Skip to content

ARTIST tag not read from .mka files

Description

When playing a Matroska .mka file with the ARTIST tag, VLC displays Unknown Artist instead of the actual artist. The same file also has the ALBUM tag, and VLC correctly shows the album name, just not the artist.

The attached file is created by adding tags to an existing .mka file with this command:
mkvmerge -o output.mka input.mka --global-tags tags.xml --title "NIGHT RUNNING"

The tags.xml file is reproduced below:

Click to expand
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE Tags SYSTEM "matroskatags.dtd">
<Tags>
    <Tag>
        <Simple>
            <Name>ARTIST</Name>
            <String>Shin Sakiura feat. AAAMYYY</String>
        </Simple>
        <Simple>
            <Name>ALBUM</Name>
            <String>Brand New Animal ED</String>
        </Simple>
    </Tag>
</Tags>

Expected behavior

VLC should display the artist "Shin Sakiura feat. AAAMYYY" using the content of the ARTIST tag.

Actual behavior

VLC always shows Unknown Artist.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Download the attached audio file below.
  2. Verify the presence of the ARTIST and ALBUM tags using mediainfo.
  3. Play the file in VLC Android and look at the Artist.

Screenshot / video

Attached audio file:
Brand_New_Animal_ED.mka

Screenshot:
bna_no_artist

Context

App version

3.5.4 2023-02-20

Android version

14

Device model

Pixel 7

App mode

Smartphone