Sort MP3 Files

Collections of MP3 files tend to have a chaotic element in them. No matter how hard one tries to keep them in order, there are always some orphaned songs or even entire albums.

mp3Tag Pro can be quite helpful for organizing your MP3 files into a clear structure of folders and filenames. In our example, we have two albums of two different artists in a single folder, and we want to sort them properly.

Let's start the tag editor:

Select MP3 files to sort

From the list of our folders (1), we select the folder containing the MP3 files we want to sort. The files will be displayed in the main area. Now, click the checkmark button in the upper right corner (2). This will select all MP3 files from the current folder.

Finally, click the "Rename files" button (3) in the "ID3 tags" area.

A new window will open:

Select format and preview new filenames

There is a big preview area in the lower part of the window. For us, two columns are now important. "Before" shows our current filenames. "After" shows a preview for new filenames that will be created using the currently selected pattern (format).

We find the "Format" field in the upper left corner. Here we specify building blocks for our new filenames. A list of available building blocks (variables) is available here, next to the "Format" field.

Now, we want not only to rename our files, but also to sort them. And this can be easily done with the "Format" field. Consider this format:

%A\%Y - %L\%# - %T

The backslash character is used for creating folders. Now, in our preview area, we can see:

Rename and sort MP3

Click the "Rename files" button below the list to rename and sort the MP3 files.

This will also close the "Rename" window. We are back to the main window of the program, but now our files are properly sorted according to our format:

MP3 are now sorted

The "Format" field is used for renaming files, generating tags from filenames, importing tags from a CSV file. You can read more about this field here.

Tags: mp3Tag Pro

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