# How to read id3 tags from files

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-read-id3-tags-from-files/188517>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [May 13, 2010, 8:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-read-id3-tags-from-files/188517 "2010-05-13T08:51:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Benedikt\_MSSS\_ller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/f07891/32.png) [@Benedikt\_MSSS\_ller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Benedikt_MSSS_ller)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-read-id3-tags-from-files/188517/1 "2010-05-13T08:51:42Z")

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Hi  
I want to read (not write, change or other things, just read) id3 Tags  
and flac tags from files. How do I do that? I found 2 libraries that  
do something with id3 tags, but I didn’t understand it.

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**Author:** ![Benedikt\_MSSS\_ller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/f07891/32.png) [@Benedikt\_MSSS\_ller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Benedikt_MSSS_ller)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-read-id3-tags-from-files/188517/2 "2010-05-13T16:12:31Z")

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Hi Benedikt

On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 3:51 AM, Benedikt Müller [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> Hi  
> I want to read (not write, change or other things, just read) id3 Tags  
> and flac tags from files. How do I do that? I found 2 libraries that  
> do something with id3 tags, but I didn’t understand it.
> 
> –  
> Gruß, Benedikt

You should mention which libraries tried to use if you need help on  
any of those. A quick googling led me here to id3lib-ruby  
[http://id3lib-ruby.rubyforge.org/](http://id3lib-ruby.rubyforge.org/) which have some example code  
(haven’t use myself that library).

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**Author:** ![Benedikt\_MSSS\_ller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/f07891/32.png) [@Benedikt\_MSSS\_ller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Benedikt_MSSS_ller)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-read-id3-tags-from-files/188517/3 "2010-05-13T19:09:54Z")

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On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 01:23:48AM +0900, Benedikt M?ller wrote:

> This was it I tried, but it can’t read flac tags.

using a quick google for “ruby flac tags”  
I immediately found flacinfo…

$ irb  
irb(main):001:0\> require ‘flacinfo’  
=\> true  
irb(main):002:0\> @flac = FlacInfo.new(“test.flac”)  
=\> #\<FlacInfo:0x-48ed2528 (STREAMINFO size=34 offset=8) (SEEKTABLE  
size=486 offset=46) (VORBIS\_COMMENT size=61 offset=536) (PADDING  
size=4075 offset=601)\>  
irb(main):006:0\> p @flac.tags  
{“title”=\>“tuxpower-06”, “vendor\_tag”=\>“reference libFLAC 1.1.2  
20050205”, “block\_size”=\>61, “offset”=\>536}  
=\> nil

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**Author:** ![Benedikt\_MSSS\_ller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/f07891/32.png) [@Benedikt\_MSSS\_ller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Benedikt_MSSS_ller)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-read-id3-tags-from-files/188517/4 "2010-05-13T18:24:14Z")

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This was it I tried, but it can’t read flac tags.

2010/5/13 Luis P. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Benedikt\_MSSS\_ller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/f07891/32.png) [@Benedikt\_MSSS\_ller](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Benedikt_MSSS_ller)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-read-id3-tags-from-files/188517/5 "2010-05-13T19:14:36Z")

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great!

2010/5/13 Reid T. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):