schwine Posted Apr 27, 2012, 7:38 pm

What is the purpose of the version 1 and version 2 windows within the ID3 Tag Editor? Under what circumstances would either version be used, and when would both versions be used. Version 1 seems to be redundant since all of its entry fields are included in Version 2. Thanks.

jamesrae Posted Apr 28, 2012, 10:18 am

ID3 version 1 is a legacy tag, but it is kept alive for speed and compatibility. Although version 2 is a better tag and is designed to be ignored by players that do not understand the ID3 v2 tag, using both tags means that all players have the option to load the information. It is probably rare these days to find a player that will not use version 2, but they do still exist especially on portable platforms where speed is key and as such if you publish music or podcasts then it is prudent to add both. As an example, Windows does not support ID3 v2.4 (although ID3 Editor adds this support to Windows) so files with only version 2.4 will not show any information. If you add version 1, then Windows will show this instead of the version 2.4.