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Topic: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality? (Read 3201 times) previous topic - next topic
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Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

First of all, sorry if this sounds like an ignorant question, because I don't know about all of this and I wanted to ask.
I've seen a similar post around here, but it doesn't ask about all of the items I'm listing. Changing music files attributes to read-only affect the properties of the file in any way? That first of all, was my great doubt, because I did it by accident and then unchecked it.
Also, sometimes I change the metadata. I use TagScanner for this purpose, or I change the metadata right from the file properties, but mostly I use the program, above all when I change albumart. The files are in iTunes AAC and MP3 format.
Thanks for reading! Greetings!

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #1 –
When changing read/write properties, you only change file properties on a drive - and not the file data itself.
When changing tags, you are changing the file itself. To simplify, audio file is made of two parts - part of a file which is filled with music data, and part of file which is filled with tags, including pictures. Once encoded in any format, audio part keeps constant size. When editing tags, that data is added, depending on container (mp4, ogg, etc) at the beginning or the end of a file. You can change that data however you like and as much times as you like. By changing tags, you are changing file size (which is obvious) and that's all.
Audio part can be changed only if you are re-encoding it, edit it in audio editor (or some sort of hex or data editor), or if there is disk (or filesystem) damage and parts of that audio data gets damaged. That's why you have to have backups.
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Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #2 –
Your answer is really detailed and makes things clear.
Thanks a lot and have a nice day!  ;D

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #3 –
If you think it sounds different after having changed metadata, you have probably deleted tags that control playback volume. ReplayGain or Apple's attempt at similar.

There are other instances where metadata could affect playback, like equalizer curves, but you probably wouldn't use them unless you know them.

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #4 –
Oh, no, I didn't notice a difference, really, but it was to making me sure. I don't have access to volume tags, the program I use is not that advanced, so it cannot add equalizer curves neither. I only change tags like genre or artist, and the album art.
Sometimes I take a peek of the waveform for curiosity with another program, but I don't modify anything. I only see it, and when I close there are no changes to save, so I'm sure I'm not messing something with it haha.
Thanks for the response, and have a nice day!  ;D

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #5 –
If the decoder reading the file has to go thru extra data (other than pure audio codec), then it will tax its voltage regulation circuits ... and that kind of noise can, if not filtered, affect cleanliness of V_cc.
!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #6 –
And that's unlikely to happen with any fairly decent sound hardware. Even most modern onboard audio is halfway decent enough to filter that sort of noise from affecting audible output.

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #7 –
mp3HD includes lossless data in ID3v2 tag.
If you remove that tag/metadata it will no longer be lossless.
This format was never really used so no worries.
Like Porcus said, only ReplayGain tags are somewhat important.
gold plated toslink fan

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #8 –
Quote from: oh_no on
If the decoder reading the file has to go thru extra data (other than pure audio codec), then it will tax its voltage regulation circuits ... and that kind of noise can, if not filtered, affect cleanliness of V_cc.

Yeah, okay...  Do you even know what you're talking about?  Because it looks like you don't.  I've done work on electronics and there's no way a voltage regulation circuit would be affected by this at all.

If anything a file with nonaudio data in the part of the file that's supposed to be audio can result in loud noise, silence (if you're lucky), or an error message being displayed in the player depending on the codec being used.  A file would have to be corrupted or damaged for this to happen.  This is outside of the topic at hand anyway.

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #9 –
Quote from: oh_no on
If the decoder reading the file has to go thru extra data (other than pure audio codec), then it will tax its voltage regulation circuits ... and that kind of noise can, if not filtered, affect cleanliness of V_cc.
Are you being serious here? Evidence please...

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #10 –
Quote from: Markuza97 on
mp3HD includes lossless data in ID3v2 tag.
If you remove that tag/metadata it will no longer be lossless.
This format was never really used so no worries.

A bit of the same goes for equalization tags I think? I have not heard of that being supported out of the box in modern times.

(I actually use that one such thing myself, a pre-emphasis tag with a foobar2000 component. But that's for people who know what they are doing.)

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #11 –
mp3HD pretty much requires One True MP3 Decoder, anyway. It needs an integer based decoder that's guaranteed to produce consistent results, for the residual data compressed in the lossless chunk to actually be able to reliably turn it into the original signal 100%.

It was never documented widely, and never widely adopted. Neither was mp3Pro, which was essentially the same deal, except instead of lossless data, it encoded Spectral Band Replication parameters for an otherwise 50% downsampled file.

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #12 –
Quote from: antz on
Quote from: oh_no on
If the decoder reading the file has to go thru extra data (other than pure audio codec), then it will tax its voltage regulation circuits ... and that kind of noise can, if not filtered, affect cleanliness of V_cc.
Are you being serious here? Evidence please...
COMPLETELY SERIOUS, SIR. Evidence .... well ... let's see ... oh, got it ... any dac white paper or manuf. datasheet. They'll list the distortion specs in plain 'ol English. Or you can use Google Translate to convert to your native tongue.
!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #13 –
No, it is true. But in most not-completely-cheap-crap modern systems, the signals are filtered sufficiently, to eliminate the noise from being audible.

For example of completely-cheap-crap, even if slightly modern. And also so underspecced, it should be illegal to sell such shite. I give you, the HP Stream 7. A Windows 8.1 tablet, with 32GB of eMMC for the OS, and 1GB of RAM. The headphone output produces a completely audible and easily noticeable line noise from all of the processing circuitry. It has no appreciable amount of filtration or isolation going on in its design. I bought it for $100 on a Black Friday sale, years ago. Thanks, Microsoft, for peddling this dreck from your store.

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #14 –
Quote from: oh_no on
Quote from: antz on
Quote from: oh_no on
If the decoder reading the file has to go thru extra data (other than pure audio codec), then it will tax its voltage regulation circuits ... and that kind of noise can, if not filtered, affect cleanliness of V_cc.
Are you being serious here? Evidence please...
COMPLETELY SERIOUS, SIR. Evidence .... well ... let's see ... oh, got it ... any dac white paper or manuf. datasheet. They'll list the distortion specs in plain 'ol English. Or you can use Google Translate to convert to your native tongue.
If there's interference on Vcc then it's going to be present any time there's processing. I can't see how there's extra noise specifically due to processing a header and absent when processing audio data. That makes no sense. Either there's poor supply filtering or there isn't. If there is, it's poor design and an awful output buffer/amp.

Re: Does changing file attributes, metadata or albumart affect sound quality?

Reply #15 –
It will cause noise, but there's nothing you can do about it. A computer is always doing processing. But depending on how much processing you do at once, it may have an effect on the modulation of the noise. A slight one, at least. But then, you're looking to make the whole computer practically idle at all times. Fuggedaboudit.