. Tabs that don't apply to the selected files are hidden. The tabs are:
- File — Read-only file properties: format, sample rate, bit depth, duration, size, file path and enclosing folder. The folder is also available as a Folder column in the file list. For video files, additional read-only technical details are shown — resolution, frame rate, codec, pixel aspect ratio, rotation, GPS location (with a map-pin button that opens a small interactive map at the coordinate), device make/model/software, and capture date. For MXF files, the container's own metadata (vendor, application, operational pattern, spoken language, creation date and more) appears here as well. When several files are selected and they carry different cover images, the File tab shows them as a grid of tiles. Covers are grouped by how they look, so the same image saved at different sizes or formats collects into a single tile, and clicking a tile narrows the selection to the files using that cover.
- Tags — Core descriptive tags: title, artist, album, genre, comment, year, BPM, key, and 0–5 star rating. Embedded artwork is read and written in standard image formats including JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, TIFF, and GIF.
- BEXT — Broadcast Wave Extension fields: description, originator, originator reference, origination date/time, time reference, UMID, loudness values, coding history, and version. Read and written in WAV and FLAC.
- iXML — Production metadata for field recording and film/TV post-production. Read and written in WAV and FLAC. Its
<USER>container carries the UCS category fields — Category, Subcategory and CatID — the convention Soundminer and other UCS-aware tools read. The iXML tab is organized into subsections — see iXML Subsections below for details. - UCS — Universal Category System: category, subcategory, FX name, creator, library, and more.
- XMP — Extended metadata embedded in the file, including custom fields. Supported in WAV, AIFF, MP3, and M4A. Adds editable Dynamic Media camera and production fields — Scene, Shot Date, Shot Location, Log Comment, Camera Angle, and Camera Model — and a read-only section surfacing the file's Start Timecode, frame rate, track info, and markers already stored in its XMP.
- Markers — Cue points embedded in the audio file.
Editing Fields
Click any editable field to begin editing. Press Tab to move to the next field, ⇧Tab to move back, and Return or Esc to confirm.
Fields with drop-down values (like Genre or Key) show a pop-up menu. Color-coded Finder label swatches are available in the Tags tab.
Inline table editing: Double-click any metadata cell in the file list to edit it directly without switching focus to the Metadata panel. A popover appears for the selected field; press Return or click away to confirm.
Remove All Tags: The Tags tab's header menu includes a Remove All Tags action that clears all writable tag fields for the selected files. The BEXT tab's header menu has a matching Remove All action that clears every BEXT field.
Remove Artwork: Tools > Remove Artwork strips embedded artwork from the selected files. The change is undoable, and writing it into your files requires ShadowTag Pro.
Rating: The Rating submenu sets the star rating for the selected files. ⌥1 through ⌥5 set one to five stars and ⌥0 clears the rating.
Copy submenu: The file list's contextual menu has a Copy submenu offering several forms of the selection — Path for the file paths, Tags (CSV) for the metadata as a spreadsheet row, Data, FCPXML for pasting into Final Cut Pro with ⌥V (see Export FCPXML), and VST-XML for pasting into Cubase, Nuendo or Studio Pro with ⌘V. Copying tags as CSV, FCPXML or VST-XML requires ShadowTag Pro.
Cross-type paste: Values copied from the Tags, BEXT, or iXML editor can be pasted into a different editor type — for example, a Tags description into the BEXT description field. A confirmation dialog shows the cross-type mapping before the paste is applied.
Paste Attributes: Edit > Paste Attributes (⌥V) copies metadata from one file onto others. After copying a source file, choose Paste Attributes to open a dialog where you pick which metadata types — Tags, BEXT, iXML, markers, artwork, and Finder tags — and even individual fields to apply to every selected file. Your selections are remembered between uses.
Find and Replace
Find > Find and Replace (⌘⌥⇧F) opens a floating window for changing text across many files at once. It stays open while you work, so you can try several searches in a row.
- Find / Replace — The text to look for and what to put in its place. The button between them swaps the two, and each field remembers recent searches.
- In — This Project searches every file in the project. This Playlist and Selected Files narrow it down.
- Tag — All Metadata searches every tag, custom tag, BEXT text field and iXML text field. You can also pick specific fields instead. BEXT dates, times, UMID and loudness values aren't included in All Metadata, so a broad replace can't damage them, but you can still pick them by name.
- Options — Match Case, Whole Word and Regular Expression work as expected. Ignore Accents also treats full-width and half-width characters and curly and straight quotes as the same. Keywords are matched one at a time, so Whole Word applies to each keyword.
Results list every file that would change, with the field, old value, new value, playlist and path. Nothing is written until you choose Replace All (⌘R) or select rows and choose Replace Selected (⌘⇧R). Files can be dragged out of the results, and the contextual menu offers Show in Finder.
Replacements become unsaved edits like any other, written into your files when you save. A replace across This Project collects the changed files in Search Results, and undo reverses the whole replace in one step.
Saving
Changes are kept in your project as you make them, and written into your files when you save. Files with unsaved changes show in italics in the file list. To save:
- ⌘⌥S — Save all files with unsaved changes across all playlists.
- ⌘⌥⌃S File > Save Selected Edits — Save only the currently selected files.
- File > Save Metadata Only — Save tag edits but skip any pending non-destructive audio edits (fades, trims, normalize). Useful when you want to commit metadata changes without rewriting the audio file. A confirmation prompt appears if a normal save would commit both kinds of edits.
- ⌘⌥R File > Revert to Saved — Discard unsaved changes for the selection.
Locking files: Lock (⌥L), in the file list's contextual menu, marks the selected files read-only using the same lock Finder shows in its Get Info panel, and Unlock (⇧⌥L) clears it. Locked files are marked in the status column, and a save on one is refused with a message naming the file rather than failing partway through. Locking applies immediately and can be undone.
A file that can't be written for some other reason — it sits on a read-only volume, or its permissions deny the write — is reported separately, since unlocking would not help.
Partial saves: If part of a file's changes can't be written, the rest is still saved. The notice names what was left out, such as the markers, and only those edits stay unsaved. A part ShadowTag couldn't read when it loaded the file is never saved over; the notice points to Revert to Saved, which reads the file again.
Files changed outside ShadowTag: If a file is modified on disk while you hold unsaved edits for it, a conflict window opens listing every affected file so you can decide which version to keep. The window is sortable, lets you act on the files individually, stays open while you keep working, and warns before discarding your edits.
iXML Subsections
The iXML editor is organized into subsections that group the fields by purpose. Editable subsections let you read and write values directly; read-only subsections display data that is filled in automatically or managed elsewhere.
A toggle in the iXML tab's header switches between this structured form view and a raw XML view. When you switch back to the form view, the XML is validated and you are asked to confirm before replacing manually-edited content.
| Subsection | Contents | Editable |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Top-level production identifiers: Project, Scene, Take, Tape, Family Name, Family UID, File UID, Note, Circled (marks a good take), Wild Track. | Yes |
| User | De facto library standard fields popularized by Soundminer: Track Title, Artist, Category, Subcategory, Description, FX Name, Keywords, Library, Source, and more. | Yes |
| ASWG | Audio Services Working Group standard fields: Category, Subcategory, Song Title, Composer, Library, Originator, Tempo, Key, ISRC ID, and more. | Yes |
| Location | Geolocation data from the recording device: GPS coordinates, altitude, and timestamp. | Yes |
| BEXT | Read-only mirror of the binary BEXT chunk: description, originator, origination date/time, coding history, UMID. Managed by the BEXT tab. | No |
| Speed | Technical format data filled in from the audio file: sample rate, bit depth, and timecode information. | No |
| History | Origin data set by the recording device: original filename, parent filename, and parent UID. | No |
| Loudness | Loudness measurements written by ShadowTag's analysis: integrated loudness, loudness range, true peak, max momentary, and max short-term. | No |
UCS (Universal Category System)
UCS is an open standard for categorizing sound effects, widely used in sound libraries and sync licensing. ShadowTag stores UCS data in ID3 TXXX tags (for MP3/WAV/AIFF) and in the iXML <USER> container, the convention Soundminer and other UCS-aware tools read.
The UCS tab exposes all standard fields: Category, Subcategory, FX Name, Creator Split, User Category, User Data, Library, Creator, and more.
Use Tools > Detect UCS Category to automatically suggest UCS categories based on the file name and existing tags.
Markers
Cue point markers let you annotate positions within an audio file — loop start points, section boundaries or sound design notes. Each marker has a name and a start time; a region marker also has an end time. The Markers tab lists each marker's start time, name and color.
Creating Markers
New markers can be added in two ways:
- From the Markers tab — click Create Marker to add one at the playhead.
- During playback — press M to drop a marker at the current playhead position. See Playback for details.
Editing Markers
Click a marker's name in the Markers tab to rename it, or double-click a marker to edit its name, time and color. Delete markers from the same tab, or use Tools > Clear All Markers to remove every marker from the selected files. Change a region's end time by dragging its edge in the waveform. Changes are kept in your project until saved into the file.
Copy and paste: Copy (⌘C) and Cut (⌘X) in the Markers tab or the waveform take the selected markers, or every marker when none is selected. Paste (⌘V) adds them to every selected file that can store markers, at their original times, as one undo step.
Marker Colors
Each marker can be assigned a display color using the color swatch next to its name.
Note: No audio format has a standard field for marker color, so ShadowTag stores it in the marker's name as a short suffix — for example Intro {"c":"FF0000FF"}. ShadowTag hides the suffix and restores the color when it reads the file back, so colors travel with the file. Other applications show the suffix as part of the marker's name.
File Format Storage
Markers are read from and written to the format-appropriate structure for each file type:
| File type | Marker format |
|---|---|
| WAV | RIFF cue chunks |
| AIFF / AIFC | MARK chunk |
| MP3 | ID3 CHAP / CTOC frames |
| M4A / M4B / AAC / MP4 / MOV / M4V | QuickTime chapter track |
| FLAC / OGG / Opus | Xiph chapter tags |
When you save a file, marker names, positions and colors are written into the file in the appropriate format. A region's end time is stored natively in MP3 and FLAC / OGG / Opus. WAV, AIFF and MP4-family files have no end time field, so ShadowTag stores the region's length in the same name suffix as its color — for example Verse {"c":"0000FFFF","d":12.5}.
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