If your audio files have descriptive filenames like 01 - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody.mp3 but are missing ID3 tag metadata, Zortam’s Write Tags From Filename tool allows you to automatically parse filenames and populate title, artist, album, track number, year, and genre fields in batch mode.
1. Understanding Tag Syntax Variables
Zortam uses numeric placeholders to represent specific metadata fields inside filenames. You can mix these variables with separators like dashes, spaces, or underscores.
| Variable | Field Represented | Example Match |
|---|---|---|
%1 |
Artist | Queen |
%2 |
Title | Bohemian Rhapsody |
%3 |
Album | A Night at the Opera |
%4 |
Track # | 01 |
%5 |
Year | 1975 |
%6 |
Genre | Rock |
2. Common Filename Format Patterns
Select a preset format from the Select Tags dropdown or build your own custom structure in the Custom Tags field:
%1 - %2→ Artist – Title (e.g.,Coldplay - Yellow.mp3)%4 - %1 - %2→ Track – Artist – Title (e.g.,05 - Pink Floyd - Time.mp3)%4. %2→ Track. Title (e.g.,03. Hotel California.mp3)%1 - %3 - %4 - %2→ Artist – Album – Track – Title
3. How to Use the Write Tags Dialog
- Select the tracks you wish to tag in the main library grid.
- Open Write Tags From Filename from the Tagger menu (or toolbar).
- Choose a predefined pattern from Select Tags, or enter your variable pattern in Custom Tags.
- (Optional) Use the quick-insert buttons (
Artist (%1),Title (%2),Dash ("-"), etc.) to quickly assemble your custom format. - Check Replace underscores with spaces if your filenames use underscores (e.g.,
Artist_Name_-_Song_Title.mp3). - Enable Case and choose your target casing (e.g., Title Case, UPPERCASE, lowercase) if you want uniform text formatting.
- Click Preview to check the File name preview field and ensure fields are mapping correctly.
- Click Write Tags to execute the batch update.
Pro Tip: Always click Preview before running a large batch operation to confirm that punctuation like dashes (
-) and spaces match your filenames exactly.