how to add artwork to mp3

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This wikiHow teaches you how to add or change the album artwork for a music album in both Groove and Windows Media Player. Keep in mind that some Windows 10 computers don't have Windows Media Player available. If you want to edit your songs' MP3 files to contain the metadata for the thumbnail image, you can use a couple of different MP3 tag editors.

1
Find and download album art. Open your preferred web browser and search for the album's name followed by "album art" (e.g., "divide album art"), select the image that you want to download and right-click it, and click the Save option in the right-click drop-down menu.
- On some browsers and/or search engines, you'll have to select an Images tab near the top of the page to see a list of album art images.
- Your browser may ask you to specify a download location on your computer. If so, just click the Desktop folder on the left side of the prompt.
2

Open Start . Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

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3

Type in groove. Doing so will search your computer for the Groove Music app.
4

Click Groove Music . It's the CD-shaped icon at the top of the Start window. This will open the Groove Music app.
5
Click My music . It's a tab in the upper-left side of the Groove window. Doing so brings up a list of your current music in Groove.
- If you don't see this option, first click the ☰ icon in the upper-left corner of the window.
6

Click the Albums tab. This option is near the top of the Groove window.
7
Select an album. Click an album that you want to edit.
- You cannot edit album artwork for individual songs.
8
Click Edit info . It's a tab near the top of the album's page. Doing so will open the "Edit Album Info" window for your selected album.
- For songs that don't have an album listed or the album is listed as "Unknown Album", there will not be an "Edit info" button displayed. Instead, you'll have to first right-click on the song and click Edit Info and write in a new "Album Title", then click Save.
9
Click the album art. It's a square image in the upper-left corner of the "Edit Album Info" window. This will prompt a File Explorer window to open.
- If there isn't any album art associated with the album, the album art square will be blank with a pencil-shaped icon in the lower-left corner of it.
10
Select a picture. Click the photo that you downloaded earlier, or click an existing one on your computer.
- If the File Explorer window opens to a different folder than the one in which your preferred art is, first click the folder that you want to use on the left side of the window.
11

Click Open . It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. Doing so will add the photo to your album.
12

Click Save . This button is at the bottom of the "Edit Album Info" window. Your album will now display its new artwork when playing.

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1
Make sure that you purchased the music. Window Media Player rarely supports automatic updates for non-purchased music.
- If you didn't purchase the music in the album that you want to edit, you'll most likely need to add the art manually.
2

Ensure you are connected to the internet. In order for Windows Media Player to search automatically for album art, Windows will need to be connected to the Internet. As long as you can load a web page, Windows Media Player should be able to connect to the online database.
3

Open Start . Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
4

Type in windows media player. If your mouse cursor doesn't open in the text field at the bottom of the Start window, you'll first have to click the text field.
5

Click Windows Media Player . It's the blue box with an orange and white "Play" button at the top of the Start menu. Windows Media Player will open.
6

Click Library . This tab is in the upper-left corner of the window.
7

Click the Music tab. It's on the left side of the Windows Media Player window.
8
Find the album that you want to update. Scroll down through your library until you find the album that you want to edit.
- Albums that don't have art will have an image of a musical note on a grey background.
9
Right-click the album cover. The album cover is to the left of the song list. Doing so prompts a drop-down menu.
- If your mouse doesn't have a right-click button, click the right side of the mouse, or use two fingers to click the mouse.
- If your computer uses a trackpad instead of a mouse, use two fingers to tap the trackpad or press the bottom-right side of the trackpad.
10
Click Update album info . It's near the middle of the drop-down menu. Doing so will search online for the album's art; if there is art readily available, it will show up on the album cover.
- If no album art shows up, you'll need to add the art manually instead.
- It may take a few minutes for the album cover to show up, and you may even need to restart Windows Media Player.
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1
Find and download album art. Open your preferred web browser and search for the album's name followed by "album art" (e.g., "divide album art"), select the image that you want to download and right-click it, and click the Save option in the right-click drop-down menu.
- On some browsers and/or search engines, you'll have to select an Images tab near the top of the page to see a list of album art images.
- Your browser may ask you to specify a download location on your computer. If so, just click the Desktop folder on the left side of the prompt.
2
Copy the downloaded album art. Open the art's location (e.g., the Downloads folder), select the art image by clicking it, and press Ctrl+C to copy it.
- You can also right-click the image and click Copy to do this.
3

Open Start . Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
4

Type in windows media player. If your mouse cursor doesn't open in the text field at the bottom of the Start window, you'll first have to click the text field.
5

Click Windows Media Player . It's the blue box with an orange and white "Play" button at the top of the Start menu. Windows Media Player will open.
6

Click Library . This tab is in the upper-left corner of the window.
7

Click the Music tab. It's on the left side of the Windows Media Player window.
8
Find the album that you want to update. Scroll down through your library until you find the album that you want to edit.
- Albums that don't have art will have an image of a musical note on a grey background.
9

Right-click the album cover. A drop-down menu will appear.
10
Click Paste album art . It's in the middle of the drop-down menu. You should see the art appear on the album's cover.
- It may take a few seconds for the album art to update.
- If you don't see the Paste album art, try downloading and copying a smaller version of the art.
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1
Download and install MP3Tag. MP3Tag is a free program which will allow you to edit your MP3 files' tags all at once, including the cover art. To download and install MP3Tag, do the following:
- Go to https://www.mp3tag.de/en/download.html in your computer's web browser.
- Click the mp3tagv287asetup.exe link in the middle of the page.
- Double-click the MP3Tag setup file.
- Click through the MP3Tag setup wizard until you've installed MP3Tag.
2

Open MP3Tag. Double-click the MP3Tag app icon, which resembles a diamond with a checkmark on it. This will open the MP3Tag window.
3
Add music to MP3Tag. MP3Tag will automatically scan your computer for MP3 files to use, but you can also open specific files by clicking and dragging them into the MP3Tag window.
- You can also open a song in MP3Tag by right-clicking an MP3 file and then clicking Mp3tag in the drop-down menu.
4
Select a song. In the main window, click the name of the song that you want to edit.
- You can select multiple songs at once by holding down Ctrl while clicking each song you want to edit.
5
Right-click the cover art. You'll find this box in the lower-left side of the window. Doing so prompts a drop-down menu.
- If there isn't any cover art for your selected song(s), this box will be blank.
- If your mouse doesn't have a right-click button, click the right side of the mouse, or use two fingers to click the mouse.
- If your computer uses a trackpad instead of a mouse, use two fingers to tap the trackpad or press the bottom-right side of the trackpad.
6

Click Remove cover . It's at the top of the drop-down menu. The current cover art will disappear.
7

Right-click the cover art space. This blank space is in the same place in which the old cover art was displayed. The drop-down menu will reappear.
8

Click Add cover… . It's at the bottom of the drop-down menu. A File Explorer window will open.
9

Select a picture. Go to the location of the photo you want to use, then click the photo.
10

Click Open . It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. Doing so will select the photo and add it to the selected song(s).
11

Click the "Save" icon. This floppy disc-shaped icon is in the upper-left corner of the window. You'll receive a confirmation message which signifies that your MP3 file(s) will now use the selected cover photo.

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1
Understand how this method works. If you want to ensure that your song will keep the image you select for it when played in media players like VLC, you can use an online converter to add a photo to an MP3 file.
- Some players, such as VLC, will recognize this converter's tagging over other tagging options (e.g., Groove or MP3Tag).
2
Open the TagMP3 site. Go to http://tagmp3.net/change-album-art.php in your computer's web browser. This website allows you to burn an image into an MP3 file's metadata, which means the MP3 file's cover information will play in virtually all media players.
- If you use TagMP3 to add a cover photo to an MP3, attempting to change the cover photo in any other tag editor later may prove unsuccessful.
3

Click Browse Files . You'll find this purple button in the middle of the window. A File Explorer window will open.
4
Select a song. Go to the location of an MP3 file to which you want to assign artwork, then click the MP3 file.
- If you want to edit the tag for multiple different songs, hold down Ctrl while clicking each song you want to use.
5

Click Open . It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. Your selected song(s) will upload to the website.
6
Click Choose file . You'll find this grey button below the current cover photo (or the blank cover photo space) in the "Album Art" section.
- You'll have to repeat this step and the next two steps for each MP3 you want to edit.
7

Select a picture. Go to the location of a picture that you want to use as the cover art, then click the picture to select it.
8

Click Open . It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. Doing so will add the image to TagMP3, though the image won't appear in the cover art preview window.
9

Burn the image into the MP3 file. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click DONE! GENERATE NEW MP3, then wait for the tagging to complete.
10
Download your MP3 file. Click Download File 1 to download the newly tagged MP3 file onto your computer.
- You'll notice that the MP3 file has a random string of letters and numbers as its name; however, the MP3 file will display the proper song information when played in Media Player, iTunes, Groove, and VLC.
- If you uploaded multiple files at once, you'll click Download File 2 and so on for the rest of them.
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Add New Question

Question

It doesn't have that Paste Album Art menu on my windows media player; I can only find the album info. What should I do?

Leave your image viewer open when you go to paste the album art. For some reason, once you close the image viewer, the art leaves your clipboard and the option to paste it goes away, too.
Question

Why aren't all my songs joined with their album art when I paste art?

The album art and file art don't alter each other. You need to change all of them separately.
Question

What do I do with Windows 8?

It's the same process; it depends on which version of Windows Media Player you have.
Question

How do I copy the updated album songs back to my computer?

Make sure you know where you place the constructed file, then move it to the destination folder.
Question

What should I do if my player says I can't add a cover if a song is playing from the album, while nothing is playing?

Play a song from another album, or open Windows Media without clicking on a song.
Question

What do I do if I have album art, but I want to change it and it does not show the paste option?

You probably are trying to paste it on the CD, which won't work. Try to rip the album first and then find it in your library, that should solve the problem.
Question

What if the songs I am trying to change the cover for are not showing up in the library?

Right-click the songs file. Select "Add to Windows Media Players List" and it will appear in your library.
Question

What should I do if I receive error message "album art cannot be changed when an album song is in use. Please try again later"?

Don't play a song from that album while trying to change the album art. Make sure there are no active programs that may be running your file or any file in that same album.
Question

What should I do if I paste a high-quality album art but Windows Media Player makes it blurry?

Alireza Mimbantas Macaraya Jr.

Community Answer

According to the article, your album art should be 600 pixels x 600 pixels for it to be in high quality.
Question

What can cause it to not add all of the files?

Many things can factor in, but the most common by far is when it's a compilation album or an album featuring other artists. WMP will then mistake that for another artist's album with the same name. This can be fixed by adding that track's info to support the ALBUM artist and then selecting the songs that don't show the art and adding their info into the contributing artists section. This is only one solution to something that can be caused by many things, though.

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These steps will also work with the Windows 7 version of Windows Media Player if you have it.

Windows Media Player is no longer supported by Microsoft, so attempting to update automatically the artwork won't work for every album.

About This Article

Article SummaryX

1. Download album art from the internet.
2. Open Groove Music.
3. Click My Music.
4. Click Albums.
5. Click an album.
6. Click Edit info.
7. Click the album art.
8. Select the new art and click Open.
9. Click Save.

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