FFMPEG Adding Metadata to an .mp3 From .mp3 Input?

Question

If I start off with a .mp3 file, how can I add metadata to it? I'm aware of the -metadata title="Some Title" -metadata artist="Someone" formatting, but not sure how this can be applied to a .mp3 file, especially if the file is already a .mp3.

I'm thinking something more like this: ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -metadata artist="Someone" -f mp3 output.mp3

The only thing is that when I execute this with ffmpeg 4 compiled with all libraries on Kubuntu 18.04, I get this error message:

Automatic encoder selection failed for output stream #0:0. Default encoder for format mp3 (codec mp3) is probably disabled. Please choose an encoder manually.
Error selecting an encoder for stream 0:0

Edit 0:

This also happens when I try to add -acodec libmp3lame although the error seems to indicate that I don't have the .mp3 codec

sarah@ConvergentRefuge:~/Desktop/Indexing/Test Folder$ ffmpeg -i DANCE\ WITH\ THE\ DEAD\ -\ BATTLE.mp3 -acodec libmp3lame -f mp3 file.mp3 ffmpeg version 4.0 Copyright (c) 2000-2018 the FFmpeg developers built with gcc 7 (Ubuntu 7.3.0-16ubuntu3) configuration: libavutil 56. 14.100 / 56. 14.100 libavcodec 58. 18.100 / 58. 18.100 libavformat 58. 12.100 / 58. 12.100 libavdevice 58. 3.100 / 58. 3.100 libavfilter 7. 16.100 / 7. 16.100 libswscale 5. 1.100 / 5. 1.100 libswresample 3. 1.100 / 3. 1.100 Input #0, mp3, from 'DANCE WITH THE DEAD - BATTLE.mp3': Duration: 00:04:15.92, start: 0.025057, bitrate: 128 kb/s Stream #0:0: Audio: mp3, 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 128 kb/s Metadata: encoder : LAME3.99r Side data: replaygain: track gain - -9.200000, track peak - unknown, album gain - unknown, album peak - unknown, Unknown encoder 'libmp3lame'

Answer 1

Your ffmpeg build does not have any MP3 encoder. However, for your use case, that's irrelevant.

Use

ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -c copy -metadata artist="Someone" output.mp3

Output has to be a separate file. FFmpeg can't update the input itself.

Answer 2

I have hundreds of files, and I use this script.  I hope will be helpful for someone.

Github

Github with some audio scripts

YouTube Playlist

#!/bin/sh

#____________ 1. CONVERT ALL WAV FILES TO 44100hz and 16bits _______________________________
# Rename all audio wav files in folder, with the format 001.wav, 002.wav, 003.wav, etc...
a=1
for i in *.wav; do
  new=$(printf "%03d.wav" "$a") #03 pad to length of 3
  mv -i -- "$i" "$new"
  let a=a+1
done

rm *.mp3    # remove old mp3 files

declare -a arr=("" # always keep empty the first array index, because have index zero.
                "Track Title 1 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 2 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 3 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 4 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 5 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 6 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 7 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 8 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 9 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 10 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 11 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                "Track Title 12 (allow with special characters + $ ñ ò)"
                )

counterTotalFiles = 0;    # count the total audio wav files there are in the folder
counterTrackNumber = 0;   # sequence of the track number
metadataArtist = "My Artist Name"
metadataTPE2="My Artist Album"
metadataComposer="My Composer"
metadataGenre="Spoken & Audio" 
metadataYear=`date +%Y`   # setup automatic the current year


# count the total audio wav files there are in the folder
for x in *.wav; do      
  let counterTotalFiles++
done

  for z in *.wav; do      
    let counterTrackNumber++
    ffmpeg -y -i "$z" -vn -ar 44100 -b:a 128k -metadata title="${arr[$counterTrackNumber]}" -metadata album="My Album Name" -metadata track="$counterTrackNumber/$counterTotalFiles" -metadata artist="$metadataArtist" -metadata TPE2="$metadataTPE2" -metadata composer="$metadataComposer" -metadata genre="$metadataGenre" -metadata year="$metadataYear" $z.mp3
  done

# remove temporary files
rm "temp-"*.wav    
rm *.pkf    

# rename the wrong extension *.wav.mp3 to the right extension *.mp3
for f in *.mp3; do
    mv -- "$f" "$(basename -- "$f" .wav.mp3).mp3"
done


# show info about your media files generated
mediainfo *.mp3
ls -lah