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Topic: ID3 + Animated .gif cover art? (Read 7628 times) previous topic - next topic
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ID3 + Animated .gif cover art?

I've been experimenting with using animated gif files as cover art.
For example, I'll take the front/back sleeve cover, sleeve notes, and other pictures and put them into a sequence.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and I'm trying to understand why.

So far, I've only got it to work with animated gifs I've downloaded from the Net. I'm yet to get it to work with the ones I'm creating.
I've tried several different animation packages with no consistent success up to now.
I'm going to keep at it, but in the meantime....

Has anyone here done this before who could share their experiences?

Does anyone know of a media player that will display animated gifs embedded in ID3 tags?

I'd appreciate any help.


[TAG]

ID3 + Animated .gif cover art?

Reply #1 –
In retrospect, it looks as if I'm asking for help with creating gif animations. This is not the case.
I can create those easily enough and they work just fine.

The trouble is that they're not always working properly when embedded in the ID3 tag.

Now, I know that the ID3 spec can handle animated gif files no problem.
And I know that WMP for example, can read and play back animated gifs if they're embedded as cover art, because I've tested this.

What I don't know is the reason for the inconsistency.

So far, Windows Media Player is the only one I've used that can play them.
Others I've tried it on (Media Monkey, Winamp) just display the first frame as if it were any normal static image.
So I'm keen to learn of any other players out there that might be able to handle it.

Hope that makes things clearer.

[TAG]

ID3 + Animated .gif cover art?

Reply #2 –
It'll depend on the software, I doubt you'll find many that will playback animated stuff.

ID3 + Animated .gif cover art?

Reply #3 –
If I had this problem, I'd try different resolutions for the GIF file, then I'd try turning interlaced option on/off. After that I'd try to save GIF as version "GIF87a" and "GIF89a". After that I'd go and see if my GIF creating software maybe uses this: "There are at least two rarely-used methods that can generate a GIF that, if decoded according to the GIF89a standard, will produce an animation that ends with a 24-bit RGB truecolor image.", because "These methods are not widely supported by GIF-generating software, and Web browsers and other image viewers may not contain completely compliant GIF89a implementations, so their ability to display such GIFs accurately may be limited." Quotations are from Wikipedia.

Try to mess with those settings.
lame -V 0

ID3 + Animated .gif cover art?

Reply #4 –
Thanks for the responses guys. I've only just logged back in after several weeks, so only seeing them now.

I will look into that psycho. Thanks.

I pretty much shelved the whole idea at that point, so I haven't done any further testing yet, but I will do once time and workload permits. In the meantime, if anyone else has any suggestions, I'd welcome them.

ID3 + Animated .gif cover art?

Reply #5 –
[acronym title='Mp3 + Animated GIF ?']I am also trying add an animated gif file to a mp3 file in its ID3. I am using the following code to do the same
-----------------------------------------------
from mutagen.mp3 import MP3
from mutagen.id3 import ID3, APIC, error, TRCK, TIT2, TPE1, TALB, TDRC, TCON

audio = MP3('test.mp3', ID3=ID3)
audio.tags.delete('test.mp3', delete_v1=True, delete_v2=True)


audio.tags.add(
APIC(
encoding=3,
mime='image/gif',
type=4,
desc=u'Cover',
data=open('test_4.gif', 'rb').read()
)
)

audio.save('test.mp3', v2_version=3, v1=2)
-------------------------------------------------------------
This works well and the gif gets embedded in the mp3 file but when I play the newly constructed mp3 file it just displays the first frame of the embedded gif. Can anyone here help me with the same?

Thanks in advance. [/acronym]

ID3 + Animated .gif cover art?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: mp3 on
This works well and the gif gets embedded in the mp3 file but when I play the newly constructed mp3 file it just displays the first frame of the embedded gif. Can anyone here help me with the same?


As I said in my reply many years ago, it's the software reading the tags that is going to be responsible for showing the image that you need to look at and I still doubt many, if any, will playback animated GIFs. JPEG is the norm for embedded artwork, maybe PNG at a push.