ffprobe not capturing multiple genre, style "tags" in M4A tracks.

[Vicpa 570]

Hi

Updating music tracks and noticed an issue with m4a files. I changed a genre on an album from one type to two others. 

emby only showed one of the genres.  

genre Tag ="Jazz; Rock"

I realize emby is not capturing "Style" tags yet, but it is another example of ffprobe only seeing one value instead of multiple.

Style tag ="Ska; Rockabilly; Swing"

ffprobe reports.

genre = "Jazz"

style = "Ska"

MediaInfo reports them correctly..

Attached ffprobe output ffprobe.txt

Attached Medinfo output mediaInfo.txt

If you need a sample track I can PM it

 

Thanks

-vicpa

[softworkz 3349]

We don't use 'style' tags, but genre tags should actually be split correctly.

On 5/24/2022 at 10:58 PM, Vicpa said:

If you need a sample track I can PM it

That would be great, thanks.

[Vicpa 570]

Hi @softworkz,

I PM'ed  a test file.

Just so we are on the same page.

I am only seeing this in the .M4A format. 

Picard is writing the tags to the files.

1) I am running ffprobe from a Wind cmd promp, in the following cndline  "ffprobe.exe -i file:"D:\PATH\06 Come Back to Me.m4a" -threads 0 -v info -print_format json -show_streams -show_format

2) Not specific to emby's ffbrobe.  Same results from other versions.

3) any multiple value tags with a ";" separator are being truncated.

4) Does the m4a spec not support ";" or multiple tags,  maybe Picard should not write them ????

Thanks,

-vicpa

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by Vicpa

[softworkz 3349]

53 minutes ago, Vicpa said:

any multiple value tags with a ";" separator are being truncated.

I've seen in the code that values in genre tags are split by semicolon delimiters, so I'll need to make a test to see why it's not happening with your file.

Thanks for sending. I'll keep you updated.

[softworkz 3349]

I've looked at your file and now I'm confused, because it doesn't show multiple genres in the ffprobe output, like you posted above.

Your posted output:

Output from the (completely different) file which you PM'ed:

 

[Vicpa 570]

Hi @softworkz

Sorry  my bad.. I screwed up the attachments in the OP. .

10 hours ago, softworkz said:

because it doesn't show multiple genres in the ffprobe output, l

Above is the issue I am reporting.

The probe.txt file I attached (Incorrectly) is a .FLAC file working as expected. 

ffprobe version 5.0.0-emby_2022_05_07-g463c71b3b3+1847 Copyright (c) 2007-2022 the FFmpeg developers and softworkz for Emby LLC
  built with gcc 10.3.0 (Rev5, Built by MSYS2 project)
{
Input #0, flac, from 'file:D:\Public\Win 10\01 Algonquin.flac':
  Metadata:
    MUSICBRAINZ_RELEASEGROUPID: 438b9826-8ad8-3c8a-be1a-b7d132f6f057
    ORIGINALDATE    : 1957
    ORIGINALYEAR    : 1957
    RELEASETYPE     : album
    MUSICBRAINZ_ALBUMID: 748a6bdb-51a8-4dd3-92db-16ef19a71a54

The file I pm'd is an .M4A which is where the problem is. 

Your ffprobe output.

 

Display and Tags as displayed in "MediaInfo" Example.txt

Below is how it appears in Picard.

In an .m4a (for some reason?) only the first tag is displayed. Picard and MediaInfo display the multiple values.

Sorry for the confusion. Just limit your investigation to the m4a container. mp3's  and flac seem fine.

Thanks

-vicpa

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Vicpa

[softworkz 3349]

VLC shows this:

 

Windows

 

New Windows Media Player

 

[softworkz 3349]

I thought the issue would be that ffprobe shows multiple entries and Emby is not taking them.

But when ffprobe doesn't show multiple and neither VLC nor Windows, then it's a different story.

On 5/29/2022 at 2:55 PM, Vicpa said:

Does the m4a spec not support ";" or multiple tags,  maybe Picard should not write them ????

I don't really know. Would need to study the file format specs.

Multi-Value support could have been added in a later version of the spec. 
Or it's just some kind of extension something in the range between official and unofficial

Edited May 30, 2022 by softworkz

[Vicpa 570]

Hi (written before your reply)

That is the problem. Are multiple values not supported in m4a files? That is why I am confused. 

Picard and MediaInfo think they are there. Is Picard writing them wrong somehow?

Edited May 30, 2022 by Vicpa

[Vicpa 570]

4 minutes ago, softworkz said:

I thought the issue would be that ffprobe shows multiple entries and Emby is not taking them.

But when ffprobe doesn't show multiple and neither VLC nor Windows, then it's a different story.

On 5/29/2022 at 8:55 AM, Vicpa said:

Does the m4a spec not support ";" or multiple tags,  maybe Picard should not write them ????

I don't really know. Would need to study the file format specs.

Multi-Value support could have been added in a later version of the spec. 
Or it's just some kind of extension something in the range between official and unofficial

Hi @softworkz

You must have a lot of "cred" in the ffmpeg/ffprobe forums. Would you post a question there? It seems like a obvious thing, so there must be a reason, ffprobe is not supporting it.

BTW it is not just genre. I tested a file with multiple artists and multiple MBrainz id's and they were truncated as well.

@cayars Can you put a note in the KB referencing m4a and multiple values.

Thanks

-vicpa

Most of my library is flac and some mp3's. I guess I will figure out some way to convert the m4a's

[softworkz 3349]

46 minutes ago, Vicpa said:

You must have a lot of "cred" in the ffmpeg/ffprobe forums. Would you post a question there? It seems like a obvious thing, so there must be a reason, ffprobe is not supporting it.

LOL.

In reality...it's exactly the other way round: as a developer, when I would ask about whether multi-value tags are allowed, they'll say: "Read the spec". And when I'd say "The spec allows multi-value tags, but ffmpeg doesn't support it", they would respond: "Ok, submit a patch!".

It's best when you ask yourself on the user mailing list: https://lists.ffmpeg.org/mailman/listinfo/ffmpeg-user/

[Luke 37232]

@Vicpa are these issues resolved now?

[Vicpa 570]

Hi @Luke

Not that I am aware of, unless the ffprobe team has decide to support it.