# Media : ID3 There are two unrelated versions of ID3: ID3v1 and ID3v2. #### ID3v2 ID3v2 is structurally very different from ID3v1, consisting of an extensible set of "frames" located at the start of the file, each with a frame identifier (a three- or four-byte string) and one piece of data. There are standard frames for containing cover art, BPM, copyright and license, lyrics, and arbitrary text and URL data, as well as other things. Three versions of ID3v2 have been documented, each of which has extended the frame definitions. #### ID3v2.2 v2.2 was the first public version of ID3v2. It used three character frame identifiers rather than four (TT2 for the title instead of TIT2). Most of the common v2.3 and v2.4 frames have direct analogues in v2.2. Now this standard is considered obsolete. #### ID3v2.3 v2.3 expanded the frame identifier to four characters, and added a number of frames. A frame can contain multiple values, separated with a null byte. This is the most widely used version of ID3v2 tags. #### ID3v2.4 v2.4 was published on November 1, 2000, and remains the latest version. It allows textual data to be encoded in UTF-8, which was a common practice in earlier tags (despite the standard, since it was not supported yet) because it has several noticeable advantages over UTF-16. Another new feature allows the addition of a tag to the end of the file before other tags (like ID3v1). 83 types of frames are declared in the ID3v2.4 specification, and applications can also define their own types. | v2.3 | v2.4 | Description | | ---- | ---- | -------------------------------------- | | GRID | GRID | Gropu identification registration | | MCDI | MCDI | Music CD identifier | | TALB | TALB | Album / Movie / Show title | | TCOM | TCOM | Composer | | TDAT | TDRC | Date | | - | TDRC | Recording Time | | - | TDRL | Release time | | TIME | TDRC | Time | | TIT1 | TIT1 | Content group description | | TIT2 | TIT2 | Title / songname / content description | | TOAL | TOAL | Original album / movie / show title | | TOPE | TOPE | Original artist(s) / performer(s) | | TORY | TDOR | Original release year | | TRCK | TRCK | Track number / Position in set | | TRDA | TDRC | Recording dates | | TYER | TDRC | Year | In v2.4, TDRC (recording time) consolidates TDAT (date), TIME (time), TRDA (recording dates), and TYER (year).