Extract album art
What Extract album art actually does
An audio file can carry more than one embedded picture, and they are not all JPEG. A tool that returns a single file named for the format it expected will hand back PNG bytes under a name ending in jpg, and will drop the second picture without saying so. This page reads the file first and lists what is in it: every attached picture, its format, its pixel size and the label the file gives it. Each one is then copied out under an extension that matches the bytes, with no re-encoding and no resizing.
How to use it
- Choose an audio file. It is read in this tab and every embedded picture is listed with its format and pixel size.
- Review the pictures, then extract them. Each is copied out at its stored resolution.
- Download them individually. A file with no embedded picture says so instead of producing an empty result.
Useful for
- Recover cover art from a music library at the resolution the files actually hold.
- Check whether a release carries a back cover or a booklet page as well as a front cover.
- Get artwork out of a podcast or audiobook file before re-tagging it.
Limits worth knowing
- Only pictures embedded in the file are reachable. Artwork stored beside the file as a separate image is not part of the container.
- Pictures are copied rather than converted, so the format is whatever the file holds and no upscaling happens.
- The role a picture claims, such as front cover against back cover, is not exposed by the container's generic interface and is not reported.
Questions people ask
Is the file uploaded?
No. The file is read and the pictures are copied out in this tab. The audio engine is fetched once and cached.
Why is the extracted file sometimes a PNG?
Because that is what the file holds. The extension follows the actual stored format rather than being fixed in advance.
What happens with more than one picture?
Every attached picture is extracted, numbered in the order the file stores them, each with its own format and size.