# Plex not reading local metadata correctly **URL:** \ **Category:** Metadata & Adding Files\ **Tags:** server-windows\ **Created:** [April 23, 2022, 5:48am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674 "2022-04-23T05:48:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jermy75](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jermy75](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jermy75)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 5:48am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/1 "2022-04-23T05:48:39Z")
Server Version#: 1.26.0.5715 Player Version#: 1.43.4.2971-aa2133cc Hello everyone, I have been having some issues with Plex reading the metadata on my songs incorrectly. It does it the worst with my soundtracks which most of my soundtracks are not officially posted on Last.fm, for example. Sometimes I edit albums the way I want them on rare occasion. I always make sure the metadata makes perfect sense locally, but Plex rarely reads it properly. When I am listening to music in Plexamp / Plex clients, I normally sort my Music library by folder, not artist, because it is an absolute mess to go through. It grabs songs from VA soundtracks and makes a huge mess and it’s hard to navigate through it. Anyway, In this particular album, only one song is being listed as “Various Artists” even though the local metadata clearly only has one artist (the same artist through the entire album). Playing the album skips this song (it being under a different artist is probably why). It also doesn’t show the album art for some reason too..? I’ve tried both Plex Music Scanner and Plex Music, they both do the same thing. So does anyone know exactly why it’s doing this? Here are some images: ![42abcd03708d8e86a4517ed13b436d0e](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/a/4/a/a4a8df1eed8e0c4d5a4ce3253ee9bd65dcb6ce5c.png) ![43ad0ea6af7ac200211244121e9e2615](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/a/d/2/ad275fb6ee8ff9ea27e68ef5eadd452246bfdd51.png) ![570f48453670403e5ddc1c1fb9d47f8a](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/a/8/9/a8902f071862c7bb2b9cee2ee23ab53264a357ba.png) ![a5e2aafd4c0c7fb14e30a91bb830deee](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/1/d/4/1d43ec2452bf3c67dc0fb57c2a5fad5d01952f8f.png) ![a7ea4f041e2b5c219839c1eb0698da7b](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/6/1/8/61893c3d16b63bba1c58300bd03e921aac330905.png) ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 1:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/2 "2022-04-23T13:02:54Z")
Don’t switch your library to use the old scanner and agent. This code is no longer maintained and will receive no bugfixes whatsoever. Use only “Plex Music”. For your use case, activating “prefer local meta tags” should be sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![gearoidocathain](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gearoidocathain/32/279017_2.png) [@gearoidocathain](https://forums.plex.tv/u/gearoidocathain)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 4:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/3 "2022-06-10T16:09:00Z")
Hi Otto, I’ve noted this action suggested in many threads but it simply does not work. My music is Irish Traditional Music, it usually does not have entries on MusicBrainz etc, for this reason over the last 10 years I have been very careful to ensure that the embedded tags in my music files are correct. Not only is this ignoring local tags but it is also showing completely incorrect information. > > Scanner = Plex Music > > Agent = Plex Music > > Prefer local metadata = checked > > Album Art = Local Files only Music Folder Structure: Music | Artist Name | | Album Name | | | Track 01 | | | Track 02 | | | … | | | Track 11 | | | Track 12 | | | cover.jpg The “plex” user has RWX access to the files. Yet here is the outcome on Plex: ![Screenshot from 2022-06-10 16-56-33](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/c/3/f/c3f7a3458cca081b21f0aad2deec99140f4cff6f.jpeg) Here are my settings: ![Screenshot from 2022-06-10 17-00-15](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/0/4/7/0475b5d65b26f368e0d2cbc482fd08ed89f54923.png) And here is the IDv3 info showing the same Album Artist, Album Name, Artist, all required fields populated and a cover art embedded as well as a separate cover.jpg in the folder. ![Screenshot from 2022-06-10 16-56-23](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/c/7/6/c76d11fd21ea087598189fab7993e87fbbbb08c6.png) I have tried the [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064), I have even completely removed the library and then readded. Neither works. Any suggestions? Thanks, GK ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/4 "2022-06-10T16:21:04Z")
As far as I can see, Plex got everything right, except the album art and Genre. Try all lower-case letters in the album art file. ---
**Author:** ![gearoidocathain](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gearoidocathain/32/279017_2.png) [@gearoidocathain](https://forums.plex.tv/u/gearoidocathain)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 4:23pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/5 "2022-06-10T16:23:33Z")
Unfortunately not, the artist name is incorrect. And this is just one example, I have hundreds ☹ ---
**Author:** ![gearoidocathain](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gearoidocathain/32/279017_2.png) [@gearoidocathain](https://forums.plex.tv/u/gearoidocathain)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 4:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/6 "2022-06-10T16:27:19Z")
just retried with “cover.jpg” to no avail. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/7 "2022-06-10T16:31:18Z")
1. Was this library created with these settings or did it have different ones before? 2. When you say you have this folder structure ```auto Music | Artist Name | | Album Name ``` I assume that `Artist Name` in this folder structure is “Deirdre Milligan” and all albums inside that particular folder have identical Album Artist tagged, also “Deirdre Milligan”? And not a single track has a different artist name in the Album Artist tag? And not a single track has a missing album artist metatag, either? ---
**Author:** ![gearoidocathain](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gearoidocathain/32/279017_2.png) [@gearoidocathain](https://forums.plex.tv/u/gearoidocathain)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/8 "2022-06-10T16:38:42Z")
Thanks for the reply @OttoKerner The library was created with these settings. Yes so structure Music-\>Deirdre Millane-\>Idir Dubh agus Bán-\>Tracks 1 to 11. No other folders or files inside the “Deirdre Millane” folder other than whats above. All tracks have the same Album Artist and Artist and none are missing. In that screenshot showing the tags a “≠” means that some of the tracks have different data in this field. As the Artist, Album, Album Artist, Genre, Date are shown, this means the same info in each field for each track. ☹ Thanks, GK ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/9 "2022-06-10T16:46:14Z")
Which server platform are we talking about here? Where are the media files stored? Locally or network file share (or worse)? At which folder of your folder structure is the library pointed? (on the Add Folders tab) ---
**Author:** ![gearoidocathain](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gearoidocathain/32/279017_2.png) [@gearoidocathain](https://forums.plex.tv/u/gearoidocathain)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/10 "2022-06-10T16:57:51Z")
Plex - Version 1.26.2.5797 OS - Debian GNU/Linux 11 Files - Network Share (SMB to play nice with Windows ☹ ) Library is pointed at “Music”, below that are “Artist” Folders and inside each artist folder are Album(s). ---
**Author:** ![gearoidocathain](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gearoidocathain/32/279017_2.png) [@gearoidocathain](https://forums.plex.tv/u/gearoidocathain)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/11 "2022-06-10T19:26:00Z")
Hi @OttoKerner, What would you suggest as a good way to try get some additional support on this. You have been very helpful but I am aware you are a moderator and not an employee of Plex. Should I create a new thread and add more relavent tags(i.e. linux-server)? If you search “local metadata” here on the forums this is a constant issue so is there is bad work going on here as there isn’t consistency in why this works or does not work? Thanks, GK ---
**Author:** ![gearoidocathain](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gearoidocathain/32/279017_2.png) [@gearoidocathain](https://forums.plex.tv/u/gearoidocathain)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/12 "2022-06-10T19:53:10Z")
Seems it is working in the BETA channel only! I decided to install the Beta channel out of interest to see if this made any difference as there was a note in the release about more modern metatag management and revised logic… Suddenly its fixed. Thanks for taking the time to help me out @OttoKerner hopefully you will be able to suggest this to others that are having similar issues to see if it will help them out!? I made no changes to my settings or my files. I didn’t even do the [Plex Dance](https://forums.plex.tv/t/the-plex-dance/197064), I just went “Manage Library”-\>“Refresh Metadata” ![Screenshot from 2022-06-10 20-50-53](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/1/a/3/1a3277d20264e28acf9b75e44439e1fe9d1bdc35.png) It’s a pity someone from Plex does not acknowledge this issue and make a sticky post to help people out. Thanks again! GK ---
**Author:** ![DesertFly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/desertfly/32/12695_2.png) [@DesertFly](https://forums.plex.tv/u/DesertFly)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2022, 8:09am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/13 "2022-06-12T08:09:55Z")
May I ask you how does your genre’s look like any duplicates? ---
**Author:** ![gearoidocathain](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gearoidocathain/32/279017_2.png) [@gearoidocathain](https://forums.plex.tv/u/gearoidocathain)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2022, 8:30am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/14 "2022-06-12T08:30:41Z")
Not that I can see. I’m not at a computer at the minute. Will take a look when home and see if there are. ---
**Author:** ![gearoidocathain](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gearoidocathain/32/279017_2.png) [@gearoidocathain](https://forums.plex.tv/u/gearoidocathain)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2022, 2:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/15 "2022-06-12T14:09:19Z")
Hey @DesertFly, no I don’t have any duplication of genres. All my files had just one genre tagged in each. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 2:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-not-reading-local-metadata-correctly/789674/16 "2022-09-10T14:09:27Z")
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