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[JRFan]

J River version 32.
I have some music files with cover art stored in the FLAC file and some stored in folder.jpg. I would like to store the cover art directly into the library FLAC files. I have read the wiki "Save Cover Art in the file (when possible)" but it seems to be out of date. The very first configuration " Tools > Options > General > Save cover art inside tags when possible." does not exist. I have checked every item under the tool menu, I could not find any way to set a flag to save cover art inside the file. I have a SmartList to select the files that need the cover art embedded, what is the next steps.
Any help would be appreciated.

[Richard Martin]

Try Tools > Options > File Location > Cover Art > Also store image in the file's tag

[markf2748]

Try Tools > Options > File Location > Cover Art > Also store image in the file's tag

@JRFan:  The search box at bottom of the Options window can be very helpful in finding options like this one, especially if they have been moved or modified over time.

FYI:  I (and many others) keep the cover and additional artwork images, docs, etc. in the album folders.  They are easily found there and don't consume much space compared to music files (typically <1% of the folder size for modest sized images).  RMB track > View Extras displays them.  The images can also be tagged and then targeted in an MC Image View by using an appropriate image file folder rule, for example [Artist]\[Album]\ .

You may also consider the program Mp3tag which allows one or more images to be inserted into flacs as "tags" in the file header.  They can be added manually, appended one image at a time, simultaneously to selected files.  Best to start with cover in first position with the default Mp3tag Cover Type "Front Cover" so that MC treats it as such.  To change order, use Mp3tag to remove them and start over as needed.  The process can be automated for a range of selected tracks using an Mp3tag Action, assuming the image files are suitably named and located, wild cards allowed (I've never tried it).  You can send files directly to Mp3tag from an MC SmartList, Playlist, album, or other track selection (RMB > Send To > Send To (external) > Mp3tag).  However, I don't know of a way for MC to display more than one image read directly from a flac header.  Multiple embedded images seems to be a flac feature (METADATA_BLOCK_PICTURE) which is not fully supported by MC.

Win 11 Pro (64-it) | MC 32.0.33 (in beta)

[dtc]

If your covers are in the library but not in the files then select the tracks and then right click and choose Library Tools - Update Tags (from library). That should write all the tags, including the cover art image, to the files. You can see if the image is in the file by looking at the Image tag. It should now say Inside File.  Try a couple and check the files.

[markf2748]

You can see if the image is in the file by looking at the Image tag. It should now say Inside File.

This one confuses me.  There is an MC audio field called Image File which appears in the library for my flac files with the value "Inside File".  It is shown in my Tree's custom field list and also in Tree list "All Fields".  However it does not get written as a tag to the flac file itself even though its definition has "Save in file tags (when possible)" checked and I apply "Update Tags (from library)".   It is also absent from the Tree lists "Tags With Values", "Fields With Values", and "Visible Fields".  In the options window, it is absent from "Show only hidden fields".

Does field Image File get written as a tag to the Vorbis Comment Block only when MC itself does the image embedding?  Or is it just an indicator/detector field that never actually gets written to the file?  i.e. it is intentionally not inserted into the file since MC does not have 100% control over when embedded images might be added or deleted by other apps without them updating Image File?  That would be a sensible reason for MC not being the first app to write the tag.  However if another app happened to write this tag, then it would be incumbent upon MC to keep it updated.  That may justify the Save... box being checked in the field definition.  But why is it absent from Tree lists "Fields With Values" and "Visible Fields"?  Puzzling inconsistencies.

Win 11 Pro (64-bit) | MC 32.0.33 (in beta)

[EnglishTiger]

@markf2748

The Image File info does not appear in the Tag Dump  Vorbis Comment Block Section - because that is not where it is - it is located/reported in the section above the Vorbis Comment Block (See the Attached Image which is for a Track where the Image was written to the File by something other than MC)

The most obvious reason why the info about the image's size and location does not appear in the Tree lists "Tags With Values", "Fields With Values", and "Visible Fields" may be down to whoever programmed those areas, wrongly, thinking that displaying the Image at the top of the list was sufficient or they forgot/overlooked that, under the right circumstances, it should appear in those lists.

[markf2748]

The Image File info does not appear in the Tag Dump  Vorbis Comment Block Section - because that is not where it is - it is located/reported in the section above the Vorbis Comment Block (See the Attached Image which is for a Track where the Image was written to the File by something other than MC)

The most obvious reason why the info about the image's size and location does not appear in the Tree lists "Tags With Values", "Fields With Values", and "Visible Fields" may be down to whoever programmed those areas, wrongly, thinking that displaying the Image at the top of the list was sufficient or they forgot/overlooked that, under the right circumstances, it should appear in those lists.

Thanks for the clarification.  Clearly MC is capable of extracting the image metadata line(s) from a FLAC audio file and displays them above the Tag Dump's Vorbis Comment Block.  I probably missed them because I was trying to find the tag Image File. 

FTR: Attached is part of MC's Tag Dump for an audio file with 8 embedded images (written by Mp3tag)!  The codes agree with those in the FLAC documentation (attachment 2).  In my experience, when the Front Cover (Code 3) is first and uniquely coded, MC uses it and apparently just skips over any other images in the header (NOTE:  if file contains multiple images with Code 3, then I find MC displays the last one).  For MC to display these other images, they need to be stored as separate sidecar files in the album directory, or possibly (untested by me) in the Cover Art directory.

Fix Request:  Add MC field Image File to all appropriate Tree lists so it is readily available to users in the expected places.  Write it as a tag in the Vorbis Comment Block if "Save in file tags (when possible)" is selected in the options Manage Library Fields menu.

Reference:  METADATA_BLOCK_PICTURE in FLAC Documentation https://xiph.org/flac/format.html#format_overview