Add Metadata to WAV Files, Rename these WAV Files
Your music library can be a vast collection of endless WAV files. Adding metadata to your WAV files and renaming them in an orderly manner can be crucial, in order to make them easily searchable and accessible.
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Renaming files one by one is not an easy task. It can take several hours or days, depending on the size of your WAV music library. There are better ways to perform these tasks. Let’s learn how.
WAV File Format
WAV music file format is as much as popular as other music file formats today. It is widely used by music recorders, audio engineers, portable players.
The origin of WAV format dates back to the 1990s when Microsoft Corporation and IBM jointly invented it for Windows 3.1. The invention of the format was derived from another popular format Resource Interchange File Format (commonly abbreviated as RIFF).
Benefits of Using WAV File Format
The single biggest benefit of using WAV format is its ability to retain the original music quality while reproducing the music. Veteran music reproducers often prefer WAV format while reproducing music to avoid loss of original quality.
WAV file formats are also commonly used for short and quality music tracks such as Windows sounds (shutdown, startup, beep, etc.), mobile ringtones, etc.
Disadvantages of WAV Files
When compared to other formats such as MP3, WAV files are much larger in size (sometimes up to 8-10 times larger than the original files). This is because they do not use the file compression technology used in the MP3 files. They use the same CD quality for optimum audio quality.
Let’s take an example. An MP3 file with a 200-kbps bit rate may take approximately 4 MB when converted to the WAV format. Similarly, an MP3 file with a higher bit rate would take 40 MB of storage.
Due to the larger size, WAV files are less commonly used for Internet music streaming, online music transfer and sharing files on portable devices through USB sticks.
What is Metadata & Why is it Helpful?
Music file metadata is the information embedded into a music file. This information may include anything from music title, composer name, length of the music track, multiple descriptive keywords, music rating, and so on.
Metadata can be helpful in many ways:
- Metadata can be descriptive about the nature of a file. It often helps users quickly find their files using specific keywords.
- Metadata provides detailed information about the currently played music tracks.
- Metadata can also be sometimes helpful for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purpose. It helps search engine crawlers (bots) to identify the nature of the uploaded files.
- If you’re selling music online, inserting metadata is crucial to build customer trust. Moreover, metadata can also contain copyright information.
How to Add Metadata to WAV Files
There are various ways to edit WAV files metadata. If you’re using an image organizer program, you’ll find the options to edit metadata. The actual steps may differ from application to application.
Another common way is to use the File Properties dialog.
- Right-click a WAV file, select Properties.
- Click on the Details tab.
- You can add or edit the existing metadata such as title, subtitle, rating, tags, comments, etc.
Steps to Rename WAV Files
Recommended Procedure:
- Download and install Easy File Renamer.
- Click on the System Renamer tab.
- Click on Add Files.
- Select the files you want to rename.
- Choose a renaming rule from the left-hand side panel. For example: To trim first 5 characters from the file names, select the Trim text option and type 5 in the Length textbox. Choose whether to trim text from the beginning or end of the file name.
- Click on Add Rule.
- You may add multiple rules of your choice by following steps # 5 & 6 again.
- Click the Rename button to proceed.
Manual Procedure:
- Open File Explorer using its taskbar icon.
- Select the WAV files you want to rename. You can select multiple files at once using the Shift or Ctrl keys of your keyboard.
- Right-click on the first file in the selection and press the F2 key to rename it. (On some computers, you may have to press Fn + F2 keys together).
- Type a new name for the WAV file and then press Enter.
- Windows will automatically rename all other files with the new name followed by an incremental number. For example: Music (1).wav, Music (2).wav, etc.
Raza Ali Kazmi works as an editor and technology content writer at Sorcim Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. He loves to pen down articles on a wide array of technology related topics and has also been diligently testing software solutions on Windows & Mac platforms.