Audio
What an audio file says beyond the sound
Audio tags were invented so a music player could show a title and a cover. They have grown since. A file recorded on a phone, exported from a recording app or bought from a store can name the software that made it, the person who bought it, the settings it was encoded with, and carry a comment field nobody remembers writing. The Audio tab takes all of it out without touching the sound.
What audio files carry
- MP3. ID3 tags at the start and often a second older block at the end. Title, artist, album, year, genre, comment, lyrics, embedded cover art, a unique file identifier and the encoder that wrote it with its settings.
- FLAC. Vorbis comments and picture blocks. Same fields, plus whatever a ripping tool decided to record, which can include the drive and the source disc.
- WAV. An information chunk with artist, comment, software and creation date, and on many files an ID3 block as well. Some recorders also write a note with the device name.
- Ogg and Opus. Vorbis comments, including an encoder field that names the software and version.
When you want it gone
- Sending a voice memo or a recording to someone you do not know.
- Publishing a podcast or a demo where the file should name the show, not the laptop.
- Sharing a track bought from a store that wrote your account name into it.
- Reusing a file that was tagged for a different project and still says so.
How to clean an audio file
Open the tool, pick the Audio tab, drop in an MP3, FLAC, WAV, Ogg or Opus file and press Clean. The tag blocks are removed and the audio stream is copied across unchanged, so there is no re-encode and nothing about the sound changes. A cleaned file plays exactly as the original did. Then drop it into the Metadata tab and read it back to be sure.
What stays
The sound. If a track carries an audible watermark, a spoken ident, or an inaudible signal placed in the audio itself by a distributor, that is part of the recording and cleaning tags does not reach it. This page is about the label on the file, not the recording inside it. That is the same line the SynthID guide draws for pictures.
Video with a soundtrack
MP4 and MOV files carry their tags in the container, not in the audio track, and are cleaned on the Video tab. The video guide covers them.
Common questions
Does cleaning change the sound quality?
No. The tag blocks are removed and the audio stream is copied unchanged. There is no re-encode, so the cleaned file sounds identical.
Which audio formats can be cleaned?
MP3, FLAC, WAV, Ogg and Opus. Each is handled in its own tag format and none is re-encoded.
Can it remove an audio watermark?
No. A watermark in the sound itself is part of the recording, not a tag. Cleaning removes tags only.