🎵 Audio Tag Stripper

Audio Tag Stripper is a powerful desktop application built with PyQt6 and Mutagen that removes cover art and normalizes metadata from MP3, FLAC, and M4A files — replacing titles with their filenames.

🎯 Perfect for: Musicians, DJs, archivists, and anyone who wants clean, consistent audio metadata without embedded covers.

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📑 Table of Contents

• 🙌 Who is this for?
• 💡 Why use Audio Tag Stripper?
• ✨ Features
• 📸 Screenshot
• 🚀 Getting Started
• 🧩 How It Works
• 📊 Table Columns Explained
• 🐛 Troubleshooting
• 🔧 Development
• 🤝 Contributing

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🙌 Who is this for?

Category	Description
🎧 DJs & Musicians	Clean up metadata and remove unwanted cover art from music libraries
🗄️ Archivists	Standardize audio files for long-term storage
💻 Developers	Prepare audio files for batch processing or testing
📀 Music collectors	Remove bloat from embedded album art and fix mismatched titles
🧹 Minimalists	Keep only filename-based titles and zero embedded images

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💡 Why use Audio Tag Stripper?

Problem	Solution
❌ Embedded cover art wastes storage space	✅ Removes all covers from MP3, FLAC, M4A
❌ Titles don’t match filenames	✅ Replaces title tag with filename
❌ Batch cleaning takes hours manually	✅ Batch processes entire folders instantly
❌ Inconsistent metadata across formats	✅ Works with MP3, FLAC, and M4A
❌ No visual feedback on tag status	✅ Table shows covers & status before/after

💡 Pro Tip: Use this tool before uploading music to cloud storage or embedding in documentation.

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✨ Features

Feature	Description
🎯 Batch Processing	Load an entire folder — process all supported files at once
🖼️ Cover Removal	Removes APIC, PICT, covr, and FLAC pictures
🏷️ Tag Normalization	Sets TIT2 (MP3), title (FLAC), or ©nam (M4A) to the filename
📊 Visual Table	Shows filename, current title, format, cover presence, and name match status
✅ Smart Detection	Detects already-clean files and skips unnecessary writes
📁 Non-destructive	Only tags are modified — audio data remains untouched
🧹 Clean UI	Simple progress bar, clear buttons, and status icons
🖼️ Icon Feedback	✅ / ❌ icons for covers and name matching

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📸 Screenshot

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🚀 Getting Started

1️⃣ Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/AudioTagStripper.git
cd AudioTagStripper

2️⃣ Install dependencies

pip install PyQt6 mutagen

3️⃣ Run the application

python AudioTagStripper.py

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🧩 How It Works

Step	Action
1️⃣	Enter a folder path or use the UI to select one
2️⃣	Click Load Files — scans for .mp3, .flac, .m4a
3️⃣	Table shows current tags, covers, and name match status
4️⃣	Click Start — removes covers, updates title to filename
5️⃣	Progress bar updates in real time
6️⃣	Final summary shows how many files were cleaned

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📊 Table Columns Explained

Column	Meaning
Name	Actual filename (without extension)
Title	Current title tag from file metadata
Format	MP3, FLAC, or M4A
Cover	✅ = cover exists / ❌ = no cover
Status	✅ = filename matches title / ❌ = mismatch

After processing:

• Cover always becomes ❌
• Status always becomes ✅

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🐛 Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
No files found	Make sure folder contains .mp3, .flac, or .m4a
MP3 header error	File may be corrupted or not a valid MP3
Tags not clearing	Check file permissions — some files are read-only
UI file not loading	Ensure ./ui/AudioTagStripper.ui exists
Icons not showing	Place icons in ./assets/ (OK.png, Error.png, Warning.png)

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🔧 Development

Project Structure:

AudioTagStripper.py
├── class AudioTagStripper(QMainWindow)
│   ├── __init__()              # Load UI, connect buttons
│   ├── customize_ui()          # Table settings, window size
│   ├── show_message()          # Custom message boxes
│   ├── load_files()            # Scan folder, populate table
│   └── start_process()         # Strip covers, fix titles

Supported formats & tag mappings:

Format	Cover Tag	Title Tag
MP3	APIC, PICT	TIT2
FLAC	pictures	title
M4A	covr	©nam

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🤝 Contributing

Pull requests and feature suggestions are always welcome! Feel free to:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Submit a pull request

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⭐ Support

If this tool helps you clean your music library, please give it a ⭐ on GitHub!