Why is iTunes converting artwork from .jpg to .png?

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Level 1

30 points

Why is iTunes converting artwork from .jpg to .png?

I am quite careful in trying to add the very best album artwork I can to my library. I occassion I may find a .jpg file of an album's artwork I think may be better than what I have. I will take a copy of the album artwork out of my iTunes library and using Preview compare it to the 'new' jpeg file. I have noticed recently and I am assuming since iTunes 10.4 that the artwork I copy out of iTunes has been converted to a .png file now. As an example I recently put in a .jpg file of 600 x 600 image size, about 160 kb in file size and at 300 dpi. Later I took a copy of it from my iTunes library (these are all embedded images that I manually added) and the copy was suddenly a .png file of 600 x 600 but reduced to 72 dpi and increased to 335 kb.

What is happening and why is this happening? This could really bloat the size of a library and have an impact on iPods, iPhones and iPads when synching music with album art.

Although I have tested this several ways I just added a new .jpg file to my iTunes library. I then selected a song from that album, used Get Info, went to the Artwork tab and dragged it to the desktop. This image as I said above was now a .png file.

Posted on Sep 12, 2011 8:31 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

John Isaacs

Level 1

0 points

Nov 26, 2011 6:16 AM in response to mwheelerk

Since an iTunes upgrade in May 2011, iTunes converts jpg to png if the artwork is added to multiple tracks using the get info window. Artwork added to individual tracks in the get info window, or artwork added to multiple tracks in the artwork box on the browser (the lower left corner where it says "Drag Artwork Here" if there is no artwork).

Now, to add jpg artwork to multiple tracks, the artwork has to be added via the artwork box on the browser. If there is existing artwork, this must be deleted first or the new artwork will not replace it bet will be added as a second file (this can be seen on individual track in the get info window).

The problem with conversion to png format is that the size is increased (doubled or more).

There are two problems with adding to the artwork box for multiple tracks. First is the issue that previous artwork must be deleted since adding to the artwork box does not replace existing artwork. Second is an issue which occurs if you are also playing tracks while adding artwork. This is due to another problem with iTunes; that the artwork box changes automatically from "Selected Item" to "Now Playing". If it is set to "Now Playing", the artwork is added to that track, and not the selected tracks. Also, it takes a short time to add the artwork, and if iTunes switches to the next track in the middle, it stops adding artwork to the selected tracks..

So, to add jpg artwork to iTunes, you need to do the following:

1. Delete existing artwork from the tracks.

2. Make sure the artwork box title is "Selected Item" and not "Now Playing"

3. Drag new artwork to the artwork box

4. Make sure the artwork box does not switch to "Now Playing" while artwork is being updated.

I recommend not playing tracks while adding artwork, to avoid problems with either updating the wrong tracks or not completely updating the selected tracks.

And I wish iTunes was changed back to the way it was. Using the get info window did not have these issues.

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Answer 2

Aug 4, 2012 11:31 AM in response to John Isaacs

That is a great hint.

Now I can finally change covers for multiple songs again, without having them converted to png.

Thanks! 🙂

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Answer 3

Oct 29, 2012 1:46 PM in response to John Isaacs

Unfortunately if you have a large library adding new artwork individualy is to time consuming.

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Answer 4

tagme10k

Level 1

10 points

Jul 29, 2013 1:14 PM in response to mwheelerk

Yes I have no idea why they decided we all would prefer bloated music files and the need to have our cover art as png files. The fact that you can still add them as jpgs albeit in a highly exasperated way shows a rouge element in Apple's software design and test strategy, they are not the wonderfully coherent and precisely formed processes they used to be. The problem with the switch to PNG is even more painfully obvious if like me you tend to source high resolution images for your cover art which PNG does not compress well at all.

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