How to read ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags using id3lib in Qt

To read ID3 tags from MP3 files using C++ and Qt you can take many routes and here are some of them:

• You can read the Wikipedia article on ID3 Tags (which is pretty much detailed) and write your own ID3 Tag reader. Simple but takes too long.

• Or you can use some kind of 3rd party library, like id3lib which encapsulates all the complexities. This is even more simple and doesn’t take that much time 🙂

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Here is a simple guide on how to use id3lib with Qt:

1. Download id3lib binaries and source codes from here.
2. Copy include folder and binaries to your project folder.
3. Add the include path and libs to your PRO file.
   • INCLUDEPATH += id3lib/include
   • id3lib/bin/Release/id3lib
4. Add the following line to the topmost point of your sources, or in other words, before including id3 sources.
   • #define ID3LIB_LINKOPTION 3
5. Include id3lib main header in your source.
   • #include “id3.h”
6. Before you try to run the project make sure that id3lib DLL file is copied to the same folder with your project’s executable.

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You can download the example Qt project from here:

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