The album art is the image that is shown in the background while we are playing a song or album in our music player. Sometimes this image may be embedded in the MP3 or not. But we do not have to worry since it will be possible to both add one and change an existing one in several ways, all of them totally easy and accessible.
Why does a music file have no album art?
In general, MP3 files are obtained from ripping our audio CDs when we transfer them to the computer. During the copying process, the program that we use will be in charge of extracting the file along with all the information it contains such as the name of the artist, the title of the album, genre, track number, year of release, among other information found. within your metadata tag, just like the album art. With this we get it to be displayed when we play the file on our PC, mobile or other compatible device.
However, sometimes the cover art included in the file not embedded properly in our MP3 file. This can happen due to an error during the extraction or because they were not included in the original file. In these cases we will see how no image is shown when playing them, so we will have to be the ones who look for the covers and insert it in each MP3 file. This is something that we can do in different ways, as we will see below.
How to download album art
In the event that we do not know where to get the covers of any album, we can use a free application called Album Art Downloader that we can download from here. Its main characteristic is that it is able to search for covers within specialized music websites such as “Amazon”, “CDCoverHideout”, “CDCoverIsland”, “Discogs”, “Album Art Exchange”, “Cover-Paradies”, among others. Thanks to this we can find practically any album regardless of the artist or musical style.
Once we run the program, we can search using the “Artist” and “Album” sections, which are located at the top. In the right column we can see all the sources from which the search will be carried out, and that we can select all or only those that interest us the most.
Once we have entered the name of the artist or the title of the album that we want to find, click on the button. «Search» and the program will take care of showing us all the matches found. Now we only have to download the desired cover, for which we only need to click on it so that it is downloaded in the established path. We can also right-click and a context menu will appear with several options such as seeing a preview, choose the download path (Save as), copy to clipboard or delete.
Add album art to MP3s in Windows 10
Windows 10 incorporates by default two applications with which to play audio, such as Windows Media Player and Groove Music. We can also use one of the most popular multimedia players like VLC. With all these platforms we will be able to carry out the work of adding an album cover in a few steps.
Windows Media Player
It is the classic Microsoft multimedia player for Windows, with which you can play both audio and video. With it we can add covers to our MP3s in a simple way. But first it will be necessary that we have the image of the cover in the folder where the files that we want to add are housed. Once in the folder, click on the image with the right button and click on “Copy”.
Next, we must open the application by typing “windows media player” in the search bar next to the Start menu. Once opened, in the left column we select «Music» and «Albums», so that it shows us all the albums it recognizes and their thumbnails. We place ourselves on the folder of the desired album and click on it with the right button and a drop-down menu will appear. Here we will select the option of «Paste album art». With this we will replace the generic folder thumbnail with the correct album art.
Groove Music
We are facing a new application developed by Microsoft to play music in different formats. From here, we can add albums to MP3 files quickly. To do this, we must access the application by typing “groove music” in the search box of the start menu and clicking on it.
Once in the application we must go to the “Albums” section that we find at the top. This will cause it to show us all the albums detected by the application on our computer. If we see which album does not have the thumbnail image of the cover, a box with a point in the center will appear. In this case, we click on it with the right button and a small drop-down menu will appear, where we will click on «Edit information».
This will open a new window, where we can edit all the data of both the folder and the audio files that make it up. Here, we will see how in the upper left part we find the box where the cover should be, along with a pencil icon. Next, we click and Windows Explorer will appear, from where we can select the image of the cover so that it remains added.
VLC Media Player
Without a doubt we are facing the most complete and popular multimedia player on the market that we can download for free from this link. With it we will also have the possibility of keeping our music library in order by adding album covers. To do this, we must start the program by typing “vlc” in the search bar of the Start menu and selecting it later.
Once opened, we must add the MP3 file to our playlist. To do this we can drag and drop to the interface or by using the “Media” and “Open a file” tab. Once we have added the file, click on it with the right button and a drop-down list will open, where we will click on “Information”.
Next, a new Multimedia Information window will open, where we can see all the embedded metadata of this file. From here, we can change any of its fields. In the lower right, we will see a square where it should be show album art. Here, we must press the right button and two options will appear to choose from: «Download the cover page» or «Add the cover of the file». If we have the cover downloaded, we choose the second option that will open a File Explorer window to select the image. Once the cover is added we can close the window.
