VLC displaying wrong album art

[ariebombarie]

Solution

I have discovered that in the pad C:/%username/Appdata/Roaming/vlc/art/ exists two folders, in my case: 'artistalbum' and 'arturl'

In the folder 'artist-album' there are folders with 'artist-names' then the 'album-name' and finely the image which belongs to the audio-file.

In the folder 'arturl' there are sub-maps like '254ee9553243878e0f06dfea051798eb' and finely an image (the problem-makers)

The files that are corresponding with the 'artist album' will the VLC-player loads perfectly with the right image..... but why?


When I take a close look to the file-list attributes like 'name' , title', 'date', artist-name', and........ 'ALBUM' (windows explorer, maybe you have to change file display-options, choose with the right-click on your mouse for extra attributes) I noticed that the files who has nothing filled in for 'ALBUM' will mess up the album-arts as soon the files are loaded in the VLC-player.

As soon as I filled-in the NAME, ARTIST and ALBUM, (in my case with Itunes) I saw in C:///vlc/art/artistalbum/ popping up with a new 'artist-name/album-name' and the best of all: The VLC-player now will load the audio-file with the same image as you see in the windows-explorer.

[frabjousdei]

I've had this problem for ages and finally got around it

Alternative Solution A:

Resise the VLC window amd hide the entire Media Browser bar, removing the album art window as you do so

This isn't really a fix however, so try this:

Alternative Solution B:

1. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\default user\Application Data\vlc\art
2. Delete it all
3. Go to preferences in VLC. Then: Interface, Privacy, Album art download policy
4. Uncheck the boxes and select "manual download only". This stops this imo ridiculous practice of VLC getting album art from the net, especially from google images and the equally irksome practice as a default of "remembering" the last art displayed

If you want some help adjusting the art work in the ID3 tags of the media files themselves, I recommend Mp3Tag, http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

[frabjousdei]

OMG

OMG

IT STILL DOESN'T WORK

THIS IS INCREDIBLY ANNOYING

[Lotesdelere]

In the folder 'arturl' there are sub-maps like '254ee9553243878e0f06dfea051798eb' and finely an image (the problem-makers)

When I take a close look to the file-list attributes like 'name' , title', 'date', artist-name', and........ 'ALBUM' (windows explorer, maybe you have to change file display-options, choose with the right-click on your mouse for extra attributes) I noticed that the files who has nothing filled in for 'ALBUM' will mess up the album-arts as soon the files are loaded in the VLC-player.

As soon as I filled-in the NAME, ARTIST and ALBUM, (in my case with Itunes) I saw in C:///vlc/art/artistalbum/ popping up with a new 'artist-name/album-name' and the best of all: The VLC-player now will load the audio-file with the same image as you see in the windows-explorer.

Well spotted, and confirmed, I think you have found it out.
The corresponding ticket 5298 has been created.

[Cocofang+]

Additionally VLC only seems to be able to "remember" one album cover per album title. If songs with the same album have different cover arts, VLC displays only one single art for all of them (usually the first it finds in alphabetical order).

I am no coder but wouldnt it be possible to have VLC read the album art directly and individually from and for every file, instead of it creating a folder for every album?

[michaelrizzo]

this worked for me when I tried it

http://forums.mp3tag.de/index.php?showtopic=12917

[nissimnanach]

In Linux (Mint), to delete the art cover cache:
1. Open a Terminal
2.

Code: Select all

cd /usr/lib/vlc/lua/meta/art sudo rm *.*

3. Check the settings on
Tools>Preferences>Interface>Album art download policy
Blessings of Na Nach,
Nissim

[superhipp7]

I HAVE THE ANTIDOTE!!!
1.go to folder options in windows explorer
2.go to the view tab
3. unselect hide system operational files
4. go to music folder with album art problem
5. delete the "folder" image
6. done!

[OonlyBonly]

I'm sorry, I like VLC but I've just run into this bug - and it is a bug, a big one. I can't believe this is still going on in 2013 with the latest version of the program.
Surely there must be a means for this to be resolved.
Silly bug wouldn't even let me correct the incorrect automatically downloaded, I've changed that!, cover art for correct art until after I found the directory and deleted the file.
Plus there simply has to be a simpler, more efficient method of storing the cover art.
Sorry for the rant but this reminds me very much of the Thunderbird -can't rename a directory to the same name but different case bug.

[randy_starkey]

And here we are in 2013 and the problem remains. Is this ever going to be fixed?? 3 years?? Sort of REALLY WEIRD now for a player of this popularity. I may switch though as it will throw my audio volunteers off track.

[wildsprite]

were now in May 2013 and this issue still isn't fixed? I don't get it even a crappy player like the one MS includes with windows shows art imbedded in the tracks, why doesnt VLC? why does VLC even download random art to begin with, most of it is horrible

[andrewgennings]

I hate to resurrect an old post, but there seems no resolution posted. Perhaps I can help, as I seem to be enjoying the reverse problem.

I had downloaded an FLV video off Youtube, then extracted out the MP3. I edited the MP3 so as to remove applause and other undesirable noise, which was of a live performance involving choral music and instruments played on-site (so, no canned music whose source could be derived from a database).

My MP3 tags were set so that I only set the Title, Author, and Album Title. Since the MP3 was derived from Youtube, my custom is to identify my downloaded/converted MP3's with the tag "Youtube: xxxxxxxx" where "xxxxxxxxx" is the Youtube "v" code, and I put the result in the Album Title field.

And wouldn't you know it? VLC managed to go out and swipe a random snapshot from the Youtube site and use that for the album title! The very video that my MP3 derived from!

I played around with the MP3 tags, but, it turns out that I accidentally stumbled unto a format which was fortuitous for me, and provides a lesson for you: set the Title, Artist, and Album Title properly, and you may get your album art set properly. As I was playing with the tag fields, I did not at all find it necessary to muck with the folders or permissions or anything of that sort. Changes took effect immediately, as long as I stopped the song and replayed it after making the changes.

(For me, it seems that VLC uses the strict syntax of "Youtube: xxxxx" to go out and find the video, and then, it grabs what appears to be a random snapshot of that video to use for the album art.)

[Steve_S]

I had the same problem and was able to fairly easily resolve it.

Go to C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\vlc\art\artistalbum\NAME OF ARTIST\NAME OF ALBUM The text in capitals is your username, artist name and album title

You will find a file in here named art.jpg. Delete this file and replace it with what you want displayed as the album art, rmember to rename your new file art.jpg

Good luck, it had been annoying me for weeks, now I am happy

Steve_S

[lordorih]

Hi guys, so here's how I just recently solved this damn problem:

Go to Tools > Preferences > Interface > (Tab) Playlist and Instances > Album Art Policy > (Set to) Manual Download Only.

Hope this helps everyone!

[bassmike]

well enough. now what's the process for loading album art from a file??? tks. M.

[persep]

superhipp7's post solved it for me. This also happens with Windows media Player and that's how I found the same solution but from here

[junaid saleem]

HERE YOU GO PEOPLES...:


Run the following command from the Run field in the Windows start menu: %appdata%\VLC\art. This will open an Explorer window with the contents of the cache folder.
Close VLC.
Delete everything in this folder.
Close the window and restart VLC.
Now you’ve got a clear cache.
I have simplified this a little bit by creating a batch file that I keep on my desktop. The contents of the batch file are as follows:
cd %appdata%\VLC\
RD art /s/q
md art

[Dan33185]

Just ran into this problem, really annoying. Any news on a fix? I tried searching "%appdata%\VLC\art", but that folder doesn't even exist on my computer.

[persep]

Just read my post here

[Dan33185]

Yeah, I already had it set like that, there's nothing there that should be causing this problem though.

[Niubbo]

Same problem, but deleting the /art/ folder doesn't help in my case.
The are some ways to display a different cover, from track with the same album?

Example, A and B have different covers, but they're in the same album. VLC recognize and save in /art/ only the first (A), displaying the same cover in the other track.(B)

[Nmredlink]

I also have this problem, with only 2 artists though. It displays the same album art for all of my Beatles tracks, but I have like 7 different albums. I don't think that the post Beatles album art should display over my Magical Mystery Tour tracks. The other problem is that the album art for another artist has noise over it; like television static over the thumbnail.

[Lyniaer]

VLC is picking up the album art from a file called "FOLDER.JPG". That file will be located wherever it's associated audio file is. Delete Folder.JPG to get the cone back or rename it or rename something else to Folder.JPG and that image will take over. This happens with certain *cough*acquired*cough* music files that have had their metadata removed.

[brbixxx]

Since it appears that multiple issues can cause this problem, I will attempt to recap/compile what others have stated up to now.

If the metadata of a given audio track contains no image, VLC searches for a substitute image. This file could come from a previously played track, or, as others in this thread have noted, from Google Images or elsewhere. In any case, the result is that the track you are playing displays the wrong cover art. You can address this problem by performing two related tasks.

1
Close VLC if it is currently open.
Run a search for "%appdata%\VLC\art", or go to file location
C:\ Users \ YOURUSERNAME \ AppData \ Roaming \VLC \art \ artistalbum/
This will bring up all the artists folders that VLC has cached.
If you would prefer for the track to display the VLC saftey cone icon, then delete everything in the artist album folder to clear out the cache.
If you would like to change the cover art VLC displays for this track, click on the folder of the artist, then the album.
Replace the image with one of your own.
Remember to rename the file “art.jpg”.

2
Open VLC.
Go to Tools / Preferences.
On the Interface tab, under Album art download policy, select Manual download only.
This should tell VLC to only get the album art from the track metadata.