mutagen
read and write audio tags for many formats
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Mutagen is a mature, actively maintained library with no external dependencies, low install friction, and broad format support. The GPL-2.0-or-later license is a clear constraint for proprietary use, but poses no barrier for open-source projects. Install it if you need to read or edit audio tags programmatically.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.10 or later (CPython or PyPy).
- Low friction: pure Python wheel with no runtime dependencies outside the standard library.
- Active maintenance with a recent release 50 days ago.
License · maintenance · safety
GPL-2.0-or-later (copyleft) — GPL-2.0-or-later (copyleft): any derivative work or distribution must be licensed under GPL v2 or later. Suitable for open-source projects; proprietary software must either avoid linking or obtain a commercial license.
last release 2026-06-25 (50 days) · last repo commit 2026-07-13 · 1,946 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 15,032,857 downloads/mo, #1,201 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install mutagen
from mutagen.id3 import ID3
tags = ID3('song.mp3')
tags['TIT2'].text = ['New Title']
tags.save()- Whether the package's Xing header bitrate calculation is accurate enough for production audio analysis workflows.
- Performance characteristics when handling large batches of audio files or very large metadata structures.
What it is and what it does
Mutagen is a Python library for reading and writing metadata tags in audio files. It abstracts the complexity of different audio formats—MP3, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, MP4, WavPack, and many others—behind a unified interface, so you can edit ID3v2 and APEv2 tags without needing to understand each format's internal structure. It also supports lower-level operations like reading Xing headers for accurate MP3 bitrate calculation and manipulating Ogg streams at the packet level.
The library has no external dependencies beyond Python's standard library and requires Python 3.10+. It runs on CPython and PyPy across Linux, Windows, and macOS. With active maintenance, it is a mature, widely-used choice for audio metadata tasks in both standalone scripts and larger applications.
Use it for
- Batch-update ID3 tags across an MP3 collection (artist, album, genre).
- Extract and organize metadata from FLAC or Ogg files for music library management.
- Build a music tagger or metadata editor GUI that supports multiple audio formats.
- Programmatically read MP3 bitrate and length from Xing headers for audio analysis.
- Migrate or standardize tags between different audio formats in a conversion pipeline.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Mutagen is a mature, actively maintained library with no external dependencies, low install friction, and broad format support. The GPL-2.0-or-later license is a clear constraint for proprietary use, but poses no barrier for open-source projects. Install it if you need to read or edit audio tags programmatically.
Install
mutagen on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction: pure Python wheel with no runtime dependencies outside the standard library. Active maintenance with a recent release 50 days ago.
Requires Python 3.10 or later (CPython or PyPy).
License in practice
GPL-2.0-or-later (copyleft): any derivative work or distribution must be licensed under GPL v2 or later. Suitable for open-source projects; proprietary software must either avoid linking or obtain a commercial license.
Quickstart
pip install mutagen
from mutagen.id3 import ID3
tags = ID3('song.mp3')
tags['TIT2'].text = ['New Title']
tags.save()Verify before relying
- Whether the package's Xing header bitrate calculation is accurate enough for production audio analysis workflows.
- Performance characteristics when handling large batches of audio files or very large metadata structures.
Package facts
| License | GPL-2.0-or-later copyleft |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release <4,>=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 50 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 15,032,857 / month, #1,201 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Operating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPyTopic :: Multimedia :: Sound/Audio |
Evidence: mutagen-1.48.1-py3-none-any.whl
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