How to Tag a Podcast MP3 File
You may have heard podcasters talk about tagging their MP3 files. But what does that mean?
Tagging an MP3 is simply adding additional information to it, such as artwork, the episode title, host names, and more.
Back in the day, tagging was really important because most people listened to podcasts on their computer or iPod. If you didn’t tag the MP3 file for each episode, your listener would be missing important information about you and your show.
These days, popular podcast apps like Overcast and Apple Podcasts pull a lot of that information from your RSS feed, so while it’s not the end of the world if you upload an MP3 file that hasn’t been tagged, you should still tag your files. There are still people who download MP3 files to their computer or phone to listen later.
How to tag your podcast MP3 files using Tagr for Mac OS
After you’ve exported an MP3 file from your audio editing software, you have a few options for tagging it.
Personally, I use Tagr for Mac OS. It does cost $8.99 but it makes it super simple to add the right tags to your mp3 file.
Update: I now use Forecast by Marco Arment to tag my files and add MP3 chapters. It’s a really nice free app, here’s a walkthrough for that if you’d like to learn more.
1. Download and open the app, then click and drag your MP3 file and drop it on the app. Enter the information about your show and the episode, then save.
2. After you add the info and hit save, your file is now tagged and ready for uploading to your podcast hosting service. Now you can be sure that if someone downloads the MP3 file later, they’ll see all the proper information about your show.
Tagging a podcast with iTunes
If you don’t want to pay for software to tag your MP3 files, tagging your podcast episodes with iTunes is a suitable alternative.
1. Drag and drop your un-tagged MP3 file into the Section right underneath the Music tab. Make sure you’re in your library too.
2. After that, you’ll right-click or two finger tap on your podcast file that you just added. You might need to search for the file name if you don’t see it. From the pop up menu, select Album Info.
3. Add all the information you would like to include, in addition to your your show’s artwork, and hit OK.
4. Next, right click on the name of your podcast episode and select Show in Finder. If you have “Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library” selected in the Advanced tab in iTunes settings, iTunes will make a copy of your MP3 file. The file found in your Finder window is the one you’ll want to upload to your hosting service.
And that’s about it! The process is very similar with Windows computers, but you’ll need to either use iTunes or another MP3 tagging app. Here’s a list of the top 6 programs for Windows.
If you get stuck or if you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email, aaron@simplecast.com. If you’re looking for the best hosting and analytics platform for your podcast, check out Simplecast.com.
Happy podcasting!
