iTunes won't let me save album artwork

From the post you quoted:

iTunes cannot add artwork to tracks in .wav format

You can convert the tracks to Apple Lossless format which will allow you to add artwork and ensure that if you copied the tracks into a new library you would get all of the tag information. With .wav files all you would get would be the filename as a the track name. See Convert a song to a different file format with iTunes - Apple Support.

tt2

OK, I misunderstood what you were saying about where you were storing the pictures, so ignore all of that.

If you add content to a new library then artwork which was previously downloaded from the store rather than embedded might not be always be tracked down again.

The Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows tip covers the permissions that should apply to folders you want to import from, but I would be surprised if they are wrong. What format are the images that you're downloading. As noted instead of using the Add Artwork button just open the Get Info dialog for an entire album, then drag the image from Windows Explorer to either the Artwork tab or the small square box at the top left. You can also use Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to copy and then paste if arranging the windows to set up drag and drop is too limiting.

tt2

So what format are the tracks in that you want to add artwork to? Have you checked to make sure that the permissions are correct and that the files are not marked as read only. Work with a single file to start with. Do you see the Artwork tab in Get Info and can you paste into it? Source files should normally be square and 600-800px in .jpg format. If the files are in .mp3 format see the note in the user tip about the potential problems caused by multiple tags.

tt2

Yes, Edit > Preferences > General > Import Settings and choose your preferred import format. Apple Lossless for maximum quality, 256k AAC is the same as the iTunes Store. You might prefer 256k MP3 if you want to use the tracks with a non-Apple device.

tt2

The import format controls what happens with tracks ripped from CD or converted from another format. Any other files you add to your library will arrive in whatever format they had when you obtained them.

tt2

Hi, jumping in here, similar problem, except that I have always put any Artwork I need in a Pictures folder sub category Album Artwork. This worked until last night, and suddenly when I first put the Artwork in that Folder it is there, but when i tunes opens that folder there is nothing there!!, it just started very suddenly, whilst spending hours re-doing my library after not being able to use latest i tunes update with my Windows 10, so I now use a previous version of i tunes and am in the process of re-building my library. Not sure if this is Windows or Apple. Very disheartening, working perfectly over the last hours and days, now suddenly not.

Well the Album Artwork folder inside the main iTunes library folder really belongs to iTunes and isn't for the user to poke around in. It is used as an artwork cache with a very particular arrangement of folders and subfolders. Anything that iTunes didn't put in there is liable to purging. That said if you see the image you want in Explorer, then you can drag if from there to an open Get Info dialog, either on to the Artwork tab, or the small image placeholder at the top left.

tt2

Thank you. I do not even know where to find the iTunes Album Artwork. I am re-building my Library from scratch from an 'old' Library which I got to work in my 'backdated' i Tunes so it is a little out of date, but usuable-just. All of the Albums in that Library had Artwork, but many did not carry over to new installation so I started to find the Album Covers on Goggle images and save these in my 'Picture' folder in Windows 10 sub folder Album Artwork. This has worked fine for several days during this re-build. Then, suddenly 2 or 3 days ago having placed some covers into the folder as usual, they were just not there. In Explorer they are there, but when trying to access them as usual through Get Info, the folder shows as 'empty'!!, and at the moment I cannot see a 'work around'. I did make a new pictures folder and Album Covers folders, and tried that way, and again, there in Explorer but showing empty when access via i Tunes. All my files are MP3's and had the correct covers in the previous library.

Sorting by Date Added should allow you to locate the most recent additions to the library. Sorting by Date Modified those most recently edited.

tt2

You're welcome. 🙂

Your recording software might be able to manage another output format. AIFF is another lossless format that supports tagging, or you could go straight to AAC or MP3.

tt2