How to Change or Set a New Album Art for MP3 Songs on Windows 7

This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to add or update album cover art for your music using Groove and Windows Media Player. However, note that some Windows 10 machines may not include Windows Media Player. If you need to edit MP3 files to include thumbnail metadata, you can use other MP3 tag editing tools.

Find and download album art. Open your preferred web browser, search for the album by name along with the keyword "album art" (e.g., "divide album art"), select the image you want to download, right-click it, and select Save from the context menu.

• In some browsers or search engines, you may need to select the Images tab near the top of the page to see the album cover art options.
• Your browser may prompt you to choose a download location. If this happens, select the Desktop folder from the window that appears.

Type groove. This action will search for the Groove Music app on your computer.

Click on Groove Music. It’s the CD icon located at the top of the Start window. Clicking on it will open the Groove Music app.

Click on My Music. This tab is located at the top-left corner of the Groove window. It will show you the list of music currently in your Groove library.

• If you don’t see this option, first click on the ☰ icon at the top-left corner of the window.

Click on the Albums. This option is located near the top of the Groove window.

Select an album. Click on the album you want to edit.

• You cannot edit the cover art of individual tracks.

Click on Edit info (Edit Album Info). This button is located near the top of the album page. Clicking on it will open the "Edit Album Info" window for the selected album.

• If a song does not display an album name, or if the album is labeled "Unknown Album", you won't see the "Edit info" option. Instead, right-click the song, select Edit Info, enter the new album title in the "Album Title" field, and click Save.

Click on the album cover image. This is the square image located in the top left corner of the "Edit Album Info" window. A File Explorer window will appear on your screen.

• If the album doesn't have a cover image, the cover box will be empty, with only a pencil icon in the lower-left corner.

Select an image. Click on the image you previously downloaded, or choose an image available on your computer.

• If the File Explorer window opens to a different folder that does not contain the desired cover image, first navigate to the correct folder using the left-hand panel.

Click on Open (Open). This button is located in the lower-right corner of the window. Clicking it will add the selected image to your album.

Click on Save (Save). This button is located at the bottom of the "Edit Album Info" window. Once clicked, the album will display the new cover image when opened.

Ensure you've purchased the music. Windows Media Player rarely supports automatic updates for music that hasn't been purchased.

• If the album you want to edit hasn't been purchased, you will most likely need to manually add the cover image.

Ensure your computer is connected to the internet. For Windows Media Player to automatically search for album art, your Windows computer must be connected to the internet. If you're able to access any website, Windows Media Player should also be able to connect to the online database.

Type windows media player. If the cursor is not already in the search field beneath the Start menu, click there first.

Click on Windows Media Player. This is the blue icon with an orange and white "Play" button displayed at the top of the Start menu. Clicking it will open the Windows Media Player program.

Click on the Library tab. This tab is located at the top-left corner of the window.

Click on the Music tab. This option is located on the left side of the Windows Media Player window.

Find the album you want to update. Scroll through your library until you find the album you need to edit.

• Albums without cover art will display a music note icon on a gray background.

Right-click on the album cover image. The album cover image will be displayed on the left side of the song list. A context menu will appear on your screen.

• If your mouse doesn't have a right-click button, click the right side of the mouse, or use two fingers to click on a touchpad.
• If you're using a touchpad instead of a mouse, you can tap two fingers on the touchpad or click the lower-right corner of the touchpad.

Click on Update album info. This option will appear in the middle of the context menu. Clicking it will search the web for an album cover image, and the found image will be set as the album cover.

• If no album cover is found, you will need to manually add the cover image.
• The album cover will appear after a few minutes, and sometimes you may need to restart Windows Media Player.

Find and download the album cover image. Open your preferred web browser and search using the album's name along with the keyword "album art" (e.g., "divide album art"). Choose the image you'd like to download, right-click on it, and select Save from the context menu that appears.

• On some browsers or search engines, you may need to click the Images tab at the top of the page to view the album cover images.
• Your browser might prompt you to choose a download folder. If so, select the Desktop folder on the left side of the window.

Copy the downloaded album cover image. Open the folder where you saved the cover image (such as the Downloads folder), click on the image, then press Ctrl+C to copy the image.

• You can also right-click on the image and choose Copy from the context menu to do this.

Search for windows media player. If the cursor is not already in the search field at the bottom of the Start menu, click on the field to activate it first.

Click on Windows Media Player. This is the blue box with a white and orange "Play" button located at the top of the Start menu. The Windows Media Player program will launch when you click on it.

Click on the Library tab. This tab is located in the top-left corner of the window.

Click on the Music tab. This option can be found on the left side of the Windows Media Player window.

Locate the album you want to update. Scroll through the library until you find the album that needs editing.

• Albums without a cover image will display a music note icon on a gray background.

Right-click on the album cover image. A context menu will appear.

Click on Paste album art. This option appears in the middle of the context menu. You will see the image become the album's cover.

• The album cover will be updated within a few seconds.
• If the Paste album art option doesn't appear, try downloading and copying a smaller version of the cover image.

Download and install MP3Tag. This free program allows you to edit all the tags of an MP3 file at once, including the album cover. To download and install MP3Tag, follow these steps:

• Go to https://www.mp3tag.de/en/download.html using your computer's browser.
• Click on the link mp3tagv287asetup.exe located in the middle of the page.
• Double-click the MP3Tag setup file.
• Follow the installation steps to complete the installation of MP3Tag.

Open MP3Tag. Double-click the MP3Tag application, which has a diamond icon and a checkmark. The MP3Tag window will immediately appear on your screen.

Add music to MP3Tag. The MP3Tag program will automatically search for MP3 files on your computer, but you can also manually add files by dragging and dropping them into the MP3Tag window.

• You can also open an MP3 file in MP3Tag by right-clicking the file and selecting Mp3tag from the context menu.

Select the song. In the main window, click on the song title you wish to edit.

• You can select multiple songs at once by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on each song you wish to edit.

Right-click on the album art box. You will find this box at the bottom-left corner of the window. A menu will appear on the screen.

• This box will not show an image if the selected song does not have an album cover.
• If your mouse does not have a right-click button, click on the right side of the mouse, or use two fingers to click.
• If your computer uses a trackpad instead of a mouse, use two fingers to tap the trackpad or click at the bottom-right corner of the trackpad.

Click on Remove cover (Remove album cover). This option is at the top of the menu. The current album art will disappear.

Right-click on the album art box. This is the box that previously displayed the old album cover. A menu will appear after the click.

Click on Add cover… (Add album cover…). This option is at the bottom of the menu. The File Explorer window will open.

Select an image. Navigate to the folder containing the image you want to use, then click on the image.

Click on Open (Open). This option is located at the bottom-right corner of the window. By selecting this, you choose the image and add it to the selected song.

Click on the "Save" icon (Save). This floppy disk icon appears at the top-left corner of the window. A confirmation message will pop up to notify you that the MP3 file now includes the album art you selected.

Understand how this method works. If you want to make sure the chosen image shows up when the song is played in programs like VLC, you can use an online tool to embed the image into the MP3 file.

• Some programs like VLC recognize tagging from the conversion tool through tag options (such as Groove or MP3Tag).

Visit the TagMP3 website. Go to http://tagmp3.net/change-album-art.php using your computer’s browser. This site allows you to embed images into the MP3 file's metadata, meaning that the album art will appear in most media programs.

• If you use TagMP3 to add album art, you won't be able to alter the album art using other tag editing tools.

Click on Browse Files (Browse Files). This purple button appears in the center of the window. Clicking it will open the File Explorer on your screen.

Select the song. Go to the folder where the MP3 file is stored and click on the MP3 file.

• If you want to edit tags for multiple songs, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on each song to be edited.

Click on Open (Open). This option is located in the bottom-right corner of the window. Clicking it will upload the selected song to the website.

Click on Choose file (Choose File). This gray button is located under the current album art (or the empty album art box) in the "Album Art" section.

• You will need to repeat this step and the next two for every MP3 file you want to edit.

Select an image. Navigate to the folder where the image you want to use as album art is saved, then click on the image to select it.

Click on Open (Open). This option is located at the bottom-right corner of the window. Clicking it will add the image to TagMP3, but it won’t be visible in the preview window.

Insert the image into the MP3 file. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on DONE! GENERATE NEW MP3. Wait for the tagging process to complete.

Download the MP3 file. Click on Download File 1 to download the tagged MP3 file to your computer.

• The file will initially be named with a random combination of letters and numbers, but the correct information will appear when the file is opened in Windows Media Player, iTunes, Groove, or VLC.
• If you've uploaded multiple files, click on Download File 2 and continue with the process.

• These steps are also effective with the Windows Media Player version on Windows 7 (if available on your computer).

• Microsoft has discontinued support for the Windows Media Player program, meaning automatic album cover updates are no longer effective for all albums.