# Why is the metadata of some MP3 on import truncated

**URL:** <https://discourse.beets.io/t/why-is-the-metadata-of-some-mp3-on-import-truncated/1862>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [September 13, 2021, 6:16am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/why-is-the-metadata-of-some-mp3-on-import-truncated/1862 "2021-09-13T06:16:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![halloleo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@halloleo](https://discourse.beets.io/u/halloleo)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 6:16am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/why-is-the-metadata-of-some-mp3-on-import-truncated/1862/1 "2021-09-13T06:16:03Z")

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I have some MP3s where the metadata is truncated on the first “umlaut” (German letters like ä or ü).

I have uploaded an example MP3 file [here](https://www.halloleo.net/etc/forums/beets-20210913/tillmann_pruefer.mp3). When I import this into beets via `beet -A tillmann_pruefer.mp3` I end up with a entry in beets’ database like this:

```auto
            album: DIE ZEIT
     albumartists: 
              art: False
           artist: Von Tillmann Pr
          artists: 
         bitdepth: 0
          bitrate: 96000
         channels: 1
             date: 2021-01-01
           format: MP3
            genre: Speech
           genres: Speech
           length: 235.47841666666667
mb_albumartistids: 
     mb_artistids: 
       samplerate: 44100
            title: Stell dir vor, ich w
             year: 2021

```

Note, the artist is “_Von Tillmann Pr_”, but it should be _"Von Tillmann Pr **üfer** _". Same problem with the title: It reads “_Stell dir vor, ich w_”, but it should be “_Stell dir vor, ich w **ürde Oktoba heißen** _”.

I have other tracks from other sources, which contain “umlaute” and import fine.

Any idea why this doesn’t work here and how I can fix it?

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**Author:** ![adrian](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/adrian/32/4_2.png) [@adrian](https://discourse.beets.io/u/adrian)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 11:50am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/why-is-the-metadata-of-some-mp3-on-import-truncated/1862/2 "2021-09-13T11:50:33Z")

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Hello! I have confirmed for this file that [Mutagen](https://mutagen.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) only sees the truncated title:

```auto
$ python3 -c 'import mutagen; print(mutagen.File("tillmann_pruefer.mp3")["TIT2"])'   
Stell dir vor, ich w

```

Do you have another tool that shows the complete title? If so, there may be a bug in Mutagen. But it may also be that the other tool is behaving outside of the ID3 specification.

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**Author:** ![halloleo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@halloleo](https://discourse.beets.io/u/halloleo)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 1:20pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/why-is-the-metadata-of-some-mp3-on-import-truncated/1862/3 "2021-09-13T13:20:15Z")

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I have to admit other (comamdn line ) tool give the same result.

But it is odd that it always happens on the umlaute… I was thinking it might be an encoding issue…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![adrian](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/adrian/32/4_2.png) [@adrian](https://discourse.beets.io/u/adrian)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/why-is-the-metadata-of-some-mp3-on-import-truncated/1862/4 "2021-09-13T13:45:37Z")

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Maybe it’s worth looking at the origin of the files? Maybe the data was truncated before the files were even generated?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![halloleo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@halloleo](https://discourse.beets.io/u/halloleo)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 12:36am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/why-is-the-metadata-of-some-mp3-on-import-truncated/1862/5 "2021-09-14T00:36:40Z")

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Yep, will look into it.

The files come from a German subscription news site, so I don’t have much control over them. I will contact the news site… but don’t expect any meaningful response. ☹