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Embedding a JPG in an MP3 - what's the best way?


UstadKhanAli

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Never mind. I didn't know iTunes could do it via ID3.

 

The image has to be embedded into the mp3 file. The program you're using to create the mp3 file should give you the option of adding artwork and specifying format. If not, maybe what you can do is to create the mp3 file the way you normally do, then open in iTunes, choose "Get Info" and then click on the Artwork tab and import the podcast image. You can test it out by deleting the mp3 from iTunes, reimporting it and seeing whether or not it immediately shows the podcast image. If it does, you're good to go.

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In poking around the internet, I found this, which says that the embedded files should be 300 x 300 pixels for podcasts, in case anyone is interested. I hate leaving threads without an answer or information just because I found it, so here you go:

 

http://www.richardfarrar.com/embedding-album-art-in-mp3-files/

 

 

The Current Standard:

The majority of podcasts that include images embedded within them adopt an image size of 300 x 300 pixels.

 

The picture to the right is sized at 300 x 300 pixels and is 62kB in file size by way of example.

 

JPEG images of these dimensions will vary in file size (dependant on the compression ratio used and image complexity) from around 10kB to 80kB or so. A 300 x 300 pixel image is actually over twice the size of a 200 x 200 image, and will consequently lead to approximately double file sizes.

 

Adding Your Own Pictures

So if you

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Just to follow up, my co-worker noted that iTunes and others have begun accepting 600 x 600 pixel photos.

 

Also, that method described above worked perfectly fine with several people, so it appears like the easiest way to embed a JPG if you have iTunes. I don't know if it's possible to do this with Pro Tools 9, even though it supports ID3, but since iTunes does it easily, that's good enough for me.

 

Thanks again for the responses.

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For those who eschew iTunes, there are other options. This very brief (and, frankly, rather self-obvious) article shows how to do it using the free/donationware program, Mp3Tag: http://techie-buzz.com/music-tools/embed-album-art-mp3-files.html

 

Or just cut to the chase -- Mp3Tag: http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html

 

It apparently supports a wide variety of audio file types, as well.

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That was the first link I came across before realizing that iTunes could do it. And that's perfect because a lot of people feel that iTunes "takes over" everything or simply don't like using it. iTunes works for me because I'm already on a Mac, but on a PC, it can sometimes be a little irritating.

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I think it is. The iTunes that I was running on Windows XP was a bit irritating to me with the constant prompts, missing some of the features of its Mac brother, and some other things I can't remember, but the one that I use on my Mac seems fine. Then again, it's not butting heads with Windows Media Player all the time.

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I think it is. The iTunes that I was running on Windows XP was a bit irritating to me with the constant prompts, missing some of the features of its Mac brother, and some other things I can't remember, but the one that I use on my Mac seems fine. Then again, it's not butting heads with Windows Media Player all the time.

I really hate WMP. I'll give it one thing though: it doesn't have components that run in background all the time like iTunes. (Although I've felt that at least some versions in the past were memory leakers. And that may actually be worse, since a memory leaking program may 'lose' more RAM over time and/or every time it's loaded.)

 

Anyhow, I won't use it. One of the first things I do on a new machine is get a decent player and make sure all my media point to it instead of WMP. (I'm a fan of Foobar for audio and VLC for video -- although I'm not liking the most recent VLC much so I may be back in the market, there.)

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That's right, the thing running in the background was one of the things I disliked. I don't know why, but I don't seem to notice that as much with the Mac, but I definitely don't know that for sure. It just doesn't seem as irritating on a Mac.

 

What I do like about it is that it's easy to use (case in point, embedding JPGs in MP3s) and the MP3 encoding scheme seems to sound good, although I mostly use the one with Pro Tools. And no, I'm not a big fan of WMP either.

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