Album art is the visual image that represents a music album or single, displayed in music players, car stereos, and mobile devices. Adding album art to your MP3 files not only makes your music library more attractive, but also helps with organization and improves metadata.
This guide is for music fans, collectors, and multimedia users who want easy, practical solutions for adding album art to MP3 files on any device. With just a bit of effort, you can now have a clean, orderly music collection that looks amazing inside your favorite music app. So read on for my album art tips and let your music library become a visual masterpiece!
So, let’s take a quick look at how you can manually or automatically add album art to MP3 on Windows 10, Mac, and Android.
How to Add Album Art to MP3 on Windows 10/11
- Add Album Art to MP3 with Groove Music (without Windows Media Player)
- Add Album Art to MP3 with Windows Media Player
- Add Album Art to MP3 with VLC
- How to Add Album Art to Mp3 Online
How to Add Album Art to MP3 on Mac
How to Add Album Art to MP3 on Android
Album Art Grabber
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How to Add Album Art to MP3 on Windows 10
Solution 1: Add album art with Groove Music (without Windows Media Player)
Groove Music comes with Windows 10. It is the default music you play on your Windows computer. We can use it to add Album Art to your MP3 files easily. Please follow the steps below:
Step 1: Open Groove Music on Windows 10/11.
Step 2: Right-click a song to which you want to add album art and choose “Show album.”
Step 3: Click the 3-dots icon and choose “Edit info”
Step 4: Click the pen icon to browse and select an album art image ( (JPG/PNG, at least 300x300px recommended)) on your computer, then click “Save.”
Troubleshooting: If the album image didn’t show up after you clicked the save button, please turn off the “Media Info.” Click the setting icon at the lower-left and turn off the option to Automatically retrieve and update missing albums and metadata automatically.
Solution 2:
Adding Album Art to MP3 with the Windows Media Player (WMP)
One of the valuable features of the Windows Media Player is the ability to add Album Arts automatically.
Just import all the MP3 files to the WMP before starting the following steps:
- Right-click on a song and choose the second last option, “Update album Info.”
- Your album art is now downloading from the server of xboxlive.com. Choose an album art on the right, then click the “Finish” button at the lower right. It would take a couple of minutes to complete the album art update.
That’s it. The drawback of the WMP solution is that you cannot add album art manually in Windows 10.
Solution 3: Adding Album Art to MP3 with VLC Media Player
Groove Music and Window Media Player are two great music players. VLC is a free media player for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It has been the most popular Media Player among PC users and can also add Album Art to MP3 files. Just follow six simple steps:
- Download, and install VLC here
- Import MP3 files that you want to add album art to VLC
- Click “Tools” on the top menu and choose the “Media Information” option.
- You should see the current Album Art on the lower-right, right-click on it, and select the “Add Cover Art from file” option. Right-clicking on the Album Art and selecting the “Add Cover Art from File” option
- Choose an Album Art on your computer and double-click on it to select
- Click on “Close,” and the image should be added as an Album art to the mp3 song.
Solution 4: Add a Cover Image to an MP3 File with MP3Tag
- Go to the official website: https://www.mp3tag.de/ Click on “Download” and choose the correct version for your system (most are 64-bit).
- Once downloaded, open your Downloads folder and double-click the installer to install MP3Tag.
- After installation, open the MP3Tag program (search for “MP3Tag” in your Start menu if needed).
- Find the MP3 file you want to add a cover to, and drag it into the MP3Tag window.
- Click on the MP3 file in the list to select it.
- On the left side, find the cover art area (a square or image icon).
- Right-click on the cover area and select “Add cover”.
- Browse to the image you want to use as the cover, select it, and click “Open”.
- Once the image appears, click the “Save” button at the top left of the window.
Your MP3 file now has the new cover image. When you play it, the new cover will be displayed.
How to Manually Add Album Art to MP3 on Mac
You could either add your image or automatically get the album cover to MP3 with iTunes on the Mac computer.
Adding album art automatically, choose File> Library > Get Album Artwork.
Adding album art manually, choose Edit > [Item] Info, click Artwork, then do one of the following:
- Click Add Artwork, select an image file, then click Open.
- Drag the image file to the artwork area.
How to Add Album Art to MP3 on Android
Album Art Grabber is a simple app that changes or adds album/song covers for songs on your Android phone or tablet. It is easy to use, and you can add album art to MP3 on Android phones manually and automatically. You could get it on Google Play for free.
Open Album Art Grabber and import MP3 songs.
1. Tap a song or album. This opens the “Choose image from” window.
2. Select a source. Album Art Grabber can grab album art from LastFM, MusicBrainz (get album art automatically), or your SD card (manually get album art from images saved on your phone). Once selected, a window containing matching results will appear.
3. Tap the album art you want to use. A confirmation window will appear. Tap the Set button. The album art is now connected to the selected song or album.
Online Tools: Add Album Art to MP3 Online
tagmp3.online is an online tool that helps you to add and change album artwork to MP3 music files for free.
- Upload an MP3 file into the dashed border to upload MP3 (Only MP3 files supported)
- When Processing is completed, add the image as album art from your computer.
- You will be redirected to the download page and click the download button to get the generated MP3 File.
Pros and Cons: Online tools are fast and require no installation, but may not support batch processing or large files.
How to Delete The Album Art Images Embedded In MP3 Files
To manually remove embedded album art in MP3, We need to find the hidden album image files and delete them. Here’s the procedure,
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Folder Options, and select the View Tab. In the View tab, under Advanced Settings,
- Tick the option “Show hidden files, folders, and drives.“
- Untick the option “Hide protected operating system files.“
Press the “Apply” button to save these settings. Open the folder where you saved mp3 files, and you will see the hidden image files with the title like this:
- AlbumArt_{GUID}_Small. jpg
- AlbumArt_{GUID}_Large. jpg
- Folder.jpg
Those images are the album art. You could delete these files, and your mp3 files will show the album art is missing or unknown.
Tips and Best Practices
- Use images at least 300×300 pixels for best display quality.
- JPG and PNG are the most widely supported formats.
- If album art does not show up, try refreshing your music library or restarting your player.
- To remove or replace incorrect album art, use the same tools and select “Remove cover” or add a new image.
- For batch updates, use tag editors like MP3Tag or MusicBrainz Picard.
- Always back up your music files before making bulk changes.
- Preserving metadata: avoid re-encoding audio to prevent quality loss; only update tags.
FAQs
Why does the album art not show up after I added it?
If the album art you added is not appearing, try restarting your music player app or rescan your music library to refresh the metadata. Also check that the image file type (e.g. JPG, PNG) is supported.
The album art I added is very low quality/blurry. How can I fix this?
A: For best results, use album art images that are at least 300×300 pixels. Lower-resolution images will look pixelated when resized to fit the album art thumbnail. Replacing the low-quality images with higher-resolution versions should fix this issue.
The album art changes keep reverting back after I edited them. Why?
Some music apps will overwrite your custom album art if they can automatically fetch artwork online. Turn off the auto-update artwork setting in your player app’s preferences.
I want to add the same album cover to multiple songs. Is there an easy way?
On Windows, you can right-click multiple selected MP3 files, choose Properties > Details > Artwork tab, and add one image to apply it to all.
How do I remove the incorrect album art that was added?
You can delete the artwork file associated with the MP3 as outlined in the article. Then refresh your music library to remove the artwork from view.
I added album art, but it doesn’t show on my Android/iOS device. Help?
Try re-syncing the files or re-transferring the MP3s manually after adding album art. Check they are not being overwritten by auto-updates on the mobile device as well.
Can I add album art to MP3s on my phone?
Yes, with apps like Album Art Grabber or music players with tag editing features.
Summary
Adding album art to your MP3 files is a simple way to make your music collection more visually appealing and organized. With the right tools and a few easy steps, you can embed high-quality images into your songs on any device. Take the time to update your library, and enjoy a more beautiful and personalized listening experience. For advanced needs, explore batch processing tools and always keep backups of your music files.