Editing ID3 (section)

== ID3v2 ==
{{anchor|ID3v2.1|ID3v2.2|ID3v2.3|ID3v2.4|}}
[[File:Id3v2 logo.svg|125px|right]]
In 1998, a new specification called ID3v2 was created by multiple contributors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.id3.org/Contributors |title=Contributors – ID3.org |access-date=2012-04-22 |archive-date=2016-12-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203120103/http://id3.org/Contributors |url-status=dead }}</ref> Although it bears the name ID3, its structure is completely distinct from that of ID3v1. ID3v2 tags are of variable size and are usually placed at the start of the file, which enables metadata to load immediately, even when the file as a whole is loading incrementally during [[streaming media|streaming]]. 

A ID3v2 tag consists of a number of optional ''frames'', each of which contains a piece of metadata up to 16 MB in size. For example, a {{code|TT2}} frame may be included to contain a title. The entire tag may be as large as 256 MB, and strings may be encoded in [[Unicode]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://id3.org/id3v2-00 |title=id3v2-00 – ID3.org |access-date=2011-09-07 |archive-date=2016-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124001116/http://id3.org/id3v2-00 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===ID3v2.2===
The first public variant of v2, ID3v2.2, used three character frame identifiers rather than four (TT2 for the title instead of TIT2). It is considered obsolete.<ref>{{cite web |last=Nilsson |first=Martin |title=ID3 Developer Information |url=http://id3.org/Developer_Information |work=ID3.org. |access-date=9 April 2011 |archive-date=26 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826070707/http://www.id3.org/Developer_Information |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===ID3v2.3===
ID3v2.3 is the most widely used version of ID3v2 tags and is widely supported by Windows Explorer and Windows Media Player.<ref>{{cite web |title=ID3 tag version 2.3.0 |url=http://id3.org/d3v2.3.0 |access-date=2015-04-11 |archive-date=2016-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117211455/http://id3.org/d3v2.3.0 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Notably it introduced the ability to embed an image such as an album cover.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://id3.org/id3v2.3.0#Attached_picture |title=id3v2.3.0 – ID3.org |access-date=2014-04-30 |archive-date=2015-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121080450/http://id3.org/id3v2.3.0#Attached_picture |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===ID3v2.4===
ID3v2.4 was published on November 1, 2000. It defines 83 frame types,<ref>{{cite web |title=ID3v2.4.0 Native Frames |url=http://id3.org/id3v2.4.0-frames |access-date=2012-12-27 | archive-date=2022-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220903174949/https://id3.org/id3v2.4.0-frames |url-status=dead}}</ref> allows text frames to contain multiple values separated with a [[Null character|null byte]], and permits the tag to be stored at either the beginning or the end of the file.<ref>{{cite web |title=ID3 tag version 2.4.0 – Native Frames |url=http://id3.org/id3v2.4.0-structure |access-date=2015-04-11 |archive-date=2016-10-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028093833/http://id3.org/id3v2.4.0-structure |url-status=dead }}</ref>